Background to the study

Conceptually, as a socio-economic framework for enabling sustainable human development in Nigeria, the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) had focused on introducing the basic targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) into government policy, at both national and grassroots’ levels. Although the NEEDS has been projected as a medium-term strategy (2003–07), it has derived significant impetus from Nigeria's long-term goal of eradicating poverty by means of a participatory approach (NPC, 2005). NEEDS is a nationally coordinated framework of action in close partnership with the state and local government authorities (through their respective State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (SEEDS) and Local Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LEEDS) platforms). Besides the federal government's NEEDS, each state and local government prepares its respective SEEDS and LEEDS in line with set NEEDS targets, which identifies priority programmes for key aspects of human development.

Operationally, NEEDS focuses on four key strategies: reorienting national values, reducing poverty, creating wealth and generating employment. In order to bring related targets of the NEEDS plan into timely fruition, the welfare of the people, their health, education, physical security and political and socio-economic empowerment would be prioritised in the implementation process. In this light, the NEEDS plan proposes to reduce poverty and inequality among Nigerians by adopting the following strategies:

• 1. to improve irrigation systems and the entire agricultural architecture since half of the Nigerian populace (that is, approximate 85 million people) subsists on agriculture and lives in rural areas. Also, the NEEDS sought to enable an integrated rural development programme in order to stem the tide of rural–urban migration in Nigeria;

• 2. to improve and make education accessible to all categories of the Nigerian populace, especially children (individuals who are up to 12 years of age) who constitute half of the entire population;

• 3. to improve the state of healthcare delivery and accessibility with specific emphasis on HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis and reproductive health-related diseases;

• 4. to enable special empowerment programmes (such as provisioning of safety nets, mass housing and pension reforms) for people who are vulnerable to the ravages of poverty, such as women, children, the disabled and the elderly; and

• 5. to invest in and so improve infrastructural facilities, with specific emphasis on electricity and roads.