RETHINKING NATIONAL DEVLOPMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES IN ACCELERATING AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

A review of the evolution of Nigeria’snational development indicates a coincidence of the political and economic symmetry. Central in the trajectory was the nonchalant attitudes of the colonialists and even the successornationalists, particularly toward rural development. Upon attainment of independence in 1960, successive administrations attempted to redress the huge deficits by initiating various developmental programmes targeted at rural development. Unfortunately, most of the efforts were largely symbolic, resulting in massive failure. Using growth-centre and classical neo-classical models, this paper x-rayed the utility or otherwise of the development programmes, adopting documentary and expository analyses, in alignment with previous studies. The paper concluded that previous government efforts at rural development in Nigeria were largely inefficacious; and therefore recommended that government should prioritise rural development, by committing commensurate resources, to leapfrog Nigeria over the acute rural underdevelopment.