SOCIAL INVESTMENT PROGRAMMES AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN IN AKWA IBOM STATE. AN ASSESSMENT OF CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER (CCT).

This study investigated the impact of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme on vulnerable population in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. The study became necessary because of the ongoing problem of poverty, unemployment, and socioeconomic deprivation despite the implementation of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), as one of the major strategies in Nigeria's social protection system for poverty reduction. Specifically, the study aimed at assessing how the CCT programme had impact on the human capital development, economic empowerment of the vulnerable groups and the overall well-being of beneficiaries in the study area. The type of research in this study was descriptive survey. Target population were beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer programme of the selected Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State. The respondents were selected using correct sampling procedures in drawing a sample of 380 respondents. The structured questionnaire items that were used to collect primary data were based on four-point Likert scale items. Frequency counts and simple percentages were used in the analyses of the data to answer the research questions and in testing the hypotheses the Chi-square (χ²) statistical technique at 0.05 significance level was used. The results showed that the Conditional Cash Transfer programme failed to significantly increase human capital development of vulnerable populations (χ² = 2.803, p > 0.05) because there was no significant improvement in school enrolment, utilization of healthcare services, child nutrition and awareness of education. The study also indicated that there was a marginal economic empowerment of the beneficiaries with no significant improvement in income of the beneficiaries, food security and financial stability and only marginal improvement in income generating activities (χ² = 2.203, p > 0.05). The study recommended that the Conditional Cash Transfer programme though had achieved some level of improvement in poverty reduction, human capital development, economic empowerment and sustainable livelihood improvement in Akwa Ibom State, it still has limitation as a result of irregularity in cash disbursement, underfunding, low proportion of the poor and vulnerable targeted, limited programme coverage, weak monitoring and evaluation system, poor institutional co-ordination efforts and lack of integration with other complementary livelihood intervention efforts. The study thus suggested that for the effectiveness of the Program as a sustainable social protection and poverty reduction tool, government should ensure regular and timely cash disbursement, improve beneficiary targeting, monitoring and evaluation systems, and link the program to other relevant sectors, including skill and vocational acquisition, entrepreneurship development, agricultural support, financial inclusion, quality education, health care services, and employment generation.