European Scientific Journal November edition vol. 8, No.26 ISSN: 1857 – 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431 51 POVERTY AND SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: THE NIGERIA EXPERIENCE Akhakpe Ighodalo, PhD Department Of Public Administration, Lagos State University, Ojo Abstract The paper argues that poverty has remained a major obstacle to sustainable development and democracy in the global South. With the return to civil rule in 1999 in Nigeria, hopes were high that the return to democracy will stem the decline of the economy and provide the citizenry with the social dividends of democracy. More than a decade after the economy is still on it’s kneels with more than half of the population living on less than one dollar per day. With the use of dependency theory the paper posited that unless the people are empowered to make choices and participate in making decisions that affects their lives sustainable socio- economic development will remain elusive in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. Keywords: Poverty, Sustainable development, Africa, Nigeria Introduction The global south has one thing in common. It is the ravaging plague of poverty that has stunted the ability of its people to transform themselves and environment in order to a state create of continuous improvement in their human and physical conditions of life. While the phenomenon of poverty is not restricted to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, countries in Africa attract more concerns because of the peculiar challenges they face which limit their abilities to tackle this recurring decimal in the life of people and their nations. It is opined that the essence of every government is to realize the political, social and economic interests of its people, Modern governments have made one of their main objectives, the promotion or pursuit of the welfare and well being of their peoples. For this reason, policies and programmes are initiated and implemented. It would seem that more often than not, such efforts by government fail to address effectively the social and economic concerns of the people. This has led to crises in political, social and economic aspects of the people and society. The challenge that poverty poses for sustainable socio-economic