Ibadan Journal of the Social Sciences
Volume 19, No. 1, 2021
DOI: 10.36108/ijss/1202.91.0130
Analysis of Inequality, Poverty and Sustainable Development of Delta State, Nigeria
Dickson Dare Ajayi1 and Clement Ebizimor Deinne2
1Department of Geography, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
2Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Niger Delta University, Nigeria
Abstract
This paper analyses the trends of inequality and its implications on the sustainable development of Delta State, Nigeria with a view to understanding the variation in inequality over space. A stratified sampling technique was adopted. Inequality was measured based on Gini co-efficient index from (2004-2016), while poverty categories (non-poor, transient poor and chronic poor) were measured using $1.25 and $2.00 thresholds. A Gini co-efficient of 0.4650 was recorded for Delta State in (2004), 0.4698 in (2010), 0.33609 in (2012/13) and 0.34268 in (2015/16). There were 343 (41.5%) chronic poor households in Delta South, 283 (33.3%) in Delta Central and 180 (22.2%) in Delta North, while 147 (21.6%) households in Delta South, 116 (12.7%) in Delta North and 103 (11.3%) in Delta Central were transient poor. One-Way ANOVA significantly explained the spatial variation in distribution of inequality and poverty among households at (p<0.05). Water source (F=24.786), distance to water source (F=18.509), improved sanitation (F=15.973), road length (F=9.468) and household size (F=7.398) were important predictors of spatial variation of inequality and poverty. This paper recommends that government at all levels should invest more in livelihood development, improved income distribution at the bottom and access to opportunities is key to reducing inequality and enhancing sustainable development of Nigeria.
Keywords: Spatial inequality, poverty trends, sustainable development, Delta State, Nigeria