Socioeceonomic characteristics influencing participation in national poverty eradication programmein Dekina local government area of Kogi State, Nigeria

This study assessed the influence of socio-economic characteristics of National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) participants in Dekina local government area of Kogi state, Nigeria.. Purposive sampling technique was used to obtain 52 NAPEP Data were collected using well structured questionnaire and analysed through the use of descriptive statistics and multiple regression. Findings indicate that 67.0% of the participants were male while 32% were female. About 40.0% of the participants were of the age range of 44-53 years and 62% were married with 60.0% having a household size of 5-8 persons. About 95.0% of the participants had one form of formal education or the other with 38% having trading as their major occupation. Furthermore, the regression result shows that age, household size, educational level, and membership of co-operative group positively affect respondents’ decision to participate in NAPEP. The implication of the result is that older people with larger household, formal education and are members of co-operative group will willingly participate in NAPEP to alleviate poverty and diversify livelihood means. Also, age, marital status, educational level and household size were significant at various levels of probability. Therefore, it implies that participation in NAPEP is influenced by the significant variables. Youth should be encouraged to participate and involve in cooperative societies’ activities as one of the criteria for participation.