TOWARDS THE INTEGRATION OF GENDER RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENT: A CASE FOR NIGERIA

The inability of nations to achieve developmental aspirations is, in many cases, linked to lack of gender mainstreaming in development. It means that gender considerations have major impact on targets, implementation and evaluation of development programmes of nations. This is an indication that there is an uncommon missing link between gender and development. As such, there is a stark need for policy makers to employ high quality gender knowledge that emanates from systematic studies on gender issues in order to achieve national development goals. This paper, first, presents a conceptual clarification about gender research and establishes the imperative of gender research as a spring board for achieving national development agenda in Nigeria, as well as the Millennium Development Goals in general. Second, the paper identifies major gaps in development outcomes that are linked to inappropriate handling of gender issues. Third, the paper explores possible development areas in which gender research findings can be applied as a guide for policy makers to attain effective and efficient development goals. This is so, particularly, in areas that pertain to bridging gender disparity as a universal phenomenon. Finally, the paper presents and recommends a sketch of basic features of gender research activities that would generate relevant information for bridging the gaps in the actualization of development policy statements in Nigeria.