EFFECT OF VITAMINS C AND E INTAKE ON BLOOD ... - EuroJournals

European Journal of Social Sciences - Volume 2, Number 1 (2006)
of access by the poor (members of the target groups) and small scale industrialists to physical assets
such as land and capital as well as credits (funds) to initiate investment projects that will engage
people. Also, the urban centres have witnessed a great influx of people from rural, who are in search
of greener pasture. For this particular reason, pressure has been mounted on the limited economic
resources and social amenities in urban centres in Osun state.
Low level of industialization, a usual avenue for employment, over-concentration on
government sector for employment were also identified as reasons for poor employment situation in
the state. The study also identified, among other things, the belief that "the rich gets richer while the
poor gets poorer" as another factor militating against poverty in the state. The so-called Nigerian
factor which tacitly supports corruption, theft of public funds/materials, insincerity in policy execution,
population growth, social and economic imbalance as observed by Mongelle (1995) were also found to
have negative effects on employment creation and reduction in poverty in the state. In addition, the
paper identified discrimination of all sorts, poor state of the economy and under-utilization of
resources, lack of access to markets where the poor can sell and buy goods and services, and
inadequate access to the means of supporting rural development accounted for the persistence of high
unemployment and poverty rates in Osun state.
There exists a big gap between the objectives of NEEDS programme and its achievement in
terms of employment generation and alleviation of poverty. It is observed that NEEDS is a new
programme but in order to rekindle the employment generation and ameliorate poverty through
NEEDS certain steps have to be taken. One way of reducing unemployment and poverty in Osun state
is developing human resources at the disposal of the state. There is no doubt that Osun state is
endowed with abundant human resources but when the human resources are not adequately utilized,
efforts channelled towards reduction of unemployment and poverty would not yield dividends. Thus,
there should be adequate manpower planning. Indeed, the key to eliminating unemployment and
poverty in Osun state is to empower all categories of poor people in the state. It is, therefore,
suggested that empowerment of the people is a way out of the predicament. This empowerment should
be in form of possession of adequate educational skill and finance. The sincerity of all the three tiers
of governments in implementing such programmes is a necessary impetus for the success of these
programmes. In addition, distribution of amenities should be based mainly on the "need" formula.
Also, there is a dire need for further improvement in farming activities and strong
diversification of the state economy. In this regard, the Osun state government should show more
interest in promoting heavy industries. Above all, agriculture which is the mainstream of the economy
should be supported by providing a variety of incentives to farmers. Embarkment on various
agricultural programmes for unemployed youths and graduates and adequate provision of skill
acquisition materials for the youths should be encouraged. Also, State Government effort at
purchasing farm tools such as tractors and cutlasses to assists the farmers in the state should be
intensified. Improvement in the patronage of local products and assistance to local manufacturers
financially are also important. The continuity of these exercises and transparency on the part of the
government will bring about a significant reduction in poverty in the state in the long run.
Areas for future research:
While the report provided here is an eye opener to employment generation and poverty
alleviation situation vis-a-vis the activities of the agencies charged with it in Osun state, further studies
that would include broad-based household survey are needed. This will help provide, among other
things reliable basis for development planning targetted towards employment generation and poverty
alleviation in Nigeria. By the time of preparing this report, the SEEDS and LEEDS aspects of NEEDS
were just been launched. More time is still needed in order to be able to ascertain the actual impact of
NEEDS programme in Osun state. The paper only examined some of the already existing poverty
alleviation programmes in the state which NEEDS takes over from in recent time.
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