Poverty is a critical issue that has threatened the lives of millions of people globally. Its pervasive effect on sustainable development has drastically crippled our economy manifesting itself in abject poverty. It has generated a lot of concerns to the government, private individuals and non-governmental organizations. In view of this, two-fold objectives were formulated: 1.To determine the effect of poverty alleviation on sustainable development in Nigeria and 2.To highlight the causes of poverty in Nigeria. Qualitative research design approach was adopted. Finding revealed that for sustainable development to be achieved, poverty must be eradicated to the barest minimum via entrepreneurship development in terms of skill acquisition and self-development. The study recommended that Nigerian Government needs to honestly ensure that the National Cake is equitably distributed to the three levels of government (Local, State and Federal) and at the same time supervise the disbursement of such funds in order to uphold the theory of equity and fairness in terms of allocation.