The House of Representatives is considering a bill seeking to promote sustainable rural development, reduce poverty and enhance the livelihoods of Nigerians in agrarian communities.
Titled ‘The National Integrated Rural Development Bill, 2025’, the proposed legislation applies to all rural areas within the country’s territorial boundaries as classified by relevant demographic and economic criteria.
Sponsored by the member representing Esan Central/Esan West/Igueben Federal Constituency, Edo State, Marcus Onobun, the bill is awaiting a second reading on the floor of the Green Chamber.
A copy of the proposed legislation exclusively obtained by Sunday PUNCH showed in Part III the provision to guarantee wage employment for rural households that would make every employed adult household entitled to a daily wage of N3,500.
The bill also proposed the establishment of the National Integrated Rural Development Agency, whose functions shall include, but not be limited to, ‘Overseeing the implementation of integrated rural development programmes; coordinating the relevant ministries, agencies and stakeholders; monitoring and evaluating rural development projects and promoting innovation and technology adoption in rural development initiatives’.
Under the wage employment for rural dwellers, the bill provides that, ‘The Agency shall ensure that every rural household, whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work through local development projects, is guaranteed a minimum of 100 days of wage employment per fiscal year’.
It further reads in Section 12(2), “Every employed adult household shall be entitled to a daily wage of N3,500 for each day of work.”
According to the bill, one-third of such employment opportunities are to be reserved for women in rural communities.
The key objectives include ‘To reduce rural poverty and improve the quality of life in rural areas; enhance agricultural productivity and ensure food security; encourage community participation in development planning and decision-making, and facilitate access to education, healthcare and social services in rural communities’.
The bill also proposed a Governing Council for the Agency, whose Chairman shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security.
Another key provision of the bill is that revenue generated by the proposed National Integrated Rural Development Agency ‘Shall be exempted from income tax and all contributions to the fund of the Agency shall be tax-deductible’.
Speaking with Sar no, Onobun highlighted the significance of the bill, saying, ‘It seeks to establish a legal and institutional framework to promote sustainable rural development across the nation by reducing poverty, improving rural infrastructure and enhancing livelihoods through integrated and coordinated efforts’.The bill is expected to return on the floor of the House in the weeks ahead for a debate on its general principles.
Despite her immense natural and human resources, the country continues to grapple with widespread rural poverty and underdevelopment — a challenge that remains one of the country’s deepest and most persistent socio-economic problems.
With an estimated population of about 200 million people, nearly half of Nigerians still live in rural areas, where poverty levels are far higher than in urban centres, according to reports.
While cities such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, among others, have expanded rapidly, rural communities remain trapped in a cycle of poor infrastructure, low productivity, and limited access to basic amenities.
The roots of Nigeria’s rural underdevelopment can be traced to the colonial period, when the British administration concentrated investment in coastal cities and administrative hubs.
The colonial economy prioritised cash crop exports and resource extraction, leaving rural regions largely ignored in terms of roads, schools and health facilities.
After independence in 1960, the pattern persisted. Successive governments focused on urban-based industrialisation and elite interests, while rural development programmes such as Operation Feed the Nation and the Green Revolution struggled due to corruption, weak implementation, and lack of continuity.
Agriculture remains the mainstay of rural life, employing roughly 70% of the rural population.
However, most farmers operate on a subsistence level, relying on rain-fed, low-technology methods that are increasingly vulnerable to climate change, desertification and flooding.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the United Nations Development Programme, as of 2024, about 63% of Nigerians, or 133 million people, were multidimensionally poor.
The highest rates are found in the northern regions and conflict-prone parts of the Middle Belt, where weak infrastructure and insecurity intersect to deepen deprivation.
