Abstract:
The study was aimed at assessing non-formal education programmes in the improvement of employment generation, health and nutrition, youth and community empowerment, and social transformation for poverty alleviation in North-Central, Nigeria. Five research questions guided the study while five null hypotheses were formulated and tested at .05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and was carried out in North-Central Zone. The population of the study was 1,532; made up of 286 non-formal education facilitators and 1,246 non-formal education learners. The sample of the study was 979, drawn using simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a 51-structured questionnaire items titled “Assessment of non-formal education programmes in poverty alleviation Questionnaire (ANFEPPAQ)”. The instrument was validated by three experts in research methods and its reliability was determined using Cronbach alpha estimate with an overall reliability co-efficient of 0.92. Weighted mean was used to answer all the research questions while Student t-test was used to test the five null hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that non-formal education programmes, to a moderate extent, alleviated poverty through improved employment generation (introducing farmers to modern farming skills and equipment), improved health and nutrition (providing learners with a variety of life-skills training programmes including cleanliness, nutrition, maternal and child health), improved youth and community empowerment (training the learners on how to form co-operatives so as to finance their economic ventures) and social transformation (helping the youth to restore peace thereby dealing with the consequences of conflict). Results further revealed that there were no significant differences between the mean ratings of non-formal education facilitators and learners on the extent to which non-formal education programmes have alleviated poverty through improved employment generation, health and nutrition, youth and community empowerment, and on the challenges militating against non-formal education programmes in North-Central Zone. However, the result revealed that there was significant difference between the mean ratings of non-formal education facilitators and learners on the extent to which non-formal education programmes alleviated poverty through improved social transformation in North-Central Zone. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education should set minimum qualifications for facilitators who are supposed to teach in the non-formal education centres. The Federal government should mobilize greater resources and improve mechanisms for flow of funds to state and local governments to improve data base with intensive advocacy and social mobilization followed by capacity building at all levels.
