Welfare Impact of Rural Infrastructural Development in Oyo State, Nigeria

Aims: To assess the impact of rural infrastructure on poverty status of rural households in Oyo State, Nigeria by profiling the socioeconomic characteristics of the rural households; identifying the infrastructural facilities available by poverty status in the study area as well as examining the impact of access to infrastructural facilities on poverty status of rural households in Oyo State.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in Akinyele Local Government area of Oyo state, in Ibadan, Nigeria. Akinyele local government area occupies a land area of 464,892 square kilometers with a population density of 516 inhabitants per square kilometer. Oyo State is located in the South Western part of Nigeria and has 33 Local Government Areas with estimated population of 6,617,720.

Methodology: Data were collected from a random sample of 263 households through the use of well-structured questionnaires. The data were subjected to descriptive statistics and inferential statistics such as Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) poverty measure and Probit regression model.

Results: The results revealed that about 77% percent of the households were categorized as poor. The likelihood of rural households being poor was influenced by years of experience, livelihood diversity, access to good road, access to educational facilities, access to agro-processing facilities, access to health care facilities and access to electricity.

Conclusion: The poor state of infrastructure and services calls for major investments across all categories which was found to have contributed to negatively to improved welfare of households in the study area. It is therefore recommended that rural poverty reduction polices should be designed to provide incentives and attract private sector investments towards infrastructure development in rural areas at affordable cost.