Ethnic Plurality, Prebendalism and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

Poverty is as old as man in the society. In Nigeria, since independence in 1960, the federal government hasbeen battling to reduce poverty in the country. Many poverty programmes (NAPEP, OFN, Green Revolution, and FEAP) have been put in place to control poverty, and minimize the sufferings of the poor masses. Regrettably, the general outcome of these poverty programmesyielded no positive result as conditions get worse daily at the grassroots due to the politicisation of ethnic plurality and the existence of prebendalism. This paper therefore suggests that ethnic plurality and prebendalismcan be curtailed through adequate sensitization whereby the citizens develop anti-ethnic, and anti-prebendal attitudes towards nation building.