Rural Development Policies and the Challenges of Realizing the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria

Abstract

Rural development is a multi-dimensional approach by which the productivity, income and quality of life in terms of health, nutrition, education, and other characteristics of satisfactory life of rural people can be improved or transformed. Examples abound in Nigeria since political independence of rural-financial and development projects ranging from health to roads which are executed in rural settlements. Rural development efforts or rural transformation involves the changing of the social and economic structures, institutions, and processes of the rural settings. The exercise should be seen as a balanced development with emphasizes on equitable distribution and creation of gains. The paper introduced the concept of rural development with selected examples of rural development policies in Nigeria. This paper also discussed the factors that have hindered the success of rural development programmes from achieving its aims and objectives of bettering the life of the poor with the consideration of the Marxian political economy theory as it affect the realization of MDGs in Nigeria by 2015 and concluded with the recommendations that the politics of stakeholders in the management of rural development policies to be put off.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n2p643