ABSTRACT:

Community development is one of the major issues of concern in most rural arears of any developing nations. The study examined the perception of rural households on community development projects in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. Simple random sampling technique was used to select twenty heads of households from six (6) wards making a total of one hundred and twenty respondents. Primary data were collected using a well-structured and validated interview schedule and analysed with frequency count, percentages and mean while chi square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) were used to test the hypothesis. Results shows that the heads of households were predominantly male (78.3%), married (72.5%) mostly with secondary education (60.0%) and engaged in various livelihood activities. Findings also reveal that Health centre (87.0%), block of classrooms (84.0%), rural electrification and rural roads (72.0% each), security post (60.8%) and town hall (60.0%) were some of the development projects executed through community efforts. Results further show that information communication centre (x = 0.68), toilet/incinerator ( x = 0.65) were of low access to members of the community. It was revealed that community members mostly participated in planning of projects (x = 0.61), control of traffic ( x = 0.61), fetching of water (x = 0.42) and dissemination of information to members (x = 0.52). However, the results of participation index low (53.3%). Lack of time (x = 1.41), lack of awareness project (x= 1.28) and lack of financial capability (x = 1.25) were some of the factors affecting 2 household members participation in community development projects. Sex (χ = 0.433, df = 4) and 2 marital status (χ = 0.443, df = 12) were significantly related with household participation in community development projects. It is therefore recommended that relevant stakeholders should offer tangible benefits and financial support to motivate household’s participation in community development projects.