Self-Help as a Strategy for Rural Development in Nigeria: A Bottom-Up Approach

This paper is aimed at examining the imbalances in the livingconditions of the urban and rural dwellers and the determination of the rural poor to bridge this gap through self-help development activities. The odds against rural development in Nigeria were rather immense. The configurations of government plans were tailored strictly to facilitate the exploitation of the natural resources of the rural areas for the development of the few urban centres. Consequently, most of the initial infrastructural development in Nigeria were skewed in favour of the urban areas to the detriment of the rural areas where the majority resided and inadvertently created a dualism. Since the government was “far” from the rural areas in terms of development and with the realization thatgovernment alone cannot provide all their needs, the people had to learn to “do-it-themselves”. This alternative strategy of self-help and the communitarian philosophy of the people has not only accelerated the level of growth but has also spread the benefits of development to the rural areas in Nigeria. However, where the government is properly playing its expected role, self-help activities should complement rural development and not replacing it.