Abstract

God’s purposeful design is for humanity to flourish. Over the years, one of the greatest problems confronting Nigeria, and indeed Africa, has been poverty. Poverty has denied many the right to enjoy the life God designed for them. It has brought untold misery to many people. Many have been enslaved even in their ancestral lands by the rich because of poverty induced by injustice. Poverty, especially in Nigeria, is not due to lack of human and natural resources but to sheer greed leading to unequal distribution of wealth, imbalanced opportunities for empowerment and corruption. As a result, the scourge of poverty continues to affect people. This article looks at ways of interpreting and using the principles of jubilee in Leviticus 25 to build a new community that transforms humanity. It argues that the principles of jubilee, which include an invitation to partnership with God and humanity, faithful stewardship, equal economic and political opportunities, forgiveness of debts, love and concern for ecology, are germane in addressing the problem of poverty.