Rural Development Theorising: Reinventing a Model of Financing Basic Rural Infrastructure in Nigeria

Abstract

The burden of rural development has remained recurrent in the development planning of Nigeria from independence to date. Despite these concerns, the condition of the rural areas in terms of development infrastructure remains precarious. The development of rural infrastructure is highly central to the transformation of rural areas of Nigeria yet attention in that direction seems unproductive. Several methods of effecting rural development have been applied in the Nigerian context with little or no major inroad into addressing rural infrastructure and reversing the rural squalor common in the country. This paper argues that the pool method (central determination) of financing basic rural infrastructure is prone to excluding so many communities from accessing basic facilities and falls short of the practice of accountability. On the basis of this, the paper recommends a model of financing basic rural infrastructure known as FINANCIAL EQUITY MODEL. It is the thesis of this paper that further financial administration restructuring at the Local Government system will provide a plausible vent for a quick and even development of rural areas in Nigeria.