Theorising Resilience in the Context of Chronic Poverty: A Qualitative Inquiry into the Lived Experiences of Resilient Secondary School Students in Sokoto State

Resilience in the context of chronic poverty is a theoretically complex phenomenon inadequately captured by existing deficit or asset-based models, which have been developed primarily in Western contexts removed from Nigeria's extreme poverty realities. This study theorised resilience in the context of chronic poverty through qualitative inquiry into the lived experiences of resilient secondary school students in Sokoto State, North West Nigeria. A phenomenological inquiry design using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed. Purposive sampling identified 25 secondary school students from persistently impoverished households who had demonstrated consistent academic achievement despite extreme material deprivation. Three rounds of in-depth interviews were conducted. Analysis identified five master themes: spiritual confidence as a resource structure, communal witnessing of effort as motivational architecture, strategic invisibility of suffering, deferred gratification as cultural competency, and the counsellor or teacher as a symbolic gateway figure. The study proposes an original poverty-resilience theoretical model grounded in the Sokoto context, arguing that resilience in chronic poverty is not simply an internal trait but a relational and culturally mediated practice. The study advances phenomenological methodology in Nigerian counselling research and provides actionable guidance for counsellors seeking to support poverty-affected students using culturally competent strength-based approaches. Keywords: resilience, chronic poverty, secondary school, phenomenological inquiry, Sokoto State.