Aceh International Journal of Social Sciences, 2 (1): 01 - 10 June 2013 ISSN: 2088-9976 1 Alleviating Poverty through the Use of Entrepreneurship Skill Acquisition in Kogi State, Nigeria Adofu Ilemona 1* , Ocheja Akoji 2 , and Abula Matthew 1 1 Department of Economics, Kogi State University, Anyigba, Nigeria 2 Department of Sociology, Kogi State University, Anyigba, Nigeria * Corresponding Author: ilemonaadofu@yahoo.com Abstract - This study assessed the impact of entrepreneurship skill acquisition on poverty in Kogi State of Nigeria. The study made use of primary data collected with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire, which were administered by well-trained enumerator to beneficiaries of entrepreneurship acquisition skills randomly sampled from six Local Government Area of the state. The data collected through the questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics like frequencies and percentages. The result shows that 65% of the respondents accepted that lack of entrepreneurship skills among youth is responsible for the high rate of poverty in Nigeria. The result also revealed that at least 60% of the people that benefitted from the skill acquisition programme can now afford the basic necessity of life. The study therefore recommended that since most of the people that benefited from the programme could afford the basic necessity of life, the government should begin to think of the way of developing the programme to the status of poverty eradication programme. Keywords : Entrepreneur; Vocation; Skill acquisition; Poverty; Alleviation; Optimum Paper Type : Research Paper Introduction One of the major challenges facing developing and underdeveloped countries of the world is poverty. It has been so endemic as a result of the high rate of unemployment that has become the major characteristic of the developing and underdeveloped countries of the world. Although the level and magnitude of poverty and unemployment has been observed to be different within and across nations, it still remains the major obstacle to the success of the struggle for the optimum utilization of human resources for both social and economic development of nations. The World Bank estimated that 1.29 billion people in the world were living in absolute poverty in 2008. Of these, about 400 million people in absolute poverty lived in India and 173 million people in China. In USA, 1 out of 5 children lives in poverty. In terms of percentage of regional populations, sub- Saharan Africa at 47% had the highest incidence rate of poverty in 2008 (Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, 2013). Africa entered the 21 st century as the poorest, the most technologically backward, the most debt distressed and most marginalized region of the world, Economic Commission for Africa, (2001). With the position Nigeria occupy in Africa in terms of the share of population, one cannot but imaging the percentage of Nigerians that are affected by this debilitating monster called poverty and hence making the war against poverty one of the cardinal policy of government in Nigeria. As Ajegi (2002) rightly observed, the poverty situation in Nigeria has indeed assumed a crisis dimension. Records from the Bureau of Statistics show that about 67% of Nigerians live below the poverty line. The data further reveal that only 50% of the population has access to safe drinking water, while 38% cannot avail themselves of primary health care. It is estimated that about 70% of Nigerians consume less than 1/3 of the minimum protein and vitamin intake due to low purchasing power. This statistics shows the very depth of poverty in Nigeria. It is dehumanizing and can be rated as a killer disease, which has assumed an epidemic state. Any responsibly, government will not go to sleep with such a terrible situation. The government of Nigeria through most of her policies and programmes has made tremendous effort towards changing the scenario in the country. Despite the effort of government in this direction, the “poverty virus” is getting more entrenched and spreading wider among the populace. This incidence is higher among the youth who falls within the age bracket of 15-35. The untrained and unskilled youth grows into an unemployable man who cannot be employed because of his lack of marketable skills to be engaged in a job that can adequately support his family. This makes it impossible