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Socio-economic And Cultural Factors Militating Against Community Development In Ideato Local Government Area Of Imo State
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1.2 Statement of the Problem
The issue of rural development is
very challenging, considering that more than 70 percent of the
population live in the rural areas, where they cultivate the soil to
make a living. Looking at this poverty level it thereforebecomes a
social problem thatdemands urgent solution. One major factoraffecting
rural development is government neglect or government not showing
concern towards rural development. According to Nwankpa (2001),
government should play pivotal role to making sure that development
occur in the rural setting. Another important factor is on lack of basic
infrastructure and basic amenities needed for development such as
transportation, good roads, electricity, good school, portable water,
health centres, markets, telecommunication, churches, recreational
centres etc. When all these infrastructures and basic amenities are not
available in a particular rural area, development finds it difficult to
occur. Illiteracy, ignorance, and poverty serve as another important
factor militating against rural development in Ideato rural community,
Illiteracy, poverty and ignorance make or flop the developmental process
in the rural areas, so making them to move backward (Edeh, 2003). Rural
dispute is another factor militating against rural development. This
implies that when dispute comes between two communities due to land,
government who has planned bringing development can decide to withdraw
it till the dispute or conflict is settled. Land tenure system as well
as inability of the rural people to harnessing the available resources
contributes to the backwardness of the rural areas, especially rural,
Ideato.
Furthermore, cultural beliefs of the people in the rural
areas affect the development that will come therein, for example some
rural areas always find it difficult to give government land for
development due to the fact that the land is where sacrifices are mad
for the gods of their land. Another fear they have is the destruction of
theiraesthetic values by the government while the development projects
are going on. Some individuals due to their selfish interest, find it
difficult to dispose their land to the government for them to build
structures like hospitals, schools, churches, recreational centres etc.
According to Iyiogwe (2005), in his work on economic theory says land is
free gift of nature, such as land surface, soil, rivers, mountains,
forest, mineral deposits etc. Okorji (2005) restated that land is
therefore nature's aid to production. Another cultural factor is the
fear of terror and labelling. some private individuals avoid helping
people in some developmental structures in the rural area in order not
to get them killed or labelled as criminals, fraudsters or as ritualists
by the rural people.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]Over the years, Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo state has been experiencing a slow rate of development in the area. Based on this therefore, this work was designed toinvestigate the socio-economic and cultural factors militating against rural development in Ideato North Local Government Area. Two hundred respondents were randomly selected and used. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The data collected were analysed using SPSS and chi-square, tables, charts and p ... Continue reading---
