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

Email :ewosu@yahoo.com

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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