Sustainable Rural Development in Nigeria through Microfinance: The Place of Women

Abstract

The achievement of the modest goal of stopping the traumatic march of poverty, has so far eluded Nigeria and may not be able to achieve the more ambitious Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing poverty by half by 2015. Despite substantial improvements since attainment of independence in Nigeria like most developing nations, extreme poverty remains widespread. This paper uses a simple non-technical framework to explain the poverty profile of Nigeria, anti-poverty programmes, poverty indicators and the priority of rural development in the country. This framework which accounts for the dynamic interaction between the rural areas and poverty also motivates a strategy for dealing with poverty in the country. The paper however, calls for concerted informed efforts to eradicate poverty on the scale called for by the Millennium Development Goals through the promotion of microfinance institutions to empower the poor particularly the women