ASSESSING THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF NGOs IN NIGERIA: A POVERTY REDUCTION AND SOCIAL PROTECTION PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing the relevance and effectiveness of the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) in fostering the Nigerian economy over the years. This is achievable through a critical evaluation of the distinctive effects of some of its components (i.e. poverty reduction, social protection, gender equality and income generation) on the Nigerian economy as a whole. The study adopt the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique of analysis and employed a data range of (1992-2023). Moreover, the study interact poverty reduction and social protection to examine its joint effect on the Nigerian economy. Furthermore, the study computes the marginal effect of poverty reduction at different margins of social protection expenditure and services, respectively. Findings from the study indicates a significant positive change in the Nigerian economy attributed to improved social protection expenditure and services and gender equality. Conversely, poverty reduction (as measured by employment rate) negatively affects the economy as well as income generation. However, the interaction of poverty reduction and social protection have a positive significant effect on the Nigerian economy. On the other hand, the results indicates the marginal effect of poverty reduction to have a greater significant effect on the Nigerian economy at a maximum level of social protection expenditure than at a minimum levels. This study recommends for the Nigerian government intervention and support in executing the NGO projects, programs and policies across the nation for improved outcome. It also recommends for enlightenment and awareness campaigns in rural areas on the need for girls’ child equal opportunities through school enrolment, employment rate, and economic empowerment and leadership positions