Development without the Communities: Assessing Constituency Projects in the Niger Delta Region

Development planning in Nigeria has a long history of top-down planning, inherited from the colonial regime. This planning approach has oftentimes neglected the grassroots, whom development is intended for, in the planning and implementation of these projects. This approach to planning has affected government efforts negatively in addressing underdevelopment at the grassroots. Hence, the introduction of the constituency project is seen as a departure from past approaches as it addresses the community’s’ challenges with the community involved. Using a qualitative case study design, that involved one focus group discussion with five persons and three key informant interviews with MDA’s representatives and the House of representative member, alongside five community representatives to assess constituency projects (CPs) in Ughelli/Udi federal constituency of Delta State and found out that, like the previous efforts of the government, current efforts have also remained top-down, including CPs, which are premised on addressing community development with the communities, fully involved at all stages of their development. Using Arnstein’s ladder of participation as the theoretical foundation, the findings from the study showed that CP’s have remained top-down, with little or no genuine efforts to involve the grassroots communities in the process of their development. Findings from the research suggest the lack of genuine participation of the grassroots can be enhanced with the enactment of the CP Act, which will establish the institutional framework for genuine community participation.