THE ROLE OF NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA (SHAGAMU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AS A CASE STUDY)

Abstract

This study was on the role of none governmental organizations in rural development in Nigeria. Three objectives were raised which included:  To examine the relationship between sustainable development and Non Governmental Organisations, to understand the motives and objectives of Non Governmental Organisations in Nigeria and to find out the limitations and challenges of Non Governmental Organisations towards rural development in Nigeria. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from selected six rural areas in Shagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).

Chapter one

Introduction

1.1Background of the study

As far as level of economic development, personal satisfaction, access to explore many opportunities, facilities and amenities, way of life and general decency, the difference between the urban and rural areas in Nigeria is extremely wide. This prompts what is suitably described as the rural urban dichotomy. The rural regions are generally terribly ignored most definitely in term of infrastructural developments. Because of the overall underdevelopment of the rural areas when compared with the urban areas, rural areas are generally zones of high inclination for our-movement. The difficulties and possibilities of rural development in Nigeria have been of incredible worry to the various levels of government because of the rate of country urban movement. Onibokun (1987) views rural development to be confronted with the oddity that the production oriented situated rural economy depends intensely on non-productive individuals who are ill- furnished with obsolete devices, technical information, scientific and cultural training training and whose conventional duties and access to assets present issues for their viable consolidation into current economic frameworks, while the utilization arranged urban economy is overflowed with make (individuals) a significant number of who are either jobless or unemployable, or barely utilized or underemployed in the urban focuses where they decide to live. Because of this mass departure, the rural regions have gotten subjectively depopulated and are logically less alluring for social and economic investments while the urban areas are getting really overpopulated, socially unhealthy and at times uneconomic to maintain.

Delisle (2005) in his study revealed that NGOs have contributed to the development of communities worldwide and are essential helpers of many governments towards improving human development. As at 2000, based on the findings of Britannica, there were about 6,000 well recognised international NGOs and over 2,000 of these NGOs were officially accorded consultative status by the UN and thus permitted to attend its conference. Along the line, as at 2002, there have been almost 38,000 NGOs accross the world, a significant growth of 19.3% from 1990. Their missions and visions differ, but two categories in all dominate, economic development and infrastructure advancement and it is safe to say that 26% of the entire NGOs and research covering about 23%. In terms of sponsorship and funding globally, only in 1987, an international NGO transferred $5.5 billion from the industrial to the developing nations. That is nearly $1 billion more than the International Development fund (UNDP, 1990). In the same year, the total amount transferred by NGOs to the developing nations estimated to be US $505 billion (World Bank, 1991); and it increased from 0.7 percent to about 5 percent between 1993 to 1994 (Dhakal, 2002). In the same vein, as at 1970, western support channelled through NGOs to the developing countries was US$ 0.9 billion while this volume recorded a growth to US$ 5.5 billion in 1987 (World Bank, 1991).

There is a mind-boggling need to accord rural improvement and development a priority on the ‘must-do-list’ of government at various levels if the rural areas must contribute definitively to the social, cultural and economic growth of Nigeria. A greater part of the Nigerian riches is derived from agriculture, and oil which lies in abundant in rural areas. Current assessment put the rural population at over 80% of the whole population of almost 200 million people. Up until now, very little as far as infrastructural development is concerned in the rural areas is concerned has been done to bring this majority of convergence of both human and material assets to contribute ideally to national economy. The disregard has come about to the mass departure of rural settlers and thus has made the rural areas subjectively and quantitatively scanty, and dynamically less appealing for socio-economic investment. There is the need to reinforce and energize cooperative and community based initiatives in the execution and management of rural development programmes. Likewise, helpful way of thinking ought to be inculcated in rural settlers as its grassroots advances make it a perfect method for promoting sustainable rural development.

Non-governmental organisations with their favorable position of non-unbending, territory explicit, felt need-based, beneficiary oriented and committed nature of service have set up large number of roles which can impact rural development. Right now, need to examine how far the NGOs are effective in rural areas, what their duties are, parts of their development work, their outcomes and so forth was obvious. With this goal, an overview study will be conducted in Shagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria.

1.2           Statement of the Problem

Asides the conventional duties of Government in the areas of rural development on one hand and on the other hand are the helpful hands stretched out by Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) increasing positively towards the end of the 20th century. The NGOs are are recognized in Nigeria as development partners coming to fill the void left by the government. In Nigeria, record shows that there are over 1000 Non Governmental Organizations making significant contribution towards rural development (Parker, 1992). Some of them are Development Exchange Centre (DEC), Doma Education Development Foundation (DEDF), Rahama Women Development Programme (RWDP), Fahimta Women Association (FWA) to mention but a few.

In spite of all these commitments by governments from various levels in the country as well as interventions from both international and local NGOs, some states in Nigeria, particularly most of the Local Government Areas are still attributed by a decline in terms of rural development, this is due to high level of illiteracy, high numbers of school dropouts, rural-urban migration in search of greener pastures, poor health care, poor infrastructural facilities provided by the government, malnutrition, poverty, disease, high infant mortality rate, low ratio of life expectancy, unemployment, inadequate shelter and so on. Hence this study shall focus on the assessment of the role of Non Governmental Organisations in rural development in Nigeria by using Shagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State as a case study.

1.3           Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this study is to assess the role of Non Governmental Organisations in rural development in Nigeria by using Shagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State as a case study. Other specific objectives are:

1. To examine the relationship between sustainable development and Non Governmental Organisations
2. To understand the motives and objectives of Non Governmental Organisations in Nigeria
3. To find out the limitations and challenges of Non Governmental Organisations towards rural development in Nigeria
4. To investigate the relationship between Non Governmental Organisations and rural development

1.5           Research Hypothesis

For the purpose of this research, the following hypotheses were tested in order to achieve the set objective of the study:

1. There is no significant correlation between sustainable development and Non Governmental Organisations
2. There is no significant relationship between rural development and Non Governmental Organisations

1.6       Significance of the Study

This study is of great significance, as it will assist policy makers at federal, state and local governments in making policies on the various operational patterns of NGOs in the country especially considering the socio-economic complexities of the various groups in the country. Various donor agencies, institutions or individuals interested in the issue of NGOs whether national or international, would find this study relevant particularly those willing to contribute to human development through the means of these forms of organisations in the country and even other countries around the globe. The Management and Staff of the NGOs in the country as well as other members of public would also benefit from the research. This is because the study would expose the areas of strengths and weaknesses of the NGOs and thereafter recommendations would be made for future actions by both the staff, officials and those that benefit from it.

The findings of this study will also facilitate the attainment of the MDGs goals particularly those dealing with Education and Health related issues as well as reduction of the underdevelopment which characterises the states in particular and the country in general.

Moreover, the findings of the research will go a long way in proffering solution to the perennial problem of programme sustainability of NGOs in the country, as it will explore the grey areas of NGOs operations. However, the findings of this research are expected to be useful to the researchers, academics and students, interested readers and other institutions in making further researches in the area of NGOs that operate at both local and international levels. In addition, it would serve as a source of reference by contributing to the knowledge and understanding of the concept, nature, operational patterns, strengths and weaknesses of NGOs that have not been explored before.

1.7       Scope of the Study

It should however, be noted that, the issue of rural development is very wide, encompassing issues of health, education, human rights, political rights, human choices, poverty reduction etc. But, this research is focusing only on Health, education and income generation. However, the study selected six rural areas in Shagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State

1.8       Limitations of the Study

A study of this nature is bound to have some limitations. One of the main limitations to the conduct of this research was the difficulty in generating both primary and secondary data especially the data generated from the beneficiaries of the NGOs activities that were dispersed into remote villages across the state and whose access by the researcher was difficult due to their location; in addition to the literacy level of majority of them which subject us to interpreting the questions in local language. In addition, access to some vital documents that are important to the research was very difficult to the researcher especially those related to financial matters of the selected NGOs. There is also limitation in terms of coverage. The study covers only six rural areas in Shagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State.

For some of the aforementioned problems that are necessary to be overcome, however, a number of efforts were made by the researcher to simplify the statement in the questionnaires to enable the respondents answer the questions in a successful manner. Where the respondents are uneducated, the researcher translated the questions in a language that they could understand. So also, the researcher guided the respondents on how to fill the questionnaires correctly.

1.9       Definition of Terms

Non Governmental Organisation: NGOs are according to Wagona (2007) non-membership support organizations involved in relief, rehabilitation or community development work in developed and especially developing or Third World countries. They are also perceived by the Encyclopaedia Britannica (2007) as voluntary group of individuals or organizations usually not affiliated with any government, which is formed to provide services or to advocate public policy. It accepts that some NGOs are for profit corporations while the vast majority of them are non-profit organization. As applied in this study, NGOs are non-profit associations or groups organized outside the Institutionalized political structure of the government with the aim of providing certain charitable and voluntary services to the people.

Rural Development: generally refers to the 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.

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