Inequalities in access to infrastructural amenities and sustainable development in Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines inequalities in the access to infrastructure and its implications for sustainable development of the Delta State. A sample size of 2,521 was statistically determined from a population frame of 5,663,362. Using the level of confidence approach, a structured questionnaire was systematically administered to every fifth house along the major road based on random selection. Result of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) based on further analysis of the extracted components in the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) used as predictor or criterion variables shows that there is a significant variation in access to infrastructure across the three senatorial districts of the state at (F=527.305, p=< 0.001). Spatial variation in access to infrastructure resulted in spatial disparities in living standards within and between coastal communities. Deprivation in access to infrastructure is experienced more in the coastal communities of the Delta South compared to the Delta Central and Delta North. Some of these variations were caused by difference in distance to safe water, lack of accessible road network, poor housing and poor sanitation facilities because of multiple deprivations, poor terrain and lack of infrastructural development. Adequate infrastructure is a necessary condition not just for economic development but also sustainable development of the coastal communities. Therefore, an understanding of inequality in the access to infrastructure is vital to sustainable development of the coastal communities of Delta State, Nigeria.