Resource allocation, weaponised poverty, and deviant economies in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This article examined the implications of resource allocation for weaponised poverty and deviant economies in Nigeria. It used a quantitative method to collect data from 600 respondents randomly selected from three of the existing six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Through purposive sampling, it selected 12 in-depth interview respondents to obtain complementary qualitative data that were content analysed. The logistic regression analysis indicated a significant relationship between resource allocation and weaponised poverty in Nigeria (β = 2.095 P value < .001). The article concludes that the presence of resources in each state of Nigeria undermines the politics of ethnic entitlement. To prevent more citizens from sliding into poverty, it suggests a paradigm shift from the political resource allocation formula (PRAF) to an equitable resource allocation formula (ERAF) alternative or an admixture of ERAF and concessional resources allocation formula (CRAF).

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnic entitlement
• oil-producing areas
• deviant economies
• federalism
• Nigeria

Acknowledgements

I hereby acknowledge the American University in Cairo for supporting me to present this paper at the International Conference it convened on African Challenges in Cairo, Egypt (ICRAC), No Poverty, between December 4 and 5, 2019 at the American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Johnson Oluwole Ayodele

Johnson Oluwole Ayodele was a lecturer and faculty member, Department of Sociology, Lagos State University, but is now the Head, Research and Development, School of Criminology, Lagos, Nigeria. He is a specialist in Criminology, Victimology, Social Problems, Social Work, Sociology of Education and Sociology of Mass Communication, with a particular interest in victims’ crime reporting to the police. He has done extensive work in Lagos, some in Ogun, Oyo and Osun states of Nigeria. His work has focused on social responses to victimisation, police attitudes to victims, women as victims of widowhood, subsidy withdrawal injustice and marital rape. Ayodele is the editor of Global Perspectives on Victimisation Analysis and Prevention. He has had some of his work published in reputable local and scholarly international journals.