An Appraisal of Community Development Efforts in Ikot Ekpene and Ikono Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State

Abstract: This paper focuses on the appraisal of community development projects in Ikot Ekpene and Ikono Local Government Areas. It identifies the self-help developmental projects in Ikot Ekpene and Ikono LGAs. Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area is an Urban Centre in Annang tribe while Ikono Local Government Area is a rural area in Ibibio tribe. Five projects from each LGA were purposively selected. Thirty opinion leaders of the community members from each Local Government Area were selected. Structured sets of questionnaire and oral interview were used to collect the data. Cross tabulation, simple percentages and ratios were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that, 100% of the projects with socio-economic and educational benefits are based in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area; and 60% of the projects with socio-cultural benefits are located in Ikono Local Government Area.  Ikot Ekpene  LGA contributed a matching grant of 32% while Ikono LGA contributed 64%.Government and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Supported Ikot Ekpene LGA financially and otherwise more than  Ikono LGA.  The ratio of completed projects to the uncompleted ones in Ikot Ekpene LGA was 3:2 and that of Ikono LGA was 2:3. Communities with completed project all agreed that they benefited from their projects. All communinties agreed at100% that finance was their major obstacle to project completion at the stipulated time. Apart from contributions, launching and donations, assistance from Government, Non-Governmental Organization and Philanthropist were good financial sources of fund for project implementation and completion. Among   other recommendations given in the body of the paper, communities who require supports from Government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) should embark on projects with Socio-economic/Educational benefits than Socio-cultural since such projects tends to interest such sponsors for the benefits of  the  communities, the tenants and those of neighbouring  communities. They should also contribute their required amount to meet their matching grants. All on -going projects should be completed to avoid wastage of resources.