The Concept and Process of Rural Development in Nigeria: A Revisitation

Abstract

Although rural areas in Nigeria habour over eighty percent of the national population, they can only boast of about ten percent of the infrastructure and other indices of development. The billions of dollars, which the three tiers of government and international agencies budget for the development of rural areas are often frittered away. Otherwise, with the level of attention and the amount of money expended on efforts at developing the rural communities in Nigeria the disparity and lopsidedness between the rural and urban areas of the country with regard to the level of poverty and socio-economic infrastructure should have been a thing of the past. It appears that the more money is spent on the rural areas the greater the disparity in the level of development between the urban and rural areas. The article explores the reasons for this seeming contradiction. Lagos Historical Review Vol. 7 2007: pp. 21-34