Rural infrastructural development in Nigeria: Policies and implementation strategies

The search for the development of rural areas in Nigeria had led to the adoption of different strategies, oftentimes, reflecting the ideological learning of policy makers over time. This study derives from a concern with the arguably poor outcomes associated with most of these strategies. Using the descriptive-analysis approach, the study identifies policy implementation pathologies leading to failures of most of these strategies, and argues that there is an urgent need for ideological and philosophical re-direction in choosing strategies and implementation machinery for rural development. An overview The majority of Nigerians are rural dwellers. Though inadequacies of statistics make knowledge of actual rural- urban population distribution inexact, unadjusted projections still shows that Nigerians predominantly live in rural areas. Rural areas in Nigeria are unquestionably characterized by debilitating material poverty and alarming decadence of infrastructure, arising from a long period of sad neglect by policy makers. The central place of infrastructure in development efforts need not be overemphasized. Indeed, rural infrastructures constitute the substance of rural welfare and progress. Idachaba (1935) reminds us that efforts to raise rural welfare must necessarily go beyond the traditional and limited approach of raising per capita incom