IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 25, Issue 6, Series 1 (June. 2020) 15-22 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/0837-2506011522 www.iosrjournals.org 15 |Page Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Poverty among Micro-Scale Business Owners in Makurdi Metropolis Odike Abraham Ijuo 1 , Enoch T. Iortyom 2 & Vehe Blessing Mngunengen 3 1,3 Department of Economics, Benue State University, Makurdi-Nigeria 2 Department of Geography, University of Liberia, Liberia Abstract: This study examined the extent, depth and severity of poverty among micro-scale business owners in Makurdi Metropolis, Benue State-Nigeria. The study adopted a multi-stage sampling procedure in which a total of 247 sample size was drawn from population of 3325 using appropriate sampling technique. Data were collected with the use of structured questionnaire, analyzed using qualitative statistical tools (simple percentages and tables) and Foster-Greck-Torbeck (FGT) test approach. It was found out that 65% of the population of study is poor, and 28% of the poor households are living far below the poverty line while 14% of the poor are extremely poor. The study also found out that the sum of N 42,900.48, N 1,201,213.44 and N 15,658,675.2 would be required to bring out these poor individuals out of extreme poverty and up to the poverty line on daily, monthly and annual basis respectively. The study therefore, recommended that unconditional income transfer (of the sum of N 191.5 for daily, N 5,362.56 for monthly, or N 64,344 for yearly consideration) to individual poor household, and strategies targeted at ensuring enabling business environment for micro-scale businesses to thrive should be initiated and sustained by government and relevant stakeholders. This will help to alleviate poverty among micro-scale business owners in the state. Key Words: Micro-Scale; Business Owners; Extent; Depth; and Severity of Poverty. JEL Classification: D1, D3, D63, H32 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 20-05-2020 Date of Acceptance: 06-06-2020 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. INTRODUCTION Poverty has been and is still a global issue. On this account, countries have continued to seek and evolve ways to deal with the problems of people who fall into the category of those called the poor. While the number of poor people in some developed nations has reduced, research has shown that in Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria inclusive, the number of people considered poor has increased even though results may reflect reduction in percentages (National Living Standards Survey, 2007). The World Development Report (2014) estimated that 40% of the people in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) lived on less than one dollar per day and that 50% of these people were from five East African countries and Nigeria. The level of poverty in Nigeria today is quite disturbing as it has assumed an alarming proportion. Major indicators revealed by the World Bank (2018) showed that as at 2018, Nigeria‟s Human Development Index (HDI) stood at 0.534 with about 50% of the population vegetating under the poverty line of $1.9 per day. In the same vein, Nigeria‟s National Bureau of Statistics (2018) reported that unemployment rate was 22.6 %, adult literacy level 62%, and life expectancy at birth stood at 54.18 years in 2018. It is important to note that these figures may be underestimated as they do not seem to reflect the reality on ground. Unemployment rate is much higher with Nigerian universities producing graduates in hundreds of thousands annually without a corresponding increase in job opportunities for them. The insufficient nutritional intake that many Nigerians grapple with, the increasing difficulty in accessing basic health care, communal clashes, religious crisis as well as the HIV/AIDS and pandemic corona virus (COVID-19) scourge which plague the society makes the 54.18 years life expectancy an overestimation. According to Abdullahi (2009), both the quantitative and qualitative measurement attests to the growing incidence and depth of poverty in the country. In this direction, a lot of people have chosen to micro-scale businesses. Such micro-scale businesses include automobile repairs and servicing, balloons and decoration, bookshops, boutiques, business centers/cybercafés, cakes and pastries, carpentry and furniture, car accessories, catering and outdoor services, car hire, cement and blocks, crèches, daycare, nursery and primary schools, computer accessories, electronics and home appliances, estate agents, events coverage, video, photography, events managers, wedding planners and coordinators, eye clinics, fashion design, generators repair, sales, electrical wiring, hairdressing beauty salons, halls and venues, hospitals and clinics, hotels and guest houses, interior decoration, IT solutions, software and accessories, legal services, make-up artists, mobile handsets accessories and repairs, MCs master