The Impact of Road Infrastructure on Socio-Economic Development in Enugu State (2018-2022)

¹Anikeze Nnaemeka Hillary, ²Abonyi Jonas Uchenna and ¹Ugwunwangwu Maria Gloria Chinyereugo

¹Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management Science Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu State, Nigeria

²Department of Public Administration, School of Business Studies, Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu

Email: nnaemeka.anikeze@esut.edu.ng; gloria.ugwunwangwu@esut.edu.ng

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the  impact of road infrastructure on socio-economic development in Nigeria from 2016 to 2021, the specific objectives of the study include; to determine the extent road infrastructure as impacted on agricultural production in Enugu state, to know the extent road infrastructure as contributed to employment creation in Enugu state, to ascertain the extent of road infrastructure as impacted on small medium enterprises (SMEs) in Enugu state, to examine the extent road infrastructure as impacted on education in Enugu state. The study was carried out in three communities in Enugu North, which include; Onuato, Umunevo and Ihenwuzi. The research design adopted for the study is descriptive survey research design. 750 resident in the three communities served as the population for the study while 261 respondents were sampled using Taro Yamane sampling techniques. A structured questionnaire developed by the researcher served as the instrument for data collection while the data collected from the respondents were presented in frequency table and analyzed using simple percentage while the chi-square was used for testing of the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance and two degree of freedom. The findings of the study revealed; road infrastructure has significant positive impact on agricultural production in the study areas, road infrastructure has positive significant impact on employment creation in the study areas, road infrastructure has significant positive impact on small medium enterprises in the study area and that road infrastructures has significant positive impact on education in the study areas. Based on the findings; the following recommendations were made; both federal, state government and private sector should take road infrastructure serious especially link from rural to the urban areas for easy access in the agricultural sector of the country, road infrastructure should be maintain from time to time in order to elongate the life cycle of road infrastructure and its impact on socio economic development.

Keywords: Road Infrastructure, agricultural production employment creation, small medium enterprises (SMEs), education

CITE AS: Anikeze Nnaemeka Hillary, Abonyi Jonas Uchenna and Ugwunwangwu Maria Gloria Chinyereugo (2024). The Impact of Road Infrastructure on Socio-Economic Development in Enugu State (2018-2022). RESEARCH INVENTION JOURNAL OF CURRENT RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 3(1):88-95.