1Department of Geography and Meteorology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Enugu State
2Department of Geography and Meteorology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Enugu State
The paper examined the nature of poverty in Nigeria and the case for sustainable management of water resource systems as a suitable strategy to fighting poverty and hunger. The last century has been a period of unprecedented development, yet more than 40 million Nigerians continue to be trapped in absolute poverty and hunger beneath human decency. Present efforts to eliminate them are inadequate. Some hurdles against poverty alleviation in Nigeria are the willful component of choice by politicians, selfishness and ignorance. Poverty alleviation became a worldwide issue since 1950 and has been marked by three phases which were beset by inappropriate technical provisions, the impact of climate change and rapid land use reform. Hence predictions show that hunger and poverty will afflict many more Nigerians by the years 2025, if there are no positive changes in water resource system management to increase agricultural productivity. As degenerating land is becoming unproductive, it must be made more productive by sustainable management of water resource systems particularly in the sudan-sahel regions of Nigeria. Irrespective of adverse impact of climate change, if investments were channeled towards rain fed agriculture, reliable irrigation and effective soil moisture conservation, sufficient crops could be produced to deal with the problem of hunger and poverty in Nigeria.
Hunger, Poverty alleviation, Water resource, Sudan-sahel, Nigeria
