CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
To have “No Poverty” thus ending poverty in all its forms as the number one on the list of the
UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) agenda by the year 2030 coupled with series of
actions from international organizations such as World Bank, IMF, UNDP etc. depicts the global
commitment and genuine concern for poverty reduction in order to enhance development and
good livelihood for humanity.
Modern development theories have increasingly placed greater importance on the need for
human development and investment as an exit path or way out from poverty. The ideology that
education and human capital are essential for economic growth and subsequently contributing to
poverty reduction gained much importance in the mid-1990s when it was discovered that the
economic progress of East Asian countries; Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan in 1970s
and 1980s was largely due to their investment in education and human capital formation (World
Bank, 1993). Education and poverty are inversely related. Thus, the higher the level of education
of a country’s population, the lower or lesser the number of poor persons will be in that
population. This is because, education imparts knowledge and skills which is supportive in
higher wages (Cremina & Nakabugob, 2012). Investing in human capital through education is
therefore crucial for poverty reduction and achieving development.
As espoused by Jeffery & Basu (1996), education has direct and indirect effects on poverty
reduction. The direct effect of education on poverty reduction is through the increase in income
or wages while the indirect effect of education on poverty is in respect to ‘human poverty’. That
is, as education improves an individual’s income, the fulfillment of basic necessities then
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becomes easier, improves their living standards and eventually leads to a reduction in human
poverty. Education is not just an instrument and indicator of development but an end on its own.
Education fosters self-understanding, improves quality of lives and increases people’s
productivity and creativity thus promoting entrepreneurship and technological advancements in
society (Omoniyi, 2013) which impacts positively on the development of a country. Both
poverty and education are interconnected hence, reducing poverty and achieving sustainable
development is somewhat dependent on the country’s skilled and educated workers.
To this end, this thesis aims to look at the role of education in poverty reduction and
development.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.1.1 History of Nigerian Education
Education in Nigeria dates back to precolonial times. During this time, informal and indigenous
education was the form of education that prevailed where knowledge and skills were passed on
to the younger ones within the community by the elderly ones in the form of apprenticeship or by
word of mouth. This form of education was strongly based on socio-cultural setting which
ensured that people had an active participation in life. Western or enlightened form of education
was introduced in the 16th and 19th centuries by Christian Missionaries and European Merchants
(Addai-Mununkum, 2014). This western form of education was totally different from the
indigenous form of education, it was based on book. The educational setting was unique and
took place in Forts schools which was run by European merchants specifically for their mulatto
children. They introduced reading, writing, and arithmetic as an essential and integral part of
their education and aimed at producing educated local people to work as storekeepers and clerks
in commerce, industry, and government. The western form education by Christian Missionaries
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was also primarily aimed at teaching and spreading Christianity. After independence, the
indigenous government introduced several educational programs with the intent or objective of
establishing more schools throughout the country and to extend financial assistance to unassisted
schools, as well as improve the quality of education in the country. Unfortunately, some of the
programs introduced posed a lot of challenge in the educational system which necessitated an
Educational Reform to deal with the anomalies. In the governments bid to rectify the anomalies
in the educational system, government sought the need to change the bookish form of education
in Nigeria and to shift the education pattern to a more practically oriented one. This reform
action led to the establishment of a committee dubbed “Dzobo Committee” who were charged
with the responsibility of restructuring the content of the educational system to make it more
practical and more related to Nigerian culture and setting. The idea behind this reform was to
enable the individual Nigerian to contribute their quota to the economic development of the
country.
Thus, in 1974, the restructured content of education introduced new programmes that were
approved and implemented by the then Government. The reform was to be effected in
Kindergarten, Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary Schools but due to financial constraints
facing the country the reform programme remained only at the embryonic stage. In 1981, the
Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) Government reviewed the 1974 education reform
with the same vision of making it more practical and more related to Nigerian culture and way of
life. In 1994 and 2002, the deHeer Ammisah Committee and the Anamuah-Mensah Committee
respectively reviewed the Education Reform. They took into consideration the structure and
content of the then educational system in order to identify the anomalies in the system and how
best to correct them to ultimately promote quality education. The rationale for the new Education
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Reform is thus to provide holistic and quality education to the individual. This would enable
products of education to be self-fulfilled and help contribute productively to the socioeconomic
development of the country. In the light of this, it is imperative to take a critical look at the
newly reformed education system in Nigeria and discuss how best quality education can be
achieved.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Nigeria has experienced increased growth of about 7% on yearly basis since 2005. Having
achieved the status of a middle-income country status in the year 2010, the country’s per capita
growth has been comparatively high. Despite the growth recorded, poverty remains prevalent
most especially in the rural areas (Cooke et al., 2016). As of today, the literacy rate in Nigeria is
76.6%, yet there are still significant number of the population that are poor and have little or no
education at all. Four of every ten Nigerians live in poverty. Many of them work in agriculture,
mostly as fishermen and food crop farmers (Nigeria Statistical Service, 2014). Others are
engaged in micro and small enterprises, or finding a survival income as daily casual labor.
Today, two thirds of the working population outside agriculture is active in the informal
economy and many are persistently poor, particularly women (Palmer, 2007).
The Education Act of 1987, followed by the Constitution of 1992, offered a great opportunity to
redefine and reform the educational policies in the country. Following this new impulse to the
educational policies, in 2011, the total rate of primary school enrollment was 84% which was
described by UNICEF as "far ahead" of the Sub-Saharan average (Adu-Agyem & Osei-Poku,
2012). In 2016, the government of Nigeria introduced free education at the senior high school
level all geared towards increasing the literacy rate in the country. However, education indicators
in Nigeria reflect a gender gap and disparities between rural and urban areas. These disparities
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drive public action against illiteracy and inequities in access to education (Senadza, 2012).
Eliminating illiteracy has been a constant objective of Nigerian education policies for the last 40
years and there is the need to evaluate the potential benefits of education as a means of poverty
reduction in Nigeria, most especially in the rural areas. This study therefore aims at examining
how education could be used to reduce poverty and enhance development in rural communities
using the case of the Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The general objective of the study is to examine the relationship between education and poverty,
and assess the role of education in reducing poverty and enhancing development in Nigeria. The
study specifically aims:
• To assess how indigenes of the Gwagwalada Area Council perceive the role of education
in poverty reduction.
• To examine the relationship between parents (household heads) income and educational
level of their children in the Gwagwalada Area Council.
• To study the contribution of educational policy makers/actors in reducing poverty in the
Gwagwalada Area Council.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• To what extent do indigenes of Gwagwalada Area Council perceive education as a tool
for poverty reduction?
• What is the relationship between households’ income and the educational level of
children in the Gwagwalada Area Council?
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• What the relationship is between parents (household heads) level of education and its
influence on educating their children in the Gwagwalada Area Council?
• How have educational policy makers/actors contributed to poverty reduction?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will be beneficial to government agencies, educational planners, students, researchers,
and community leaders. It will help policymakers understand the importance of education in
reducing poverty in rural communities and encourage greater investment in rural education. The
study will also contribute to existing knowledge of education and rural development in Nigeria.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study focuses on the role of education in reducing poverty in rural communities, specifically
in Gwagwalada Area Council. It examines the impact of education on employment opportunities
income generation, and living standards among rural resident.