The study titled “Information Resources and Services Provision for SocioEconomic
and Political Empowerment of Rural People in the three Geopolitical
zones of Northern States of Nigeria” was embarked upon in order to
investigate what provision or lack of provision of information can do to the
socio economic and political status of rural people. The objectives of the study
were achieved by formulating and answering six research questions and five
null hypotheses. Descriptive or survey method was adopted for the research.
The instruments used to collect data for the study were questionnaire and
interview which were administered to rural people in Northern States of
Nigeria. The questionnaire was translated to the respondents’ local language for
better understanding. The data collected were analyzed, using frequency tables
and percentages in form of descriptive statistical tool. This was done in order to
define the type and frequency of the most used information resources and
services as well as to determine the easiest way of accessing resources and
services available. Inferential statistics involving T-test and ANOVA were used.
All the tests were carried out at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed
that although agriculture is one of the highest operated activities of the rural
people which raises their socio-economic status, information in that area was
not satisfactorily provided. For example, only 470 (24.4%) respondents said
they received information on availability of fertilizers, 438 (22.7%) on
Agricultural loan, 44.2) (22.9%) on methods of farming. The findings also
revealed that information on political activities in rural area did not fare any
better. Again the findings showed that there was no significant difference
among the respondents in the three geo-political zones in any area of
information provision of the study. The general observation in the study is that
there is inadequate information provision for the socio-economic and political
empowerment of the rural people. Therefore, several recommendations were
made one of which is calling for the establishment of Community Information
Centre (CIC) that should be manned by information specialists, who will
acquire, process and disseminate needed information to the rural people. For
effective operation of this community information centre, a model for
information service delivery to rural people was proposed as Appendix A.