An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing Implementation of Rural Development Projects in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

The study was prompted by the abiding concern for the continuous existence of failed and abandoned projects in Gwagwalada Area Council of Abuja. The study investigates the extent to which funding, change of government, existing project monitoring mechanisms and workforce affect the implementation of rural development projects of the Council. Content and thematic analysis aided by Nvivo11was used for the analysis of the interview. Multiple regression was used for hypothesis testing. The finding indicates that the four (4) factors impacted the Area Council's implementation of rural development programs. However, the relative contributions of each factor differed in order of ranking. Change of government and funding, with standardized coefficients of (.414) and (.266), were found significantly responsible for the incidence of failed and discontinued projects in the Council. The study recommends project continuity for succeeding governments and that efforts to boost its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) be scaled up.