1 SALVAGING THE UNDER-DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AREAS IN NIGERIA by P.C. Richard Ondo Sector Command, Federal Road Safety Corps, Akure, NIGERIA, 08056912952 richard78ng@gmail.com, richard_78ng@yahoo.com Abstract: The framework of government plans were centered on facilitating the development of urban areas. Consequently, most of these initial infrastructure development efforts in Nigeria were skewed at the detriment of rural areas. This paper is aimed at examining the development plans and implementation vis a vis retardation state of rural environment in Nigeria. It emphasises the need for a paradigm shift in the development of rural areas in Nigeria. This paper utilised information obtained from secondary (existing literature) sources such as journals and other archived materials. A wide disparity was observed between rural and urban areas owing to long-term neglect of the former. It was also observed that policy initiation and implementation was not done with sincerity of purpose among policy makers and programme implementers. This paper therefore recommends the establishment of ministry and department of rural development which will be saddled with the responsibility of transforming the rural areas. 1.0 Introduction The 1960 National census reported that over 80% of the nation’s population was residing in the rural areas. In 1985 this proportion dropped to 70%. In 2005, the number dropped sharply to 51% (Ibenegbu, 2017). The statistics clearly indicate rapid rural-urban drift for obvious reasons. Kayode (2017) posits that sustainable rural development will stem the trend of people moving into the cities to take up jobs like motorcycling and possibly increase the rate of crime. Some of the past