Government Provision of Economic, Social and Community Services and Rural Poverty in Nigeria

Although poverty is a general phenomenon in Nigeria, it is more severe in the rural areas where the people lack access to adequate economic, social and community services. It is therefore asserted that an increased provision of economic and social infrastructural services to rural dwellers will reduce rural poverty to a large extent in Nigerian. This study therefore examined the impact of government provision of economic, social and community services on rural poverty in Nigeria. Specifically, the study investigated the impact of government spending on agriculture, road and construction, transportation and communication, education, and healthcare services on rural poverty in Nigeria. The Johansen cointegration test, error correction mechanism (ECM), and Granger causality test were used to estimate annual time-series data for the period 1981 to 2021. The estimated regression result showed that government expenditure on agriculture, government expenditure on road and construction, and government expenditure on health all have significant negative impact on rural poverty; government expenditure on transportation and communication has insignificant negative impact on rural poverty; while government expenditure on education has significant positive impact on rural poverty in Nigeria. Among other things, it is recommended that government should increase its expenditure on the provision of economic, social and community services directly to the rural areas so as to reduce rural poverty in the country.