Provision of Information Literacy as an Antidote for Socio-Economic Growth of the Rural Dwellers in Nigeria.

On a daily basis, problems are arising and becoming more difficult to solve because people lack access to meaningful information vital to good decision making and developmental needs. The budding numbers of people who are victims of the ugly scenario are often the rural communities who have no common means of becoming information literate due to their economic and information deficiencies. The thrust of the paper is that providing appropriate information literacy will strengthen and empower the socio-economic development of the rural dwellers in Nigeria and make them to become critical and effective information users who will be able to participate actively amongst global actors in the information -based economy. Against this backdrop, the paper advocates the provision of information literacy as a veritable resource that will enhance the socio-economic development of the rural communities in Nigeria. The paper further highlights the role of information literacy in the developmental needs of the rural populace, identifies some inherent challenges in the provision of information literacy to the rural dwellers and way forward were identified on how to medicate the challenges of providing information literacy to the rural dwellers.