SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES (ENGLISH AND LINGUISTIC PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
Chapter one: Introduction
1.1 Background of Study
Community development policies in Nigeria over the years have shown that our policy makers have either not really understood the problems of community, ray. Community developments are deliberately ignoring the problems of community development in Nigeria. Even the nongovernmental organizations (Ngos) that are community focused have somehow fallen into the same trap of government act of insensitivity; misplace priority and outright ignorance about the plight of the community poor and community development. Both the government and some of these voluntary agencies often underestimate the quantum of the problems, which comfort the community people in Nigeria. They are attracted to and trapped in urban “cores” which generate and communicate their own sort of knowledge which community “peripheries” are isolated and neglected (chambers 1983). They try to visualize community development according to their own experience, which is urban-based, and therefore lacking in content and form, what constitutes the real kernel of community development.
Consequently, the apparent failure of successive community development policies in Nigeria is to be expected in the light of the foregoing analysis more worrisome, however, is that while this act of government neglect an often selfishness to tackle headline, the problem of community development poor is being multiple, with no end in sight and this is the midst of plenty makes his case miserable as succinctly put by the English proverb which says what the eye does not see, the heart does not grieve about (chamber-1983).
indeed the case of the community poor in Nigeria is the case of poverty in Nigeria is the case of poverty in the midst of plenty and that is why it is more painful and call for serious concern especially the government and the non-governmental organization involved in community development effort.
there are plethora definitions as to what constitute community development.
professor v. Diejomoh (Udo 1984) sees community development as a process of not only increasing the level of per capital income in community areas, but also the standard of living on such factors as food and nutrition, health, education, housing, recreation and security knowing this is important step towards addressing the problems of community development genuinely.
Robert n. Mcnamarah (1976) in his forward to 1978 world development report, is “trapped” in what he terms as absolute poverty, a condition of life so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surrounding, high infant mortality and low life expectancy is to be beneath any reasonable definition of human decency inspite of the remarkable changes recorded in the countries of the south in recent years.
community development policies in Nigeria over the years have not succeeded in achieving the desired goals by way of uplifting and improving the material living conditions of the community poor inspite of the resources that have been put into the sector and attempt to point the way out. This research study does focus on Nasarawa state.
