EFFECT OF ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION ON LIVELIHOOD OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Inadequate road infrastructure has been one of the problems of rural dwellers in Nigeria. Various programmes on road intervention had been introduced by past and present administrations in Nigeria to provide road infrastructure in rural area. One of the recent interventions is the Community and Social Development Project (CSDP) implemented in the year 2009. This study was conducted to examine the effect of road infrastructure provision on the livelihood of rural household in Ondo State. The primary data used for this study were collected through the administration of structured questionnaire. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents for the study (60 benefitting and 60 non-benefitting household). Data collected were analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean, tables and inferential statistics such as multiple regression analysis, difference-in-difference model and likert scale. The results from the descriptive statistics for benefitting and non- benefitting household showed that majority of the household are still in their active age with mean ages of 46 and 47 years respectively. With respect to gender, the results showed that majority of the household head are male in the study area. The results also showed that after intervention, the benefitting communities now experience greater boost in their livelihood activities; as transportation and other alied businesses are now part of their economic activities. The multiple regression analysis showed that Secondary occupation, cost of transportation saved, road condition, waiting time saved, access to market, cost of spoilage saved had significant influence on the income of benefitting household in the study area. Also, a coefficient of multiple determination indicated that 73.2% variation in the dependent variable was explained by the explanatory variables. The result of the difference-in-difference showed that there was significant difference in the incomes of benefitting and non-benefitting households in the study area due to road intervention. Results of the likert scale showed that majority of the respondents had a favorable perception towards sustainability of the road infrastructure provided. The study concluded that provision of road infrastructure in the benefitting communities had a positive effect on the livelihood of households and recommended that government should embark on more projects on regular feeder road maintenance and beneficiary communities should continue to participate in the maintenance process for sustainability of the infrastructures