1.1 Introduction
This study was prompted by the cry against the inadequate of fund been released to government especially locale government area in the country. Generally majority of local government project are usually slow or never got computed and this been appropriated to them for this project. In typical democratic government which is the government arrangement of the day, a lot of plans and funds are stated in budget (yearly) on how to develop rural areas and make life more bearable for the inhabitants Funding is very important in the development of any project and not just finding but adequate funding, this is because without this funds nothing can be done. It does not matter if the funds generated internally or is been appropriated to that region by the government, if the is being not adequate then the cam is defected so in this study, we will be taking a artificial look at the causes of this inadequate funding and how deep its effect has eaten into the rural development of most parts of this country.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Funding is very important in the development of any project and not just funding but adequate funding, this is because without these funds nothing can be done.
It does not matter if the fund is generated internally or is been appropriated to that region by the government, if it is not adequate then the cam is defected so in this study, we will be taking a critical look at the causes of this has eaten into the rural development of most parts of this country. There are also important factor that constitutes to fund, if it is adequate or inadequate, they include government policies, accountability of managers of public funds, the need of the community in questioned and so many others.
Therefore, in Abua-odual Local Government Area where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Effects of Inadequate Funding on Rural Areas.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Local government funding problems are various categories and each one of them is equal allocations from the federal government. Local government is the third tier of government in Nigeria, state government however have a considered influence over the local government council, but the function of local government are now recognized by the fourth schedule of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. There are various source of revenue of funds to the local government areas to help in the development of various rural areas.
The major problems of rural areas in Nigeria are summarized as, inadequate levels of agriculture productivity particular in food crop; high levels of absolute and rural poverty; and poor level of infrastructure facilities (Shiru, 2008). The fundamental problems facing agricultural mechanization in Nigeria include adoption of mechanization strategies which are often proffered by government and international agencies that do not pay sufficient attention to the interests of the local farmers and to the processes of technological change (Kutte and Tya, 2001).
Also there is this age long problem of under development in most rural area of this federation and most time part on the facts that the funds available to them are inadequate. Although there are the other causes of under development, but when compared to the problems attributed to funds, we discover that adequate funding is almost impossible but does not mean the standard faced with its peculiar cause and implication on the society. We discover that must local government areas if asked, always narrow down their liability to perform or carry out the major projects to problem of inadequate funds.
This work is intended to investigate the problems of under development but concentrate mainly on the problems of inadequate funds.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to determine the effects of inadequate funding in rural development with particular reference to Abua-Odual local government Area in Rivers State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
To analyze the various sources of funded available to local government.
- To determine why the funds are usually inadequate to meet up the set goals.
- To analyze the process of allocation from the federal government down to the local government
- To determine other factors such as poor management and accountability that contributed to funds been inadequate.
- To ensure inadequate funding in local government are to enhance rapid rural development.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Does inadequate funding have any effect on the development of rural areas?
- Does adequate funding improve the development of rural areas?
- What is the attitude of staff of Abua-Odual local government area towards inadequate funding?
- Inadequate funding is not a pancreas for development of local government?
- Inadequate funding does not provide a tentative judgment in Abua-Odual local government area River state?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
- H01: There is no significant effect of inadequate funding on the development of rural areas
- H02: Funding does not provide a tentative judgment in Abua-Odual local government area in Rivers State.
