Poverty is a global phenomenon which many governments in democracies and nondemocracies are battling hard to eliminate and repositioning their resources for the benefits of the teeming population from untimely death. As a parasite turned a killer disease, poverty has eliminated and still eliminating people across the breath and length of countries. But the cankerworm must be exterminated totally from this generation and to prevent future occurrence. Doing so will mean that an average person should live without hunger and would not suffer early deaths. Presence of healthcare system, living salaries and wages, access to shelters, drinkable water, motorable roads, qualified doctors, quality and affordable education, wealth, housing, among others are ingredients of poverty eradication and national development. The relied on qualitative approach and elite theory as the theoretical framework. The paper observes that despite the advent of democratic governance, the menace of poverty in Nigeria has rendered several people dead and some at the verge of dying. The government programmes on poverty alleviation hardly resolve the challenges. Similarly, corruption has contributed largely to the success of these programmes. The money voted for socio-economic and infrastructural construction and maintenance have ended up being unaccounted for and Nigerians suffered amid plenteous resources. Yet, the projects remained uncompleted. The paper concludes that political will and deliberate willingness on the part of the Federal, the State and the Local governments and the involvement of non-state actors with incentives to create job opportunities and employment for Nigerians is essentially necessary to move the country out of the state of uncertainties, wretchedness, hopelessness and without options that the citizens must make food ‘time-table’ before they eat in a day.
Keywords: Democracy; Poverty; Government; Development; Nigeria.
