Neighbourhood Infrastructure Financing Strategies: Experience from Installation and Maintenance of Electricity Infrastructure in Opako-Adigbe, Abeokuta, Ogun State

Abstract

Reactions to lack of, or partial finance of infrastructure (provision and maintenance) by the government has triggered resort to self-help financing in many urban communities. This study investigates community self-help as a financing strategy for the installation and maintenance of an electrical transformer in Opako-Adigbe neighbourhood in Abeokuta, Ogun State. A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was held with eight community representatives and a survey was carried with 228 house-representatives responding. Data was extracted from audio recordings of the FGD and questionnaires from the survey analysed with descriptive statistics and ranking. Findings indicate that residents will be encouraged to pay for infrastructure financing when they observe sincerity in the efforts of the government and their community association towards solving the identified problem. The residents were satisfied with the adopted installation and maintenance strategies but more satisfied with installation strategy than maintenance strategy. The findings of this study provides an avenue for learning about the workability of community driven financing strategies. It will also assist the government in planning for urban infrastructure through effective collaboration with end users based on thorough understanding of how socio-economic contexts drive infrastructure provision. This is another community-based research that showcase the power of coordinated community efforts as a workable structure for the provision, and maintenance of basic urban infrastructure. The success of these strategies in the case-study area makes it applicable to communities with similar infrastructure needs.