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ABSTRACT
Poverty in Nigeria has outgrown the imaginative minds of the early Nigerian economic Analysts
history has shown that it has prevailed continuously overtime across all geographical regions and
majority of Nigerians live within it adverse effects.
Graduates are faced with unemployment, hunger and other faces of poverty while many homes
strive to survive from whatever little they could dig up.
The survival of any nation or people is predicated on the level of development and where ever the
standard of living is low, the nation or people stand at risk of total economic collapse.
Home Economics Education curriculum is adequately structured to meet the challenges of today. It
is a vital tool which can be used to develop individuals since it is being re-branded and repositioned
to capture its progressive roots, make programmes more vibrant and sustainable to alleviate
poverty through creativity and entrepreneurship education.
Home Economics Education is a field where opportunities exist for promoting self-employment and
employment in private and public sector of the economy for reducing unemployment and poverty
in the country.
The purpose of this presentation is to re-orientate the general public on the diverse means through
Home Economics Education can help in alleviating poverty in Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION
Poverty is the inability to attain a minimal standard of living measured in terms of basic
consumption needs or income required to satisfy them. It is one of the most serious problems
faced by families in Nigeria today.
Past governments between 1972 and now have mounted at least eight projects that were meant to
alleviate poverty and billions of naira was spent on these projects yet Nigerians have remained poor
and hungry. Nigeria, one of the largest country in Africa and the sixth largest oil producing country
in the world has an estimated population of 150 million people living in both rural and urban areas
exposed to the economic rigors of POVERTY.
The international fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) (2007) noted that Despite its plentiful
resources and oil wealth, poverty is widespread in Nigeria. The situation has worsened since the
late 1990s, to the extent that the country is now considered one of the 20 poorest countries in the
world. Over 70 percent of the population is classified as poor, with 35 percent living in absolute
poverty.
Poverty which is the inability of an individual or a group in securing the basic necessities of life such
as clothing, food health, portable water and shelter, is deadly. It is a serious problem which has
eaten deep into the fabric of African countries.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was adopted in 2000 and the target date for achieving
the goals is 2015. Nigeria is a party to the adoption of MDGs. The year 2015 is just a year away and
poverty is still on the increase in Nigeria.
If poverty eradication strategies are the main Goal of MDGs, Then how can this be achieved..
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Does Home Economics Education help
empower students in the industries of their
discipline?
Are the Skills & Entrepreneurial development
strategies in Home Economics Education being
implemented truly effective?
Does the classroom stimulate creativity
necessary for Home Economics Education in
the students?
WHAT IS POVERTY
CAUSES OF POVERTY
Given the magnitude and spread of poverty, and the
desire to curb its spread, there is a need to identify
the causes of poverty. There are basically two
conceptual sources of poverty, namely:
A. Factors that make the number of individuals in the
consuming unit, larger in relation to the amount of
productive services the unit is able to supply. That is,
there is an excessive family size in relation to income.
B. Factors which make the value of the productive
services the household can supply, low relative to the
household needs or physical incapacity and
discrimination in terms of age colour, race or sex.
A
Home Economics Education, a skill oriented
course, is a field of study that offers numerous
occupations for individuals. it possesses the
capability of equipping individuals with
saleable skills that make for self-employment,
self-reliance and creation of wealth.
B
It is an all-embracing programme that focuses
on the welfare of individuals and their
families. It is a vocational and skill based
education which prepares one for gainful
employment, employer of labour, good family
living, self-employment and development of
the society. It equips individuals to attain and
live a useful and satisfying life.
C
Home Economics Education is self-reliant and
contributes immensely to national
development (Olaitan, 1996). Home
Economics Education is that aspect of the
total education programme that provides the
knowledge, skills, understanding and attitude
needed to perform in the business world as a
producer or consumer of goods and services
that business offers.
D
Home Economics Education prepares students
for the acquisition and development of skills
and competencies, attitude and attributes
which are necessary for efficiency of the
economic system. It makes people to be job
producers rather than job seekers (Audu and
Abdulkadir, 2009).
E
Home Economics Education contributes in some
measures to the objective of self-realization, so
work offered in Home Economics Education
enable the students to improve upon their ability
to solve problems. Since a skill is necessary to be
gainfully employed and fight poverty, Home
Economics Education provides such skill for selfemployment, it enables students to acquire skills,
knowledge and relevant attitudes necessary for
self-employment or employment in specific
business environment.
F
To me, Home Economics Education is
education for and about skills and business
with primary purpose of preparing students
for gainful employment in Home Economics
occupations, which will help in poverty
reduction.
Role of Education
The educational goals go in line with the objectives of
Home Economics Education, which include:
Empowering the individual with desirable skills knowledge and
value to perform specific functions so as to become self-reliant.
Helping him to appreciate the world around him and contribute
maximally to the social and economic development of the
nation.
Empowering the individual in such a way that the individual will
develop his intellectual capacity that would help him to make
meaningful decisions in all spheres of life.
Helping the individual to become a judicious spender and
develop proper values for the achievement of healthy living and
growth of the nation.
My Take
Home Economics Education is a means of
acquiring entrepreneurial skills and knowledge
which will afford the recipients wide saleable
opportunities needed to mobilize available
resources to meet the desired self
employment.
Also
The wide employment opportunities as
identified makes it the only option which can
bring respite for the pathetic situation of
unemployment thereby reducing poverty
through its credible skills acquisition
programme in Nigeria.
Conclusion
Promoting Home Economics Education is necessary for
Nigeria to get out of the current global financial crisis.
That is, why this write-up tried to bring to lime light
government policy initiatives for poverty reduction,
Home Economics Education and poverty reduction, the
role of Home Economics Education in poverty
reduction, factors that can hinder effective teaching of
Home Economics Education for skill acquisition and
poverty reduction and recommended ways of
promoting Home Economics Education for poverty
reduction in Nigeria.
Refference
Poverty. Merriam - Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
"Measuring Inequality". The World Bank Reform. 2011.
"Poverty and Equity - Nigeria, 2010 World Bank Country
Profile". http://www.worldbank.org/nigeria
Raphael, Dennis (June 2009. Poverty, Human Development, and Health
in Africa: Research, Practice, and Advocacy Dilemmas). Canadian
Journal of Nursing Research
strategies for reducing economic poverty through home
www.scholarsworks.com Chinwendu Igbaji
PROMOTING HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION FOR ECONOMIC
GROWTH ...Global academic group 2001
the challenges of reducing poverty in Nigeria - Global ...education for
sustainable development Nwakego Molokwu 2001