Yange Clement Terlumun
Political Science Department,
College of Education, Katsina-ala. Benue State
Email yangeordue@gmail.com
AND
Tor Geri Godfrey
Department of History
College of Education, Katsina-ala. Benue State
Email meettorgeri@gmail.com
Abstract
The paper has examined the principles and strategies of resource mobilization as a catalyst for sustainable rural development. In the pursuance of this objective the paper clarified key concepts utilized and situated the study within the rational choice theory. The paper posits that the rural areas have constituted majority of the nation’s population and serve as a base for food production. The paper argues that though various rural development policies have been initiated in Nigeria, the conditions of the rural areas has not changed much since independence. Rather, development policies in Nigeria have been tilted toward the urban areas while the rural areas live in extreme poverty and lack basic health, educational and social infrastructures.However, exclusion of rural dwellers at the planning stage and absence of rural needs assessment were found to be the major challenges to sustainable rural development and the paper argues that the appropriate mobilization of human, material and financial resources based on development principles and strategies will achieve sustainable rural development. The paper concludes that, resource mobilization remains a major instrument of the attainment of sustainable rural development through accurate identification and deployment of appropriate resources to achieve such development objective. Resource mobilization will essentially overcome the uncoordinated, haphazardly implementation and imposition of development projects on the rural populace. The study recommends among other things that government should always embark on rural development needs assessment, sustainable rural development should emphasis the bottom-top approach, greater investment in human capital, rural entrepreneurial initiatives, inclusivity and partnership, resource mobilization should be made compulsory at all levels, and quality leadership that is determined to overcome socio-economic stagnation at the grassroots
level.
Keywords: Principles, Strategies, Resource Mobilization, Sustainable Rural Development.
