Gender-Sensitive Projects for Sustainable Development in Nigeria: A Critical Assessment

Being one of the contemporary and topical but controversial social problems amidst social inquiry in patriarchal Nigeria, gender has both objective condition and subjective definition in development theories and practices. This paper submits that the concept of 'Gender' within African developmental context aligns with discrimination and derogation. Series of approaches and projects have surfaced in Nigeria with the view to combat the threat of gender along the pathways to socio-economic and political development, yet the phenomenon persists. The paper specifically examines the nature and extent of genderism and fictitious and factual forces weaved around gendered and engendered development programmes in Nigeria. It draws attention to Nigeria's underdevelopmental epidemiology via gender epistemology. Theoretically, the paper argues that the spirit of 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' are inadequate as separate sceptres for achieving the object of gender-sensitive development in Nigeria, indeed, Africa. Against this backdrop, 'nomothetic' method cannot solely drive Nigeria's development out of its morass in the wake of gender issues. Therefore, the paper recommends that a down-to-earth application of gender-neutrality to all stages of the life cycle of development project. Gender-free integrated participatory development approach and 'idiographic' method are suggested as the theoretical and methodical tour de force for Nigeria's sustainability in development.