LIFT ABOVE POVERTY ORGANIZATION AND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT IN EKITI, SOUTH WEST, NIGERIA.

Abstract

Unemployment in Nigeria has reached a crescendo involving an overwhelming majority of the youthful population, the majority of whom have consequently devised various unconventional means of fending for themselves. To combat this menace, the government has developed various policies to alleviate the suffering inflicted on the general population, one of which is the Lift Above Poverty (LAPO) scheme, which aims at making soft loans accessible to youths for entrepreneurial businesses. Therefore, this study examines the overall impact of this laudable scheme on poverty alleviation among Nigerian youth. The study adopted a multi-stage quantitative sampling procedure that involved 157 respondents across the South-Western States using questionnaire and interview techniques as research tools. Findings revealed an awareness of the scheme and its importance, but the stringent conditions attached to its accessibility have made it very unpopular among the youths, hence its huge failure in alleviating the suffering of the teeming population of youths in the South-Western part of the country. The major findings above recommended a total overhaul of the procedures as well as the structures of the entire scheme, which paved the way for its ineptitude and huge failure