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I am profoundly grateful to everyone who contributed to the successful completion of this project. I am especially grateful to my Supervisor (Name), the Head of Department (Name), and the Lecturers in the Department of Environmental Science for their invaluable guidance and support. I also acknowledge the contributions of authors and scholars whose works on An Assessment of Nigeria’s Rural Development Policy for Sustainable Environmental Development in Nigeria provided essential insights. Special thanks go to my study area (and any funding organizations, if applicable) for their financial assistance. I am equally thankful to stakeholders, including mentors, teachers, and colleagues, for their encouragement and support. Finally, I deeply appreciate my family and friends for their patience and unwavering support throughout this journey. Your contributions have been instrumental in making this research a reality.
The development of rural areas and particularly in developing societies has remained a challenge to policy makers, and developments experts. Policies, programs and theories aimed at improving the broad socio-economic wellbeing of the rural poor have been initiated and pursued since 1960. Characteristically, these policies and programs have had varying degree of successes and problems. The study adopts the survey research and takes a critical appraisal of policy documents, theoretical models and programs of government at all levels (federal, state and local governments) and their implication for rural development.
The findings of the study show that though a number of policies, programs have been initiated and executed, and theories propounded, they have tended to serve the interest of the political elite and their cronies to the chagrin of those whom the policies and programs were planned for. To a large extent, these policies and programs have made the policy makers richer and in most cases the programs abandoned and or not sustainable. Based on the findings we recommended an alternative approach to rural development that is, the participatory approach that is infused with elements of conscientisation
Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
The development of rural areas until very recently was not given much attention and prominence in Nigeria. Much of her policies were concerned with changing the urban landscape and the fortunes of urban dwellers. The realization on the part of policy makers and development experts that national development cannot be true development until the vast rural areas of the country are developed and brought into the mainstream of development, then and only then can we talk of true development Right from the colonial period the rural sector constitutes the socially and economically backward areas of Nigeria.
Besides, the gap between the rural areas and urban areas has continued to widen in an alarming proportion. Invariably, the peasant population who formed the bulk of rural areas and produce much of the agricultural products that the nation depend on seemed neglected by government, a situation that has resulted in the much orchestrated problems of rural-urban drift, declining agricultural production and its attendant food shortage, unemployment, urban congestion and over stretched facilities (Ottong, Ering, and Akpan, 2010 and Saheed and Okide, 2012). However, in Nigeria and in most Third World societies, there had been an increasing upsurge in the concern for problems of underdevelopment especially as they affect rural areas. The concern is the need to optimize yields from natural as well as human resources by exerting control of influence upon all parts of such resources in order to realize maximum benefit from the development efforts, Ebong (1991).
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