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Assessment of the Impact of Ward Development Projects on Grassroots Development
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background to the Study
One of the major characteristics of the
developing countries is the increasing disparity between the urban and rural
areas. Thus, the gap according to Akpomuvie and Benedict (2010) has its roots
in the neo-classical economic theories which presumed that “development can be
accelerated by concentrating investments in the cities and that the rural
underdevelopment will be reduced as a result of the investment benefits from
the urban industrial growth”. With the so called growth-cantered strategy,
developing countries have continued to witness imbalances in the living
conditions between the urban and rural dwellers. Consequently, development
theories over the years have been searching for alternative strategies that
would not only accelerate growth, but also spread the benefits of development
to the grassroots level particularly the rural areas. This therefore led to a
paradigm shift from holistic theorization of development towards local
participation and empowerment. Participation and other related concepts like
sustainability and empowerment are the centre of development discourse
(Blackman, 2003) and may be argued that participation is as old as democracy
itself. The people at grassroots level especially the rural dwellers are the
most deprived and neglected, in that they have least access to essential
services such as health, education, housing and other services. In essence,
infrastructural and institutional arrangements are deficient at the local level
where most people who need them live (Laah, Adefila and Yusuf, 2014). 2
Participatory approaches to development have been adopted by most governmental
and nongovernmental development partners, as a solution to the failed top-down
approach to development in the last century (Kwena, 2013). African countries,
for instance, have gradually ratified laws and policies that encourage the
citizenry to participate fully in their development programmes (OXFAM-GB,
2009). In Kenya, the onset of devolution as a model of governance is hoping to
produce tangible benefits regarding redefining development process. Resource
allocation now entails grassroots stakeholders‟ participation through elected
representatives such as Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) and Governors in
respective counties (Council of governors, 2014). Wards are therefore the
frontiers of devolution. The majority of the devolved governments are now
creating Ward Development Fund (WDF) as a means to spur development at the
grassroots level. In South Africa, however, South African Government
Departments and Local Government structures presently use the participatory
approach to realize development at grassroots level particularly in the rural
villages. In the enhancement of the approach, some legislative regulations have
been promulgated to provide for the fostering of participation of people in
programmes such as Local Governments Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Ward
Committees System (Tshabalala, 2007). In Nigeria, the creation of Local
Government was deliberately designed to bring government closer to the people
and to ensure maximum participation of the citizens in the development process,
promote balanced development so that third tier of government will be more
responsive to the developmental aspirations of local communities. In essence,
local 3 government institutions have been established to accelerate the pace of
development. Development whether social, political or economic becomes
meaningful and real only when it stems from the lowest level or grassroots
level. Local Governments therefore have been created as a deliberate attempt to
introduce a decentralized approach towards national integration, efficient and
effective governance and creating a sense of belonging at the grassroots. Thus,
local government system was designed to be a means or strategy of bringing
development at the grassroots level. However, Niger State Government under
Mu‟azu administration, came up with the idea of Ward Development Projects
Policy in 2008- a participatory policy aimed at avoiding the inherent
contradiction that is associated with the traditional management approach
(topdown). And the objective of the policy was to address the problem of
underdevelopment in the state especially in terms of infrastructure building
which has been an issue in the state for decades. Other objectives of ward
development projects included among others; actualization of participatory
democracy through people‟s popular participation in project executions after
need assessment; enthronement of bottom-up approach to community development;
actualization of participatory decision making by the people on matters
concerning them and to let the people decide what they need for themselves and
actively participate in its execution, ownership and sustainability (Directorate
of Ward Development Project Document, 2009). During this plan period, each of
the 274 wards in the state used to be given five hundred thousand naira and
later reviewed to one million naira from the State-Local Governments‟ Joint
Account every month to execute any project of its choice. It was obvious that
the program was one of the best grassroots oriented development program
introduced in recent 4 time. It was a bottom-up approach to development which
made it more integrative and promotes good governance. The program was no doubt
participatory and it really raised the hope of the people about the performance
of the immediate past administration of Niger state under the leadership of
Mu‟azu Babangida Aliyu. In fact, Ward Development Projects (WDP) was designed
to engage the local people in the development of their communities.
NB: The Complete Thesis is well written and ready to use.
