Community development framework for Niger Delta in Nigeria

The need for community development sustainability is vital for nation’s progression, transformation and general well-being of a respective community. Nevertheless, its impact on community members particularly in rural communities remained a major issue that has not been adequately addressed. This scenario also captured in the Niger Delta Region in Nigeria where so much effort has been put in by the government in the region yet not much has been achieved. Therefore, this study is intended to examine the challenges and catalyst for community development sustainability in the Niger Delta region. A mixed methodology was employed in this study to elicit an in-depth and meaningful data on Niger Delta community’s participation to facilitate development sustainability. The in-depth interview was employed in the qualitative study using 19 interviewees from across six selected communities from three states in the Niger Delta region and three key officers from the NDDC making a total of twenty two interviewees. Survey was used for only community members using 300 questionnaires which were administered using the cluster sampling technique. The pick and drop-off technique was used for data collection and 284 questionnaires representing a total response rate of 94.7% were returned. The interviews were thematically coded thereafter analysed using the Nvivo 10 software while the SPSS version 20 was used for the quantitative data analysis. The results from both findings were triangulated and the findings show that three fundamental elements: Community, developmental agency and government were identified as crucial for community developmental sustainability. The findings from the study demonstrate that the role of community members is key element in achieving community developmental sustainability whereas the approach and strategies adopted by government and developmental agencies motivates community participation and involvement in developmental programs. The research findings elicit the pertinent role of community participation on development sustainability, and proposed a framework that promotes community development sustainability. The study concludes that government reactiveness towards developmental goals; adequate funding and relationship of community members with developmental agencies are salient issues that needs adequate attention in developmental plans

Human Capability and Entrepreneurial Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

The paper sets out to explore the link existing between the entrepreneurial interventions and human capital development in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. In order to address the major problem of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, many successive governments in Nigeria have embarked on one entrepreneurship developmental program or the other. Unfortunately, all these government efforts have failed to yield a fruitful sustainable entrepreneurial development particularly among the Niger Delta region that are mainly the target of the programs. Past studies have attributed such failure to a range of factors such as infrastructure decay and deficiency leading to poor human development, lack of proper implementation of the master plan, lack of funds, inadequacy of the master plan etc. Although, the efforts of the past studies as well as that of the developmental agencies are commendable, however, they have failed to address one important issue which is the human capability aspect of the developmental program. Therefore, this paper explores the role of human capability approach on the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship development programs within the Niger Delta region context and the political influence with a view to proposing a framework to examine the relationship between human capability and effective entrepreneurship development programs

The local authority infrastructure provision practice in Malaysia: the role of private developers

Local authorities are turning to the private sectors to achieve their objective of providing local infrastructures for effective management of the local areas.Private sector and local authority have good understanding of the fundamental concept of local infrastructure provision.Despite this understanding, there are still considerable lapses of what best practice and method to adopt in the provision of local infrastructure.This study therefore examined the role of private developers in local infrastructure and the practices used by local authorities for infrastructural procurement in Malaysia.22 local authorities and 16 developers were selected through purposive sampling method, and data collected using questionnaires was analyzed using the descriptive analysis technique.The findings revealed that joint venture and complete public delivery systems; negotiations are the most commonly adopted practices and successful method applied by the local authority to securing infrastructure. One major weakness expressed by majority of the developers is difficulty to promote private sector involvement in local infrastructure development due to unregulated-procedure. This study therefore recommends that local authorities should not only be concerned on collaborative and joint approach but also in developing a well-coordinated structure and system of operations

Community driven development approach: driving force for sustainable infrastructural development in rural communities

Reflection on the Nigerian Government experiences in rural development showed that not much has been achieved. There exists a sharp contrast between policy formulation and its implementation.The main objective of this study is to empirically determine the level of community involvement and participation in developmental activities in the Niger Delta rural communities, assess the impact of infrastructures on their living conditions and finally to identify the antecedents of unsustainable infrastructural facilities in the region.Survey approach was used to obtain data from six communities across 3 oil producing states in the region using a total of 300 questionnaires. The findings revealed that community inputs and interest are not put into consideration by the government (NDDC) in designing and implementation of developmental projects particularly in the area of infrastructure.In the same vein, there is a lack of community interest and needs in projects identification and execution. However, the paper has offered an insight and understanding on the relevance of community driven developmental approach for successful implementation and sustainability of infrastructures especially in rural communities

Mediating Role of Community Participation on the Relationship between Common Passion and Sustainable Development

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of common passion on community participation.It further demonstrates the relationship between common passion, community participation and sustainable development. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed.A sample of 284 respondents from six communities were used while 24 interviewees were interviewed amongst 24 key community leaders in three selected oil producing states in the Niger Delta region, Nigeria.The research findings indicate that community participation plays crucial role in community development sustainability.Further results from both analysis shows the common passion has a positive influence on community participation and sustainable development.More so, community participation was found as a mediator on the relationship between common passion and sustainable community development.This study is limited in scope, coverage and of course generalization. It is limited to the Niger Delta region of Nigeria which is believed to be the richest among other regions in Nigeria. Thus, other regions in Nigeria were not put into consideration.The present study has created awareness and knowledge about the current state of development in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Secondly, it offers a framework to guide policy formulation, implementation and evaluation for sustainable development in the Niger delta region of Nigeria.It has also increased an understanding on the key factors that influence sustainable development of the Niger Delta people.The study offered an insightful result for the policy makers in government, non-governmental agencies and researchers in this field of study.The study contributes to community development practices and sustainability by identifying the relevance of group cohesion, interaction and common purpose as crucial element in facilitating community participation.The research opens up avenue for future study in examining those factors that stimulates community solidarity and group cohesion as catalyst for community driven development sustainability

Human development and capability building in the Niger Delta: Issues and challenges

Continuous destruction of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria environment by oil-related exploration, unemployment, human development and education has persistently caused unrest and violence.Despite the laudable strategies adopted by the government in ensuring lasting solution in the region, scholars have however criticized some of the strategies as not working and impacting in the lives of the target population.This paper therefore explores human development and capability issues in achieving sustainable community development in the region.In-depth interview was used to investigate the issues in six communities in three selected states and NDDC. The result of this study revealed that issues like insufficient funding, projects abandonment, community attitude and leadership style are the major impediments to sustainable human development in the Niger Delta.It is therefore recommended that both governmental and non-governmental developmental agencies should take into cognizance issues like proper funding, monitoring and evaluation of projects and community involvement in designing and implementation of development plans.Likewise, community should see themselves as developmental partners with development agencies by way of developing positive attitude and maintenance to developmental projects

Promoting river-based infrastructure development: integrating landscaper components in urban river development in Malaysia

The main concern of river development was to facilitate future development of a river in a way they can preserve and conserve the river environment naturally.Since the river areas was one of the most valuable assets in sustaining urban development, the river mitigation measures formulated should not discourage the development to take place.However it must be strictly safeguarded by proper controlling and monitoring mechanism by the relevant approval authorities. Therefore, the objective of the paper is to review the general features of urban river development and urban river landscaping by local authority in implementing the river infrastructure mitigation projects.This paper also made suggestions on how the relevant authorities can play their roles for a friendly monitoring of river development particularly in urban property development

Housing programmes and urbanization: A comprehensive literature

The urbanization causing the number of residents in the city increase turn out to be a global issue. It gives impact towards the quality of life of the residents as a whole. One of the component in the life quality index is about housing, thus it is important to re-evaluate the needs of providing housing to the residents in the city, especially for low income group in Kuala Lumpur. The public housing program namely Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) Dimiliki and PPR Bersepadu are among the programs that help the low income group to have their own homes in Kuala Lumpur. Besides giving access to accommodation, the program is able to enhance the life quality indicator of the town folks. Nevertheless, a proper effective and comprehensive planning and administrations of the housing is very much needed to handle the urbanization challenges to ensure sustainable development is achieved

The role of private developers in local infrastructure provision in Malaysia

Globally, the challenge of local infrastructure provision has attracted much debate amongst different nations including Malaysia, on how to achieve an effective and efficient infrastructural management. This approach therefore, has intensified the efforts of local authorities in incorporating private developers in their developmental agenda in attaining a sustainable infrastructural development in local areas. Basically, the knowledge of the need for adequate provision of local infrastructure is well understood by both local and private authorities. Likewise, the divergent opinions on the usage of private delivery services. Notwithstanding the common perception, significant loopholes have been identified on the most appropriate and ideal approach and practices to adopt in enhancing local infrastructure development. The study therefore examined the role of private developers in local infrastructure provision and procedure adopted by both local authorities and the privates sector in local infrastructure development. Data was obtained using the questionnaire through purposive sampling, administered to 22 local authorities and 16 developers which was descriptively analysed. Emanating from the study findings, the most frequently approved practices by local authorities are joint venture and complete public delivery systems. Likewise, negotiation was identified as a vital tool for stimulating the acquisition of local infrastructure provision. It was also discovered the one of the greatest challenge in promoting private sector involvement in local infrastructure development is due to unregulated-procedure. The study therefore recommends, there is need for local authorities to adopt a collective and integrated approach, nevertheless, cognisance and priority should be given to developing a well-structured and systematic process of local infrastructure provision and development