Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria Through Investments in the Manufacturing Sector

This paper discusses investments in the manufacturing sector with the intent to reduce poverty situation in Nigeria which has reached a monumental crisis and has become a great concern to Government at all levels. In spite of the documentation and implementation of government programmes and projects, the poverty level has remained, and is accentuating yearly. The high poverty level has been partly attributed principally, to the loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector, especially wage employment, arising from the shutdown of many enterprises because of the unfavourable economic conditions in Nigeria. The objective of this study is to proffer solution to some of the problems leading to shut down of manufacturing enterprises, with a view to alleviate the poverty that would otherwise have arisen there from. Secondary data were used with econometric analysis. The theoretical framework in this study hinges on the neoclassical growth theory based on the work of Solow (1956), which rests on three central assumptions: constant returns to scale, perfect competition and exogenous technological change, complemented with the new growth theory. Time series data of a period from 1977 to 2008 was used to estimate the effects of increased investments in the manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy using E-view. From the findings, increased investment is likely to increase manufacturing gross domestic output, and provide better machinery that can reduce costs and production time, better methods and process control and upgrade the quality of the labour force. Key words: Poverty alleviation; Investment; Manufacturing sector; Enterprises