EXAMINING THE ROLE OF INFORMATION GATHERING IN THE RAPID SOCIAL-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION OF NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Rapid economic development and social well-being constitute the transformation imperative of developing countries of the world and indeed, remain the normative goal of the international community (Ehi, 2009). This involves the attainment of sufficient levels of economic growth to allow for a progressive improvement in the material standard of living of the populace. However, for Nigeria and most African countries, the economies are in an abysmal state. The worsening economic conditions have been generating a mix of domestic, social and political tension. We have had series of development plans in Nigeria. Nigeria is permanently hunted by the spectre of development. Its fifty three years of independence actually are rolling by daily in search of development. The myth of growth and development is so entrenched that the country’s history passes for the history of development strategies and growth models from colonial times up to date. No term has been in constant flux as development. This seems the only country where virtually all notions and models of development have been experimented (Aremu, 2003).
Information gathering refers to gathering information about the issue been faced and the ways other organizations and communities have addressed it. The more information one have about the issue itself and the ways it has been approached, the more likely one is able to devise an effective program or intervention of to address the situation (Bala, 2007). There are obviously many sources of information, and they vary depending on what is been looked for. In general, information can be gathered from only 2 sources, existing sources or natural example.Existing sources refers to published material of various kinds that might shed light either on the issue or on attempts to deal with it. These can be conveniently divided into scholarly publications, aimed primarily at researchers and the academic community, mass-market sources, written in a popular style and aimed at the general public and statistical and demographic information published by various research organizations and government agencies (Iwe, 2000). Natural example includes programs or interventions developed and tried in communities that have addressed similar issue. Studying them can tell can indicate what worked for them and what didn’t, and why. By giving the insight into how issues play the other communities, they can provide nuts-and-bolts ideas about how to (or how not to) conduct a successful program or intervention. For the most part, information sources here are the people who are involved in efforts to address issues similar to the one been faced (Iwe, 2000). Additionally, there are a number of natural examples (such as single case studies) that have been written about descriptively in the literature of community psychology or public health that may be relevant to your work.SOCIAL-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION
Security involves freedom from danger or threat to a nation’s ability to protect and develop itself, promote its cherished values and well-being of its people. This takes into account the need for information gathering and significance of human well-being in the security considerations of a country especially in a developing country like Nigeria. In this connection, it is easy to establish a nexus between information gathering, national security and development. Accordingly, it is meaningless to talk of social economic transformation in the absence of national security. In other words, insecurity in a nation is a threat to social economic transformation. National security is a sine qua non for political stability and socio-economic development of any nation.SOCIAL-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION
