Abstract

Rural infrastructural development has a crucial role to play in the development of any nation. Despite the efforts of the three tiers of governments in Nigeria and that of the international organisations to improve rural wellbeing, most of the infrastructural development efforts have not been sustainable. Therefore, this study assessed the benefits derived from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) facilitated boreholes in rural areas of Ondo State, Nigeria. Three stage sampling procedure was used to obtain data from 152 beneficiaries in the study area. Information on socioeconomic characteristics, level of use of the infrastructure, constraints to use of the infrastructure, and benefits derived from the infrastructure were obtained using both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection; information obtained were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Majority (66.5%) of the respondents were between the age range of 31 and 60 years with mean age of 44 ? 14.28, 55.3% had a household size of between 1 and 5 people, 61.2% were female, 95.4% had formal education, 60.5% were Christians, and 59.9% were married. High percentage (98.6%) of the respondents stated that borehole was not in use always. The highest ranked constraints faced by the beneficiaries in the use of the borehole was lack of maintenance (x?=1.14). The major benefit derived was provision of drinkable water (x?=1.87). Significant relationship existed between level of use of the infrastructure (r= -0.358, p=0.002) and the benefits derived from the infrastructure. It was therefore concluded that the beneficiaries did not benefit from the infrastructure as expected due to low level of use.

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