Influence of Poverty on Adult Education Participation in Rural Sokoto State

This study investigated the influence of poverty on adult education participation in rural communities of Sokoto State, North West Nigeria. Poverty is widely identified as one of the most formidable structural barriers to adult education engagement; yet its specific mechanisms and differential effects across demographic groups in rural North West Nigeria have received limited scholarly attention. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a sample of 175 adults selected from three rural local government areas, including both programme participants and eligible non-participants. Structured questionnaires, household economic surveys, and community focus groups informed data collection. Findings confirmed that poverty was a dominant and multifaceted barrier, operating through channels including direct opportunity costs of attending classes, inability to afford learning materials, the psychosocial burden of economic stress reducing learning motivation, and severe time poverty among adults engaged in multiple livelihood activities. The study found that conditional programme incentives such as food supplements, small stipends, and provision of learning kits substantially improved participation among the poorest community members. Non-poor adults were more likely to participate in self-initiated continuing education, while the poorest quintile required direct programme incentives to overcome participation barriers. Recommendations include establishing means-tested programme support mechanisms within Sokoto's adult education system, integrating adult education delivery with existing social protection programme platforms, and conducting community-level poverty-sensitivity analyses before designing new programme models. Keywords: poverty, adult education, participation barriers, Sokoto State, rural communities.