A. E. EHIEN2, E. OLADELE1 and T. O. OGUNFIDITIMI2
1 Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development University of Ibadan, Nigeria
2Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8686, Japan
EHIEN, A. E. OLADELE, O. I. and T. O. OGUNFIDITIMI, 2004. Effect of World bank loan withdrawal on job related variables of extension agents in South Western Nigeria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 10: 275–279
The study investigated the effect of loan withdrawal on the performance of extension agents of agricultural development programmes (ADPs) in South Western Nigeria. The specific objectives were to conduct pre-and-post situation analyses of job satisfaction, job performance, job-related problems and attitude to work of the extension agents to the withdrawal of World Bank Loan. A simple random sampling technique was used to select respondents from Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Lagos, Qgun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States ADPs in South Western Nigeria – The respondents were the extension agents that have been on staff list before the final loan withdrawal in 1999 and are still working in the ADPs after the loan withdrawal. A total of 240 respondents were selected from 842 extension agents representing 29 % of the total number of extension agents in the study area. Data were obtained through the administration of a structured and validated questionnaire with reliability coefficient of 0.85. Statistical tools of the study are frequency counts, percentages, and t – test. Results show that Job satisfaction before loan withdrawal is significantly higher (X = 87.26) than job satisfaction after loan withdrawal (X = 66.78) (t = 15.92, P < 0.05). Also the job performance of extension agents before loan withdrawal is significantly higher ( X = 93.8) than after loan withdrawal (X = 82.2) (t = – 13.17, P < 0.05). The study further indicates that there are significantly more job– related problems after the loan withdrawal (X = 63.1) than before the loan withdrawal (X = 59.5) (t = 4.04, P < 0.05). The importance of job activities, similarly declined after the loan withdrawal (X = 38.1) when compared to the period before the loan withdrawal (X = 49.7) (t = 18.92, P < 0.05). The study therefore shows that the withdrawal of the World Bank loan reduced the performance of extension agents. The implication of this study is that agricultural programmes that are been financed by donor agencies should make adequate arrangement for continuity of the programme when these agencies withdraw their financial support.