World Bank Loan Conditionalities and Politics of Poverty Reduction in Africa: The Nigerian Experience, 1999 – 2012.
ABSTRACT
The study examined the World Bank loan conditionalities and the politics of poverty reduction in Africa, with emphasis on Nigeria. Several decades of grappling with World Bank loan conditionalities and poverty reduction strategies have, at best, yielded meager returns as poverty and underdevelopment persist. Thus, the study investigated the implementation of World Bank loan conditionalities and their impact on social welfare in Nigeria.
The study predicated its investigations on the method of analysis derived from Marxian political economy (dialectical materialism); while method of data collection was qualitative in nature. Data collected were analyzed using qualitative descriptive analysis. The study noted, among others, that there have been politicization, inconsistencies, contradictions and failures in the implementation of World Bank loan conditionalities.
The study sees the existence of class, poverty and inequality in spite of mounted programmes and strategies for poverty reduction in Nigeria, to be intrinsic in the character of political leaders that inherited the state apparatuses at independence. The study argues that poverty reduction mantra is a façade as the Nigeria state institutionalized poverty and inequality.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page —————————————————————————————-i
Approval Page ———————————————————————————–ii
Dedication —————————————————————————————-iii
Acknowledgement ——————————————————————————iv
Table of Contents ——————————————————————————–vi
List of Tables————————————————————————————-viii
List of Figures ———————————————————————————–x
Abbreviations ————————————————————————————xi
Abstract ——————————————————————————————-xiv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION —————————————————–1
1.1 Background of the Study ——————————————————————1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ——————————————————————6
1.3 Objectives of the Study ——————————————————————–10
1.4 Significance of the Study ——————————————————————10
1.5 Literature Review ————————————————————————–12
1.6 Theoretical Framework ——————————————————————–24
1.7 Hypotheses ———————————————————————————–32
1.8 Method of Data Collection —————————————————————-32
1.9 Method of Data Analysis ——————————————————————35
CHAPTER TWO: PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES AND
EMPLOYMENT GENERATION IN NIGERIA —————————————36
2.1 The Privatization of Public Enterprises as a condition to assess the
World Bank Loan ———————————————————————-36
2.2 Historical Background of Privatization of Public Enterprises ————————43
2.3 The Privatization of Public Enterprises in Nigeria 1999 – 2012 ———————47
2.4 The Privatization of Public Enterprises and Contradictions of
Poverty Reduction ——————————————————————–62
2.5 The Privatization of Public Enterprises and Employment Generation in
Nigeria 1999 – 2012 ——————————————————————72
CHAPTER THREE: GOVERNMENT FUNDING OF SOCIAL WELFARE
AND PRIMARY HEALTTH CARE DELIVERY IN NIGERIA ————-83
3.1 Reduction in Government Expenditure as a Condition to assess the
World Bank Loan ———————————————————————-83
3.2 Government Expenditure on Social Welfare in Nigeria, 1999 – 2012 ————– 85
3.3 Primary Health Care Delivery ————————————————————92
3.4 Current Status and Gaps in Primary Health Care Services in Nigeria ————–97
3.5 Reduction in Government Expenditure on Social Welfare and Primary Health
Care Delivery ——————————————————————————–103
CHAPTER FOUR: WORLD BANK DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
AND HUMAN CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA —————-112
4.1 World Bank and Developing Economies ————————————————112
4.2 World Bank Development Assistance to Nigeria ————————————–114
4.3 Overview of Nigeria’s Human Capacity Development between
1999 and 2012 ————————————————————————–122
4.4 World Bank Development Assistance Packages between 1999 and 2012 ———130
4.5 Impact of World Bank Development Assistance on Human Capacity
Development in Nigeria ———————————————————132
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS ————————————————————138
5.1 Summary ————————————————————————————-138
5.2 Conclusion ———————————————————————————–141
5.3 Recommendations ————————————————————————–144
BIBLIOGRAPHY —————————————————————————–145
INTRODUCTION
African states have since the last quarter of last century been besieged by poverty, stagnation and backwardness, where over 60 per cent of its inhabitants are living below poverty line. Thus, Okolie (2005:10) remarks as follows: “Majority of the citizenry is afflicted by and mired in a culture of grinding penury occasioned largely by reckless, rapacious and unabashed misappropriation and misuse of public wealth”.
Similarly, White & Killick, (2001: xiii) noted that: “Data on income poverty since the late 1980s show Africa’s share of those living on less than a dollar a day to have risen, the absolute number of poor in Africa has grown five times more than the figure for Latin America, and twice that for South Asia”. About fifteen years ago, the term ‘Poverty Eradication’ started percolating through to people all over the world, especially in Nigeria and other countries where agencies like the United Nations, World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the like hold sway.
Other terms being used interchangeably with the above are ‘poverty reduction’, ‘poverty alleviation’, ‘attack on poverty’, and ‘action on poverty’ – all to denote various actions, projects, programmes, activities and initiatives to bring about improvement in the situation of the poor. Such terms differ a lot in their meanings, depths and precepts. They may also bring out the seriousness or otherwise of the initiators, operators and reviewers of the programmes.
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StudentsandScholarship Team.