Poverty in Nigeria: The Corollary of Institutional Failures

Right from the 1960s, Nigeria has been having institutions that were established for its development. Despite the existence of the institutions there have been serious social inequalities. Chief among the social inequalities is Poverty. Indeed, structures, institutions and agencies operating within and possibly outside the country have been interacting to produce and sustain these social inequalities at unacceptable levels. Consequently, poverty has been the order of the day. The reality is that almost all the institutions and agencies established to reduce or eradicate poverty have become conduit pipes draining away almost all the fortunes of the country. The amount of wealth in form of human and natural resources the country possessed has never been judiciously utilized for the benefit of the majority of the populace. Billions of Dollars have disappeared from the government coffers in Nigeria as a result of the unscrupulous nature of the country's leaders in collaboration with their accomplice in foreign countries. Institutions that should serve as mechanisms for removing poverty have not been up to the task until recently. The target of this paper is to interrogate some of these institutions, whose failures led to the pervasiveness of the scourge of poverty in the country