Skills Acquisition Programme and the Poverty Alleviation of Women in Anambra State, Nigeria

There has been an alarming and depressing incidence of the poverty in Nigeria. Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (2020) puts the poverty level in Nigeria at 43% or 83 million people as at 2020. Government of Nigeria is not folding its arms to the ugly situation. Both federal and state governments are doing their best with various approaches to arrest the situation. Government of Anambra State established skills acquisition centers in the state to equip women-a group with the largest population in the statewith skills that can make them self-reliant and help them exit the poverty. This paper investigated the influence of this skills acquisition programme on the poverty alleviation of women in Anambra State. Population of the study was the beneficiaries of the programme totaling 767,663. Sample size was however 400. Three hypotheses guided the study. Chi-square statistical test was used to test the hypotheses and arrive at some findings. It was found out that there are numerous skills acquisition programmes available in the centers and that they have had positive influences on the participating women in positioning them to economic independence and financial freedom. The paper recommended that to strengthen the scheme, government needs to engage more monitoring and evaluation workers and give them adequate training to adequately capture the data and details of the programme with a view to improving it. Government should also make funds more readily available for grandaunts of the scheme.