PORT HARCOURTAVIATION INDUSTRY AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: EMERGING TREND OF LIVELIHOOD APPROACH IN IKWERRE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA
PORT HARCOURTAVIATION INDUSTRY AND
RURAL DEVELOPMENT: EMERGING TREND OF LIVELIHOOD APPROACH IN IKWERRE LOCAL
GOVERNMENT AREA, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA
Eze Wosu
Department of Sociology, Faculty of
Social Sciences
University of Port Harcourt,Port
Harcourt, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The study examined the livelihood
conditions of the Ikwerre people since the establishment of the Port Harcourt Aviation
Industry in Omagwe community. It was argued that the Port Harcourt Aviation was
supposed to be a blessing to the indigene and inhabitants of the areas; rather
it became more of a resource curse. Rather than enhancing the living condition
of the people, it had transformed the socio-economic, political and cultural
lives of the Omagwe communities into a state of abject poverty.
The study
deployed the interview and observation techniques of gathering data. The
Marxist Political Economy became the theoretical framework for the study. The
findings revealed that the acquisition of vast land (farming) of the people,
dispossessed them from their major means of production; led to the emerging
legitimate and illegitimate livelihood strategies of the indigenes of Omagwe
community. Such trends includes – petty and table trades, sale of tickets /
taxi drivers, high rate of crime etc. The study recommends that the state in
conjunction with the Aviation industry and the community to foster a clear
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to transform and enhance the living
conditions of the people.
Key
Words: Aviation; Livelihood; Rural Development; Community Development
THE PROBLEM
Nnoli
(1978) posited that the initiative for cooperative living, ownership,
production and marketing of goods and services must come from the rural people
themselves with the government and party offering education and advice. It is
on the strength of this that the United Nations Organization(UNO)in 1963
presented a universal acceptable definition of community development.
A
process by which the efforts of the people themselves are united with those of
governmental authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural
conditions of community, to integrate those communities into the life of the
nation and to enable them contribute fully to national progress (Oyebamji&Adekola
2008).
From
the above definition community development has been described as a movement, a
method and a process of action. This means that community development is an
instrument that can manifest in different forms. And as the effort of the
people in conjunction with the government to enhance the socio-economic living
standards of the people. The establishment of Port Harcourt Aviation industry
located at Omagwe community in Ikwerre became a rural development option – like
Operation Feed the Nation (1995); farm settlement strategy (1970); Green
Revolution; Directorate of Food, Roads, and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI), Oil
Mineral Producing Development Committee (OMPADEC), dovetailing to NNDC etc
aimed at improving the living standard of the rural people had failed.
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