Abstract:
Project sustainability is central in community development efforts. Since independence, successive governments had established special development agencies for the Niger Delta region. However, it has been observed that these agencies failed to attain the set goals due to their approaches and uncoordinated community development activities. Sustainable development has to do with participatory development, human development and environmental protection. The federal government, thus, established the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2000 to address the developmental challenges of the people. Consequently, the research was aimed at examining the perception of the sustainability of NDDC community development projects in Abia State. The cross-sectional survey design was adopted in the study using purposive sampling to achieve the required sample size of 1152. The sample comprised of 6 communities from 6 LGAs in Abia state. The questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion and in-depth interviews were the major instruments used for data collection. Data generated from the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency tables, and percentages, while data generated from the FGD and IDI were illustrated in quotes. The chi-square (X²) was used to test the hypotheses formulated in the study. The study revealed that the NDDC has executed projects in all the communities under study. Moreover, the successfully executed projects have impacted positively on the quality of lives of the community members. The study further revealed that the participation of the community members in projects execution is low and this has implications in projects sustainability.
