Assessment Of The Effort Of Local Government In Rural Development: A Study Of Jalingo Local Government Area Of Taraba State

Abstract

Local Government was created to engage in projects and programmes for rural development. Section 7 (3) of the 1999 Constitution provided Local Governments to carry out economic planning and development of their rural areas. It is on this note that this study was conducted to assess the effort of Jalingo LG in rural development in Taraba State. The major objective of the study was to assess the effort of Jalingo LG in rural development while the specific objectives are to: (1) assess the effort of Jalingo LG in rural development from 2015 to 2020.(2) S determine the extent Jalingo LG had developed rural areas from 2015 to 2020. This research work is an evaluation research and it was designed as a survey research design. It combined the use of both qualitative and quantitative data for the study. The population of the study is 360, Krejcie and Morgan (1970) was adopted to determine sample size while Proportionate Stratified Sampling Technique (PSST) was used to determine the sample. Data generated were analyzed using Chi-Square method of data analysis. The study finds out that there are no developmental projects put in place in rural areas of Jalingo LG from 2015 to 2020 and as a result of this there was very low level of development in rural areas of Jalingo LG from 2015 and 2020. The study concluded that the effort of Jalingo LG in rural development in Taraba State need to be re-emphasized. The council need to put more effort in carrying out its traditional role as stipulated in the constitution. Jalingo LG should be encouraged to discharge its statutory and traditional responsibilities such as provision of healthcare facilities, primary education, feeder roads, market stalls, portable water and agricultural implements to ensure even rural development.