THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISIALA NGWA SOUTH LGA, ABIA STATE.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

          The local government, called the third tier of government is one of the agencies through which rural transformation can be achieved.The local government received constitutional acceptance, to enable the central government exercise optimum development initiatives for overall transformation of rural area. In Nigeria, for instance, 774 Local Government areas have been created to serve this unique function. Among the effective role of the local government is the provision of sustainable development initiates between the communities and the central government though the mobilization of human and material resources at the grass root for development.

The idea of local government is as old as humanity and any known human civilization. In Nigeria for example, before the advent of colonialism there existed a form of local administration (Ntekim, 2006, Okon, 2006). During this period, traditional rulers played a very significant role by ensuring that policies formulated were left in the hands of the community’s chiefs who were then very loyal to the traditional rulers. Local government is the breaking down of a country into small units or localities for the purpose of administration in which the inhabitants of the different units or localities concerned play a direct and full part through their elected representatives, who exercise powers or undertakes functions under the general authority of the National Government. From the foregoing, local government has limited responsibility and sphere of influence as compared to State and Federal Government. (FRN, 2010)

The roles of local government in rural development in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area, Abia State cannot be underestimated. Rural development in Nigeria and indeed in Abia State dates back to the origin of man. Man in a bid to live above nature; saw the need to develop his environment (Orgi and Amahiri 2016). He started by taking care of the fundamental needs such as food, clothing, shelter and so on as time went on, when civilization started crippling in, men lives together decided to improve on roads, clear pathways, markets and village squares. Even the government’s intervention in providing the needed good and services does not prevent man from contributing his quota in development. This ten continued until this modern Nigeria. This means that the idea of rural development may have started long before the introduction of local government system or the coming of the Europeans to Nigeria (Nnamani, 2010).

As noted by Ezeani (2006) long before the introduction of the science of development planning and studies, many rural communities in Nigeria had learned to provide themselves with functional and physical facilities by co-operation or communal efforts. Also observed that for them to live in big homes with large rooms and windows to admit fresh air they have to seek the aid of other people or their neighbours. From the above, there is evidence that our fore fathers have learned to come together to build roads instead of footpaths village squares, markets and schools through communal efforts. The government in order to reactivate the spirit of self-help mechanism in people introduced the local government law of 1955. The law empowered local government to take full responsibilities for rural development within their area of authorities and equally promised to give matching grants and technical assistance to rural communities who embarked on self-help projects(Yakubu, 2009, Okon and Bamgboye 2011).

          Nigeria is a country with a federal system of government where there is constitutional division of powers among the levels of government that is the central, state and local government. Local government is the third tier of government in the country which to often referred to as the government at the grassroots level (Adedire, 2014). Development would not be meaningful if rural dwellers; are not impacted positively it is as a result of this that local government was created to ensure effective and efficient service delivery to the people at the grassroots level. The creation of the local government in many countries in Africa and elsewhere stems from the need to facilitate development at the grassroots in order to generate sense of belonging, safety and satisfaction among the people. In Nigeria socio-political context, with multiplicity of culture, diversity of languages and differentiated needs and means the importance of local government in ensuring unity and preserving peculiar diversities cannot be underestimated.Peaceful co-existence, rural development is void. Inspites of the relevance of local government, there are some problems that have faced it in the performance of its functions especially in areas of service delivery at the grassroots (Okoro, 2000).

          Development of the grassroot has been the concern of every responsible and responsive government. In terms of level of economic development, quality of life, access to opportunities, facilities and amenities, standard of living and general viability, the gap between the urban and rural areas in Nigeria is very wide. The rural areas are grossly neglected as far as development projects and infrastructure are concerned. (Lawal, 2000).

          According to Jide, (2013), rural development can be said to be the act or process of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of people living in relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Rural development has traditionally centered on the exploitation of land-intensive natural resources such as agriculture and forestry. However, changes in global production networks and increase urbanization have changed the character of rural areas. Increasingly tourism, niche manufacturers, and recreation have replaced resource extraction and agriculture as dominant economic drivers. The need for rural communities to approach development from a wide perspective has created more focus on a broad range of development goals rather than merely creating incentive for agricultural or resources based businesses. Education, entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, and social infrastructure all play an important role in developing rural regions. Rural development is also characterized by its emphasis on locally produced economic development strategies loser to the people for livelihood enhancement.

          Otigba (2013) defined rural development as a strategy designed to improve the socioeconomic and social life of the people in the rural areas. He added that rural development constitutes a process of planned change for which one approach or the other is adopted for the improvement and transformation of the lot of rural populace. Lack of infrastructural development is hindrance to rural development. Most rural communities in Nigeria and other African countries have virtually no infrastructure which includes needs such as access road, clean water supply, electricity, schools and health facilities. Rural development is a multispectral. It does not only involve agricultural development, though agriculture is a pertinent aspect of rural development. It does not only involve agricultural development, though agriculture is a pertinent aspect of rural development. It is not sufficient for a sustainable development and economic growth. Other sectors such as health, education and other activities outside the agricultural sectors are vital (IFAD, 2015). Rural development is a set of technical, social, cultural and institutional measures, implemented with aid for the inhabitants of rural areas, with the aim of improving their social economic conditions. This is in order to achieve harmony and balance both on the regional and national levels (Ekong, 2003) and also a multi-dimensional process that improving the people in rural areas. Essentially, therefore, rural development is aimed at enhancing the welfare and living standards of the rural dwellers through the mobilization of resources and greater rural participation (IFAD, 2015).

          Rural development involves a package of measures aimed at transforming and modernizing the rural areas and its population and integrating it into the national development plan in order to stamp out the scourge of poor rural life and its environment and to improve enormously the standard of living and socio-political life in the rural population. Rural development is a daunting challenge to the Nigerian government and other countries in Africa. Several development prgrammes had been embarked upon by successive government in Nigeria but did not much desired impacts on the lives of the rural population but ended in unmitigated failure. A lot of resources (financial) have been injected into rural development but all in vain.(Yakubu, 2009). In spite of all the resources and strategies adopted to address rural development challenges, inequality and abject poverty remain pervasive in the rural area (Nchuchuwe and Adejuwon (2012). Since the agricultural sector lost its role as the cornerstone of Nigerian economy, the importance of rural development suffered a serious setback and neglect and it no longer attracts the government’s attention it deserves.

          Development must therefore be conceived as a multi-dimensional process involving change in structure, attitude and institutions, as well as the acceleration of economic growth, the reduction of inequality and the eradication of absolute poverty. In essence, development must represent the entire gamut of changes by which the entire social system turned to the diverse basic needs and desires of individuals and social groups within the system moves away from the conditions of life regarded as materially and spiritually “better”. This means that development involves the reorganization and reorientation of the entire economic and social system. This also involves, in addition to improvement of income and output, radical changes in institutions, social and administrative structures as well as in popular attitudes, customs and beliefs (Chukwuemeka, Ugwuanyi and Amobi, 2013).

          The need for rural communities to approach development from a wider perspective has created more focus on a broad range of development goals rather than merely creating incentive for agricultural or resource based businesses. Education, entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, and social infrastructure all play an important role in developing rural regions. Rural development is also characterized by it emphasis on locally produced economic development strategies. So, rural development is the process by which the people and the government combine to improve the economic, social, and cultural conditions of rural communities. It is equally a process, which increases in agricultural productivity and employment opportunities, and a change, which reduces inequality, poverty, disease and ignorance (Orgi and Amakiri, 2016).

          On the other hand, rural development is a multi-faceted and multi-dimensional aspect of development which needs appropriate and integrated process in implementation and execution. As a result of incoherent manner of carrying out the affairs of rural people, several development programmes had been embarked upon by successive governments in Nigeria, but the out come of such efforts had been unyielding (Orgi and Amakiri, 2016). A lot of resources (financial) have been infected into rural development but all in vain (Yakubu, 2009). In spite of all the resources and strategies adopted, inequality and object poverty remain pervasive in the rural areas (Nchuchuwe and Adejuwon, 2012). According to Nwaeze (2015), the challenges of rural communities in Nigeria can be basically traced to lack of infrastructures; poor access to roads, poor educational facilities, lack of portable water, low per capital income, high unemployment and inadequate power supply. Esema (2010) as cited in Bassey (2011), affirmed that rural communities are usually characterized by poor health, lack of basic nutrition, inadequate housing and voicelessness. In a bid to mitigate these issues, several projects and programmes have been put in place including Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), 1976), the Green Revolution, Directorate of foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure, Better Life Programme, Family Support Programme, the Family Economic Advancement Programme and the National Poverty Eradication Programme among others (Nwaeze, 2014).

THE ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISIALA NGWA SOUTH LGA, ABIA STATE.