ABSTRACT
This study was designed to explore the significant impact of government expenditure on poverty alleviation in Lagos state. For the purpose of the study secondary data were collected from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical bulletin 2008. The data collected span from 1977-2007. The data collected were subjected to regression analysis with the aid of statistical package for social science (SPSS).
After testing the various hypotheses, it was established that there is a correlation between government expenditure and poverty alleviation in Nigeria most especially in Lagos state. It is recommended that the current poverty alleviation programme should be reviewed and citizens and residents of Lagos State should be consulted before polices are made and they should be involved in the implementation process.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The role of government spending in promoting economic growth and poverty reduction has been intensely debated among various scholars (Aschauer, 1989; Barro, 1990; Tanzi and Zee,1997; Fan, Hazell and Thorat, 2000). Most of these studies either treat total government spending as one variable or only include one type of spending in their models, which could obscure the underlying economic dynamics by aggregation.
The importance of government expenditure in the process of human development is not only improving education also improving the health of people. Health status is conventionally measured by life expectancy at birth, and by child and infant mortality. Neither of these measures reflects the extent of morbidity. Health indicators (nutrition, mobility, morbidity and height) are positively correlated with education (Sackey, 2005; Cochrane 1986, 1988).
Yet, it has been shown that, even after taking note of low levels of these variables, "one would have expected a much higher level of human development achievement in Nigeria where oil export boosted the GOP, human development has continued to decrease since 1981 (Gupta et al, 2003). The main objective is to simulate if government expenditure on health would help to improve economic growth in Nigeria by 2015.
A fundamental paradox in Nigeria is that about two -third of the Nigerian people are poor despite living in a country with vast potential wealth (NEEDS, 2005: xiii). Poverty wears an absolute look in Nigeria· and most Africa countries. In Sudan, particularly in the Dafur area, the level of poverty is so high that millions of women, children and men have been subjected to extreme precarious existence. In the Central Republic of Congo, young men and women work as slaves in mines in exchange for daily bread.
A 1984 World Bank report stipulated that severe hunger and malnutrition now afflict more than one in four people in (Africa). The report further stated that famine has become the predominant story in contemporary Africa, [Stryker in Phyllis and 0' Meara 1986:329) The crisis in agricultural production in Africa is perhaps most portrayed by the food production per capita which has apparently declined almost continuously for over three decades.
Many African countries have tried to solve the problem of food insecurity be importing foodstuffs. These countries have had to contend with public finance crisis. A typical example is Nigeria which used the windfall from oil by the early 1980's to import almost everything that was consumed in the country. While this was being done agricultural production depleted to dangerous levels. At the same time skyrocketing increase in the prices of commodities made life an uphill task for most Nigerians, triggering a slide in their social and economic fortunes.
Recently, demands for cereals and tubers for feeding livestock and producing bio-fuel has generated food crisis in the world, with more dama9ing consequences for Africa where the poor depend mainly on cereals, roots and tubers for food. The global food crisis has added a new and critical dimension to food insecurity in Nigeria; the poor are experiencing a new level of hunger and deprivation. It has been predicted that Nigeria will not survive a severe food crisis.
One significant factor that has surfaced in all explanations of the food crisis in Africa is poverty and its relation to agricultural output. Pinstrup- Anderson, Pandya- Lorch and Rosegrant attested to this when they argued that the projections of the IFPRI that many millions of people will suffer from hunger and its debilitating consequences may be avoided if;
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