Paper Title
Prospects of Poverty Alleviation Through ZAKAT and WAQF in Islam: Lessons for Northern Nigeria

Abstract
Since the emergence of the civilization, poverty has been a big challenge and in present time, it is a worldwide spread problem. The problem of poverty in Northern Nigeria is serious. The Government of Nigeria has embarked upon many different policies and programmes to combat poverty in the country. The effectiveness of the various methods chosen in bringing about the changes has remained a question begging for answer. However, in an effort to explore opportunities and avenues for making positive contributions to national development, this paper seeks to challenge The Nigerian Government to take the clue from the teaching of Islam in the move to eradicate poverty successfully. Therefore the potential roles of two Islamic institutions; Zakat and Waqf in poverty eradication are herein discussed as well as how Islam uses them among others to achieve the goals. The paper also attempts to define a new approach to poverty analysis and suggests a way to make the role of Zakat and Waqf more effective in the poverty reduction and socio‐economic development of a resource‐poor country and also concludes with other useful suggestions and recommendations. The methodology applied for this study included analytical and historical approaches, while library sources were also extensively utilized as a tool of sourcing for information. Keywords - Eradication, Poverty, Policies, WAQF, and ZAKAT