ENUGU STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES Faculty of Social Sciences, Enugu State University of Science And Technology EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Prof. Oby Omeje MANAGING EDITOR Prof. Barnabas Nwankwo PUBLISHED BY Volume 7 Number 1, 2022Volume 7 Number 1, 2022 12 Rural industrialization, state Bureaucracy and land expropriation: Exploring the dynamism of rural household political economy Emmanuel Chimezie Eyisi *Chinyere C. P. Nnorom Ethelbert Okoronkwo Oko Chima Enworo Department of Sociology, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike, P.M.B. 1010, Abakiliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria *Correspondence: ccpnnorom@yahoo.com Abstract This research investigated the effects of capitalist investment and bureaucratic organizations on rural household economy and social relations in Ikwo, LGA in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. Guided by the insights provided by the Mode of Production Neo-Marxist theory as the theoretical framework; the study interrogated three objectives: The impact of the capitalist infrastructure on the rural economy; the extent to which the capitalist infrastructure engender dynamism in the household income generation; the relationship between capitalist infrastructure penetration and changes in the patterns of social relationships. The study involved self administered questionnaire of 159 respondents, 15 In-depth-interviews (IDIs) and 5 Focussed Group Discussion (FGDs). Secondary data from documented materials were also used. Data analysis was both quantitative and qualitative. Our findings showed that while the family income of the members of the community who are engaged in the employment of the change agents have slightly increased, the communities’ economic activities have declined, because of loss of agricultural lands and rural unemployment. The study recommends immediate compensation and adequate socio-economic rehabilitation of those whose lands have been expropriated for the setting up of the rural industries and state organizations, fulfilment by companies and other organisations of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the host communities, among others. It is hoped that if well harnessed, these organizations can transform rural households’ economy positively. Keywords: Economy, household, industrialization, rural, state bureaucracy. Introduction The contradictions of capitalism in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries compelled the transplanting of the capitalist system of production to African and other Third World societies through imperialism and subsequent colonial administration (Ake, 1981, Ocheni & Nwankwo, 2012). This penetration of world capitalism that have been sustained by neo-colonialism and globalisation redefined the systems of moral, religious and ethical values as well as traditional mailto:ccpnnorom@yahoo.com 13 mechanism of social control (Payne & Nasser, 2003). More importantly, colonialism and neo- colonialisms resulted in new economic systems leading to the transformation of new economic relations, production practices, new state structures and political systems, such the political economy of Nigeria and most of the other developing economies are still designed within the prism of Western societies and economies (Wallerstein, 2011). The same processes that led to the transplanting of capitalism has inexorably been exacerbated by the penetration of incipient capitalism into the rural areas through the means of rural industrialisation, natural resource exploitation, rural infrastructure, government bureaucracy and agencies (Etemike, Omokinino & Efandor, 2015). The penetration of capitalist infrastructure in the rural areas gradually eroded the traditional values of communalism, social and religious life as well as system of political governance. The penetration also decimated family chemistry with concomitant extirpation of respect and regards for family authority structure and erosion of traditional systems of social control. The result of the distortion of family authority structure is the increasing family instability which has snowballed into conflict and violence with concomitant increasing delinquency and criminality in the communities (Abosede, 2009). The penetration of capitalist infrastructure further distorted the economic system of the rural inhabitants by not only disarticulating the production process but rendering majority of rural dwellers unemployed and under employed. According to Wang, Li, Xiong, & Wu (2019), with the advancement and acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the expropriation of land can cause a large number of farmers to leave their land and become the land-lost farmers. The loss of means of production by the local producers will not only result in some of them being absorbed in the capitalist projects as wage labourers but will lead to socio-economic disorientation by the entire community. And what is more, the rural population eventually loses the control of her production process in an asymmetrical relationship to the local capitalist that appropriate surplus products of labour, the rural industry that exploit the rural populace through cheap labour and natural resources and to the state that embellishes these systems of exploitation and expropriation for its benefit (Abosede, 2009). Again, the capitalist penetration has tended to restructure the pattern of family productive relations. The creation of wage labour for both men and women by virtue of these rural 14 interventions has led to the concomitant neglect of the communities` indigenous economic activities. The implication is that the family loses its central role as the economic unit, thus creating dynamism in the family income. The roles previously performed by the family as an economic unit have been taken over or modified by industrialization with devastating consequences on the family fabric. The opportunity provided for women as part of the providers of family resources may have the capacity of altering the socio-economic responsibilities in the family. This has affected the pattern of family economic structure and relationships. The point is that women have increasingly become equal providers in the household economic resources. Indeed, gender gap in house hold economic production has increasingly narrowed; with the women in most cases contributing more to the family income than men. This has helped to restructure the nature of socio-economic relations in the family (Varhga, Gal & Crosby-Nagy, 2017). A cursory observation of the study area appears to indicate that the introduction of capitalist organisations and bureaucracies in the form of manufacturing industries, mining operations, government agencies, and educational institutions, has not only disarticulated the basic economic activity (agriculture), but has also disrupted the stable nature of families as an economic production and social integration unit. The disarticulation of agricultural activities in the area, as a result of rural industrialization and modernization induced land shrinkage has had a negative impact on the livelihood strategies of people who depend on agricultural land or other rural natural resources (Nguyen, Hegedus, & Nguyen, 2019). This paper therefore explores the effects of rural industrialisation and bureaucratic organisations on rural household economy in Ikwo LGA. Ikwo LGA was chosen as our study setting because as a rural area there is preponderance of corporate industrial organisations, three tertiary institutions and state bureaucracies that include state departments , agencies, administrative centres and state complex economic infrastructures that have the capacity of fundamentally impacting negatively or positively the rural and household economies in the rural areas. Secondly, the choice of Ikwo LGA as the study setting apart from fulfilling the researchable conditions and thrust of the researchers as stated above is its accessibility to the researchers because of being the host of researchers` institutional base which is Alex Ekwueme 15 Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State. In exploring these issues, we are not oblivious of the fact that the situation in the household cannot be extricated from socio-economic conditions of the rural communities in the rural areas as impacted by the penetration of the capitalist infrastructure. Objectives In the light of the above stated capitalist and bureaucratic organisations induced effects on Ikwo LGA household economy, the following objectives will be interrogated: 1. The extent to which the introduction of capitalist organisations and bureaucracies impacted on the rural economy of Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. 2. The extent to which the capitalist infrastructure and bureaucracy tended to engender dynamism in the household income generation activity. 3. The relationship between the capitalist infrastructure and the patterns of relationship in the families and the communities. Literature Review There have been many views on the consequences of penetration of capitalist infrastructure and bureaucracies into the rural areas and the rural household economic conditions. Some early studies from (Nzimiro & Eteng, 1978, and Sholeye, 1982) showed that the transplanting of capitalism into the rural areas from Colonial to Neo-Colonial times truncated and disorganised the rural areas socio-economic organisation as well as distorted their production processes. The capitalist penetration also created social cleavages such that a class of rural capitalist emerged that appropriated rural surplus as well as became partners with capitalist investors and the state in the exploitation of the rural farmers. This of course raised its tensions and conflicts in the rural areas. Again Anikpo (1984) empirical study of Chioba in River State showed how the establishment of University of Port Harcourt and other Multi-National Companies instigated the misapplication of capitalist investments, truncated the value system and decimated the economic organisation of the community. The same outcomes reflected in the Oya (2007) empirical studies of the capitalist penetration in the rural communities in Senegal as evidenced 16 by the rural surplus accumulation by the rural capitalist and their external corroborators. Omero (2020) study of industrial capitalism and forest depletion in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State showed how the biodiversity was destroyed along with the distortion of the production process of the people. Study by (Tagliarino, Bununu, Michael DeMariah & Olusanmi (2017) in Lagos showed how the expropriation of land by rural industrialization without adequate compensation and crisis management led to the declining community economic activity and social unrest in Lagos, Nigeria. In recent times, sociologists have focused attention on the impact of modernization, industrialization, urbanization and other forms of rural capitalist investment on rural household economy in terms of production and consumption. According to Ironmonger (2011), household production is the production of goods and services by the members of a household, for their own consumption using their own unpaid labour. However, more recent studies have extended the definition of rural household economy to include the contributions of family members (men, women and grown up children) to the family income both from their private economic activities and by their engagement in wage labour in the rural industries and other rural change agents (Mayah, Marioti, Mere, & Odo, 2017). Rural household economy is a function of the availability of labour and capital which are the main factors of production (Ironmonger, 2011). These factors of production have to a large extent been seriously distorted and mostly appropriated by rural industrialization and bureaucratic organisations. While much of the labour from the rural communities, that host the rural industries are engaged as casual, low skilled and low paid cadre, the rural capital (which is basically land) is appropriated and alienated from the rural communities by the organisations. Families in Ikwo are not spared as many have undergone challenges of transition engendered by capitalist and bureaucratic organisations. This study is therefore, motivated by the changes in the household economy as a reflection of the dynamics in the socio-economic conditions of Ikwo LGA brought about by the capitalist penetration and State complex organisations. Theoretical framework 17 The study is guided by the Mode of Production Approach which is a neo-Marxist theory that derives its bearing from the inadequacies of Dependency theory in addressing the problems of underdevelopment in the Third World. The Mode of Production Approach in the analysis of development and underdevelopment argue poignantly that the introduction of capitalism in the Third World countries did not completely obliterate the pre-capitalist mode of production due to the articulation of the two modes of production. The articulation of the pre-capitalist mode by capitalism created two modes of production in the Third World countries in such a way that the pre-capitalist mode is conditioned to serve the interest of international capitalism. In other words the pre-capitalist mode is preserved for the reproduction of capitalism (Corporaso & Zare, 1981). The theory further argues that imperial capitalism employs the tactics of dissolution and preservation. The destruction or the distortion of pre-capitalism help the thriving of capitalism, while outright obliteration of pre-capitalism will be detrimental to capitalism (Leys, 1985). Again the theory argues that capitalism in most of the Third World countries cannot structurally transform the pre-capitalist mode into capitalism as was the situation in Europe and North America. This is because the forces of production were not developed enough to engender capitalist transformation. In other words, the organic composition of capital in the Third World countries is too low to engage the penetration of capitalism precisely because the higher the organic composition of capital (technology, finance, organisational ability, human resource and value added natural resources, well established governance structure and military or defence and transportation capacity) the higher the capacity to integrate the capitalist system (Ake, 1981). The implication of this situation is that the Third World economy becomes disjointed, disarticulated and weakly connected sectorally and regionally and thereby given to vulnerability to international capitalism by virtue of their integration in an exploitative manner. The transformation of third world economies therefore is not into authentic capitalism but rather into peripheral capitalism (Amin, 1984) The introduction of the capitalist economic infrastructure, the mining companies, the rice mills, the quarry companies and other businesses; the university and the college of education as well as the polytechnics and the administrative headquarters with accompanying police posts to safeguard the infrastructure while adding to the infrastructural development of the Ikwo 18 LGA unfortunately simultaneously distorted, truncated and disarticulated the economic and social life of the communities. In the first place, the projects turned the local farmers into wage labourers, reduced their main occupation of farming into secondary status; secondly, it diminished their capacity to generate income through the trade from their products; thirdly, it alienated their land which is the pivot upon which their economic life revolved; and fourthly, it disrupted the social relations in the families and the communities. According to Wellestein (2011) when a social formation with higher techno-culture encounters a social formation with a lower techno-culture, the later is willy nilly compelled to pander to the interest of the former. The Ikwo community has a very weak mode of production in terms of technology, production capacity, organisation and political administration. Its integration into the capitalist infrastructure and bureaucracy in the manner it was integrated has forced it to be exploited through cheap labour, farm products at the prices determined by the capitalist interventionists, land expropriation, legitimacy and socio-cultural influence. Materials and Methods Research Setting The research setting is Ikwo LGA of Ebonyi state in South-East of Nigeria. The population as projected to 2019 is 218,969 (National Population Commission, 2019). There are thirteen communities in Ikwo. It is mostly a rural society with traditional institutions that ensured a well regulated, extended, communal family values. In the past decades, the communities have witnessed interventions that have upstaged these values without commensurate structures to mitigate the effect of these interventions. Population and Sample Size of the Study The population of the study constituted of married men and women who are both resident in the communities and also work in the industrial and other organizations of the communities surveyed. Five communities were purposively selected based on their hosting of the organisations. From these communities, respondents were randomly selected to elicit responses. For purposes of questionnaire administration, all married male and female workers were sampled from the organizations. Our choice of adult married persons is justified because 19 of their experiences in both the home and work place economic environments in the communities. Data Collection Primary data for the study were collected through 159 self administered questionnaires. Also, 15 (fifteen) In-depth Interviews (IDIs) involving 8 (eight) female and 7 (seven) male staff of the organizations were conducted as well as 5 (five) Focussed Group Discussion (FGD) sessions comprising eight adults, were organised for 2 women-alone and 3 male-alone groups of workers in the organizations in each of the selected communities. The IDI respondents comprised of community leaders, and top management staff of the organizations in the communities. Also, the criteria for inclusion (in the FGDs) were workers who had spent a minimum of five years in marriage and at work. Secondary data were collected through library research that involved textbooks, journals, internet materials as well as conventional and social media. It is important to state here, that in collecting data for this study, ethical standards were strictly observed. Thus all the respondents involved in the research, participated on their own volition. The respondents were also availed of the aim and objectives of the study and their confidentiality was assured. Permission from the management of the organisations was also secured where necessary before their workers were interviewed. Data Analysis Data was analysed qualitatively; which involved data transcription and scrutiny, arrangement based on the study themes, highlighting of key points, and thematic analysis based on field notes. Frequency distribution tables and percentages were also used to present and analyse data. Resutlts The findings reflecting the demographic characteristics of the respondents based on the questionnaires are presented in table 1 and discussed below. Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents 20 Source: Field Work, 2021. From the data in Table 1, there were more males 91(57.2%) than females 68 (42.8%) working in the rural industrial and bureaucratic organizations. Almost half of the respondents (49.1%) were within the 30-39 years age bracket. Again, 73 persons, representing 45.9% of respondents indicated Secondary School education as their highest education level. In terms of religious affiliation, 140 respondents (88.1%) indicated they were Christians, while 3 Characteristics Frequency Percentage Sex Male Female Total 91 68 159 57.2 42.8 100.0 Age 20 to 29 years 30 to 39 years 40 to 49 years Above 50 years Total 15 78 40 26 159 9.5 49.1 25.2 16.4 100.0 Educational Qualification None Primary Secondary Tertiary Total 8 32 73 46 159 5.0 20.1 45.9 28.9 100.0 Religious Affiliation Christianity Islam Traditional Total 140 3 16 159 88.1 1.9 10.1 100.0 Host Communities in Ikwo Enyim Egalagu Ndufu Alike Ndufu Echara Ekpomaka Oferekpe (Inyimegu) Total 19 24 51 53 12 159 11.9 15.1 32.1 33.3 7.5 100.0 Preference for whom to live with Relations Paid aids None Total 96 11 52 159 60.4 6.9 32.7 100.0 21 respondents (1.9%) indicated Islam as their religion, and 16 respondents representing 10.1% indicated that they were adherents of the traditional (indigenous) religion. Also, the spread of respondents based on communities and industrial and bureaucratic organisations is as follows; Enyim-Agalegu, 19 (11.9%), Ndufu Alike, 24 (15.1%), Ndufu Echara, 51 (32.1%); Ekpaomaka, 53 (33.3%), and Inyimegu (Oferekpe), 12 (7.5%). Therefore, the total number of respondents is 159. Another significant finding here is the fact that most of the respondents’ (60.4%) households preferred to live with their relatives, as opposed to others (32.7%) that preferred living without a relative or a paid aid, while only 6.9% of respondents preferred to live with paid aids. Rural Industrial/Bureaucratic Organisations and the Nature of Economic Activity Table 2 contains data on the nature of the organizations and their spread in the communities from which our sample was drawn. Table 2. Spread of the Organizations by communities Source: Field Work, 2021. Based on the data in Table 2, Enyim Agalegu community is the host community to First Pilot Salt Mining Company (previously known as Royal Salt Ltd). This is confirmed by the 19 respondents (11.9%) selected from the organization. Ndufu Alike community hosts the Alex Ekwueme Federal University as indicated by 24 (15.1%) of respondents, while Ndufu Echara community hosts the Ebonyi State College of Education as indicated by 51 (32.1%) of the respondents selected from the organization. Hence, 75 respondents representing 47.2 % of the total sample indicated that the organizations in their community is an educational institution. Ekpaomaka is the host community to Ebonyi Rice World Ltd, and Ebonyi State Rice Mill, and Host Community Nature of Organization Frequency Percentage Enyim Agalegu Ndufu Alike Ndufu Echara Ekpaomaka Oferekpe (Inyimegu) Total Mining Educational institution Educational institution & LGA Secretariat Milling industries State water supply facility 19 24 51 53 12 159 11.9 15.1 32.1 33.3 7.5 100.0 22 this is confirmed by 53 (33.3%) respondents who indicated that the t organization in their community is a milling industry. Finally, Inyimegu (Oferekpe) is the host community to the Oferekpe Water Scheme, Ebonyi State, just as Ndufu Echara community is also host to Ikwo LGA Secretariat. The last two organizations are subsumed under ‘others’ based on the responses of 12 (7.5%) of respondents. The Organizations and Nature of Economic Activity To highlight the nexus between work in the rural industrial and bureaucratic organizations and other household economy dynamics, relevant questions in this regard were sought for and the responses are contained in Tables 3 and 4. First, we present data comparing the job types among respondents. Table 3. Job Types among Respondents Source: Field Work, 2021. Data in table 3 shows that respondents are evenly spread across the different job types provided by the presence of the organizations. These include Office Assistance/Clerical duties 30 (18.9%), Teaching/Administration 38 (23.9%), Technical duties 37 (23.3%), Managerial duties 33 (20.8%), and labourers 21(13.2%). Our findings further show that prior to their present job, most of the respondents 95 (59.7%) were engaged in farming as their major occupation. Variable Frequency Percentage Nature/Type of Present Job Labourer Office Assistance/Clerical duties Teaching/Administration Technical duty Managerial duty Total 21 30 38 37 33 159 13.2 18.9 23.9 23.3 20.8 100.0 Nature/Type of Former Job Farming Trading Others Total 95 34 30 159 59.7 21.4 18.9 100.0 Job Combine Yes No Total 103 56 159 64.8 35.2 100.0 23 Interestingly, despite their present job in the change agent organizations, majority of the respondents 103 (64.8%) still combined their current job with the previous job. To explain this trend, qualitative data was retrieved from the FGDs and IDIs. For instance, a female FGD participant in Ndufu Alike said: What we are currently being paid as casual staff is too meagre. Currently, we are paid N6,000 monthly, but if this amount should be increased to N35, 000 it will improve our lives. Thus, to cope with the financial needs of the household, another female FGD participant said: The land that was taken away from families is large. Only a little portion of the land belonging to us is left.... We now get land on lease at a price from nearby communities and cultivate for the farming season. As a result, we don’t cultivate much as we used to before our lands were taken away for the establishment of this organization At Ekpaomaka, a male participant in the FGD told us that: We cannot avoid our farm work because of the nature of governmental work in Nigeria. For instance, if the labour unions call for strike action as is often the case, all we have to do is to go to our farm and sustain our households with products from the farm until such industrial conflict is resolved. However, in Anyim Agalegu community, farming had become difficult because of contamination of the land and water sources by the lead and salt mining company. We were told by an informant: You see, if you into the village you see that their farmlands and water resources have been contaminated by lead. There is no good water, not even their fish, all have been contaminated. They don’t have good water except they buy pure (satchet) water, and there is no where they buy pure water here except maybe at Abakiliki (the state capital). At times you go to shops there is no water. So, every of their water, land , everything is spoilt because of the mining operations here. Next, we extracted data on the contribution of the capitalist and bureaucratic organizations to household income. 24 Table 4. Contribution of the Rural Organizations to Household Income Source: Field work, 2021. We found out that despite the fact that different people earned different amounts as their monthly take home pay, depending on their position in the organization, the average earning in their present job in the organizations when all the respondents were combined was N35,000, in comparison to an average of N25,000 they earned1 from their previous jobs. In fact, 73% of respondents agreed that their current job contributed more to their family than the previous job. In their view, the present job pays more (46.5%), provided steady income (32.1%) and was less stressful (21.4%). In support of this finding, 69.8% of respondents agreed that the organization Variable Previous Job Frequency (%) Present Job Frequency (%) Income ₦1:00 to ₦10,000:00 ₦10,001:00 to ₦20,000:00 ₦20,001:00 to ₦30,000:00 ₦30,001:00 to ₦40,000:00 ₦40,001:00 to ₦50,000:00 Above ₦50,000:00 Total 52 (32.7) 48 (30.2) 21 (13.2) 10 (6.3) 16 (10.1) 12 (7.5) 159 (100.0) 16 (10.1) 33 (20.8) 41 (25.8) 29 (18.2) 13 (8.2) 27 (17.0) 159 (100.0) Job that contributes more to Family Income Previous job Present job Total Frequency 43 116 159 Percentage 27.0 73.0 100.0 Reason for answer above It pays more Stable income Less stressful Total 74 51 34 159 46.5 32.1 21.4 100.0 Present Job Increased Family Income by Spouse’s Wage Yes No Don't know Total 111 37 11 159 69.8 23.3 6.9 100.0 25 in their area had increased overall family income by virtue of the spouses’ wages. A female cleaner, and participant in the FGD session at Ndufu Echara, said: A male participant in the FGD session at the Ekpaomaka Rice Mill had this to say: When my husband died, I was coming here to look for job, so I can feed my children. Initially, I was allowed to clear grasses for payment occasionally. I came severally to be employed until I was offered employment as a casual staff. This job has assisted me pay for my children’s school fees and other needs. Before this job, things were too difficult for me and I did not know what to do. I had no hope. Although things are still difficult for me, but now it is better than that time. When I am converted to a permanent staff, I know that things will improve. This organization is a welcome development. The income I earn from this job helps me take care of household needs, especially taking care of my children and paying labourers to do my farm work unlike before when I relied on farming alone On the other hand, most respondents working in the organizations in Anyim Agalegu had a negative view on the contribution of the organization to household income. For instance, a 30 years old male informant in an in-depth interview session in the community said: Every day, we get to understand that this company is making N 10 million daily. The Indians came in and started using us as modern slaves in our own country. I am among those collecting N37,000 as a graduate. How do you expect somebody to cope? It is not helping. It really lowers the status of a man in the family. Thank God that I have an understanding wife else, it would have created disharmony in my household. Expropriation of Land, Non-Compensation and Economic Impact on Households A major theme that came as part of the research findings has to do with the expropriation of land from the communities in which these organizations were located without compensation. The economic impact of such action is highlighted better in the IDIs and FGDs that follow after the table. 26 Table 5. Land Acquisition and Forms of Compensation Variable Frequency Percentage Family land acquisition Yes No Total 100 59 159 62.9 37.1 100.0 Compensated for Land (N=100) Land acquired on lease No compensation was paid Monetary compensation was paid Total 18 56 26 100 18 56 26 100.0 Family member works in the Organizations Yes No Total 93 66 159 58.5 41.5 100.0 Community people work in the Organizations Yes No Total 87 72 159 54.7 45.3 100.0 Source: Field Work, 2021. Clearly from Table 5, land was acquired from a greater number of families by the communities hosting the organizations. This is reflected by the responses of 62.9% of the respondents who indicated that their land was acquired by the organization they work in. Unfortunately, majority of the respondents (56 or 56%) were not given any form of compensation, despite the expropriation of their land by the organizations. A close form of non-monetary compensation for the land taken away could be the employment of extended family members or kins as we see in the table from the responses of 58.5% of the respondents. The issue of land, compensation and impact on households are captured in the IDIs and FGDs and some of the excerpts are presented below. The only senior member of staff of one of the educational institutions we interviewed said: People have been denied their farming activities. They feel they are being denied their source of survival, which is natural. At the same time, they are also happy that their place is being developed. But then, they also feel that they are hungry while the development is going on, because there is nothing to ‘pat their back’...So, because of that they are not happy. And, go and do your investigation, without my presence here, these structures (points to houses) could not have been possible. ‘Isi mmadu ga abago’ (people could have lost 27 their lives). But because of God’s wisdom, my presence saved the situation. But the people are not happy. Furthermore the senior staff in question said: If the management can listen to me, meet the Governor [tell him], give us N 40 million for the school. Tell him, ‘oga (sir) thank you’ we are very grateful. Use N 20 million and pay compensation to families whose land was taken and yet to be paid compensation. If I tell you, University problem doesn’t allow me sleep. I have even suggested that the school can use N 20 million and commence payment of the compensations and the Vice Chancellor will feel relaxed. Our findings suggest that workers in the rural industrial and bureaucratic organisations in Ndufu Alike community were the worst hit in terms of non-compensation for land taken from them. For instance, a 38 year old female informant in an in-depth interview in the community said: This organization took all our family land and I am really sad. I find it hard to do my usual farming job again. Feeding is now a big problem for my household because we don’t have farm on which to cultivate and we don’t have any other source of livelihood. When we lost all our land, I started engaging in manual labour where ever I can find such, until we were employed here as a cleaner and you know we are paid just N6000 as our monthly stipend which is less than what i used earn from my farming work... Till date, no body has explained anything to me and hunger nearly killed my children. We were told that our land is now school land, but nobody has ever given us any form of monetary compensation The conflict being bred among households as a result of this situation was highlighted by another female panellist in the FGD at Ndufu Alike, to the effect that: In recent times, our community has recorded a high level of conflict among households because most women expected their husbands to take good care of them and their children, but since the men have no lands on which to farm, there is nothing they can do. They can hardly provide foods and other needs for their households. Most of our men have turned to alcohol addicts as a result of frustration. And the problem is that sometimes they vent their frustrations on others including their wives. This has also forced some women to engage in extra-income yielding jobs that are physically demanding to make sure the stability of the family is maintained. 28 The issue of land acquisition was less traumatic to other community selected for this study. For instance, at Ekpaomaka community, an FGD participant retorted: The land acquired for the establishment of this Rice Mill Company is large but the community still has sufficient land for members of the community, and families whose lands was taken were given monetary compensation. I can say that the issue of land acquisition by the government for this company is not much of a problem for our community. Capitalist infrastructure: Impact on social relations and behavioural patterns Capitalist infrastructure and bureaucratic organisations have had tremendous alterations on the social relations and patterns of behaviour in the families and the communities in Ikwo. This is affirmed from our respondents as shown by the table 6 below as well as the IDI and FGD participants. Table 6. Impact on the nature of social relations and behavioural patterns Variable Frequency Percentage Affected authority relations in the family Yes No Total 89 70 159 56 44 100.0 Affected traditional values in the community Yes No Don’t know Total 91 61 07 159 57.2 38.4 4.4 100.0 Increase in deviance and delinquency Yes No Don`t know Total 91 56 12 159 57.2 35.2.5 7.5 100.0 Emergence of cult and political killings and violence Yes No Don`t know Total 83 47 29 159 52.2 29.6 18.2 100.0 Enhanced literacy, economic well being and social life Yes No Don`t know Total 88 40 31 159 55.3 25.2 19.5 100.0 Source: Field work, 2021 29 The table 6 above showed that the social relationships in the community were obviously affected by the penetration of capitalist infrastructure such that some relationship patterns were disorientated while some behavioural patterns degenerated dangerously towards deviance and criminality. This is graphically reflected by the responses of our respondents. For the 89 (56%) of our respondents the authority structure in the family significantly altered due to the entrance of the women and the children into wage labour; while 91 (57.2%) of our respondents believe that the traditional values in the community were distorted such that those cherished values of communality, empathy, extended family bonds and respect for elders have been truncated due to foreign values imported into the communities by students, workers, businessmen and women and other migrants. In the same vein, 91 (57.2%) of the respondents concur on the increasing tendency of deviance and delinquency reflecting different forms of criminality that include prostitution, robbery, cybercrimes, drugs and other psychotropic substance peddling and abuse as well as rape and other sexual perversions; also increasing cases of cult and political motivated killings and violence as affirmed by the 83 (52.7%) of the respondents have been attributed to the influx of social miscreants and renegades who take advantage of influx of migrants to perpetrate all manner of criminality. The capitalist penetration has however, improved the level of literacy, enhanced economic well being and engendered social life for some members of the community. This position is held by 88 (55.3%) of our respondents. Our IDI and FGD respondents also took positions on the social impact of the capitalist investments on the communities. One of the respondents, a female IDI from Ekpaomaka in exasperation said: Our families are of late having so much problems because our men, our husbands seem to be losing control. Women no longer stay in the house; they spend the whole day in their new work place and the rest of the days in the market. The home is now unkempt; everybody is on his own in the family. The families are no more the same and our community is not the best for it. Another FGD respondent from Ndufu-Echara quipped: Our values are stealthily being decimated; you don’t know the difference between boys and girls in this community anymore; boys now fry and tie their hairs and wear ear rings; the girls wear trousers and shorts, and go about half naked- something that is unheard of in this community. Nobody respects anybody and nobody helps anybody in our normal communal way of living; 30 everything is seen in pecuniary terms. We have lost our sense of values; the elders and parents have lost control; even the traditional mechanism of social control have been rendered impotent. And talking about the level of delinquency and criminality in the communities, an FGD participant from Ndufu-Alike, exhibiting utter disgust averred rhetorically: Do you know there is igbo party in this community where attendees use all kinds of drugs openly? Do you know there is all no bared party where attendees come almost naked? All kinds of substances are peddled and abused with reckless abandon. Boys and girls cohabit and indulge in open sexual escapades as if it is normal. The level of impunity with the very recent history of FUNAI is unprecedented. Rape, robbery, drugs, vagrancy and prostitution have recorded unimaginable increase. Cult related violence, arson and killings have also increased exponentially. An IDI respondent however observed that: There is no denying the fact that these projects have positively impacted some individuals and families in this community; in terms of acquisition of higher education, economic advancement and social outlook. But these benevolence is just for a few people. But for the majority of the people in these communities, these projects have become a nightmare. Discussion of Findings The study has shown that rural industrial and bureaucratic institutions in Ikwo Local Government Area have served as a veritable source of socio-economic transformation among households in the area. It can, however, be argued that the direction of the change has remained multi-dimensional. The research findings indicate that organizations are fairly well spread in communities in Ikwo Local Government Area (LGA). Some of the organizations found in the study area include a Mining Company-the First Pilot Salt Mining Company, a Federal University, a state College of Education, a government owned Rice Milling Industry and a world-class private Rice Milling Company, as well as a high-powered Water Scheme, and Local government Secretariat. With these organizations, the socio-economic development of the area should not be in doubt. Communities in the area and households are supposed to reap the benefit of being host to these organizations. For instance, it is expected that the organisations will provide employment opportunities for the indigenes, and thereby ease the financial burden on households. Again, it is expected that the communities will benefit from 31 other infrastructural facilities, such as electricity, water, roads, security, hospitals, schools and recreation amenities, provided by the organisations as part of their corporate social responsibilities. However, the organizations in Ikwo have not lived up to expectation in this regard, as none of the organizations have provided any of the infrastructural facilities that can improve the life of the households. We found a situation in which the locals are only offered jobs in the lower rungs of the ladder. Majority of workers from the communities employed in the organizations, were casual workers. We found that most of the workers had worked in the capacity of casual staff for periods beyond five years in several of the organizations studied. Few of the members of the host community were offered senior staff positions in the organizations even when in most cases there were people with the qualification for such positions from the communities. Despite these short comings, most of the staff in the organizations agreed that the organizations have improved their earning capacity. In the study by Nguyen, Hegedus, and Nguyen (2019), they found that with the majority of agricultural land acquired by the capitalist and bureaucratic organization in the rural areas, the proportion of agricultural workers decreased rapidly by more than 25%, while other non- agricultural occupations increased, especially in small business, with service and hired labor accounting for 17.6% and 16.5%, respectively. This was seen as a form of adaptation to the land acquisition for implementing state projects. These findings support Wang, Yang, and Zhang (2010), to the effect that the rural household livelihoods in China changed tremendously, from simple farming and rural–urban isolation to diversified economy and rural–urban integration, is also applicable to the Ikwo area. Our findings also showed that the issue of the loss of land belonging to individuals, families and the community at large constitute a major social problem in the study area. It was discovered that a large portion of the land from which households make their living through farming and other activities have been taken away from them especially by either the Federal or State governments, for purposes of setting up the organizations. Our findings revealed that in other communities in the study area, where the organizations were introduced, thus resulting in the acquisition of the communal land, monetary compensation was made to a significant 32 number of the affected families. However, for Ndufu Alike community, no compensation was made, according to the respondents, despite the fact that the community have been worst hit by the expropriation of their land to the extent that most of the families have been rendered homeless and economically useless, and many started experiencing health challenges. For instance, the expropriation of their farmlands led to their inability to cultivate crops for household use, thereby forcing them to buy most food items from the market. Again, with their farmlands gone, members of the community, majority of whom are farmers have been denied the privilege of producing crops for market sales which had been a major source of household income. This has had a very adverse effect on the economic stability among households in the community. Tagliarino, Bununu, Micheal, De Maria, and Olusanmi (2018) conducted a study on compensation for expropriated community farmland in Nigeria, with a focus on the laws and practices related to land expropriation for the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) in Lagos, Nigeria. The authors made startling findings including the fact that that the government failed to adequately inform, consult, compensate and resettle communities whose livelihoods were affected by the development of the LFTZ. The government did not follow a transparent and participatory process when acquiring land and compensating communities, and thus did not comply with international standards. In the study by Nguyen, Hegedus, and Nguyen (2019), it was found that while a large proportion of the land in the area was acquired, substantial amount in compensation amounting to 25 billion VND (more than $1 million USD) had been paid to those whose land was acquired. Furthermore, the employment situation of households after land acquisition tended to be positive, with nearly 50% of households having jobs. However, the number of households with insufficient jobs still accounted for a high proportion as much as 32%. In the study by Wang et. al. (2019), a major finding was that farmers who lost their land were more likely to report poor self-rated health. Land expropriation can lead to a reduction in farmers’ incomes, resulting in a decline in their health status. In fact, according to the authors, land-lost farmers experience higher psychological anomalies which will seriously endanger their health. When seen from a gender perspective, women in rural areas are more severely affected by land expropriation considering the fact that they are generally less educated, less 33 able to accept new things, less able to adapt to new situations, less able to cope with stress and mental health, and have a greater tendency to grow more anxious than men (Wang et. al., 2019). It is therefore paramount to note that no economy can grow to its full potential if its women remain unequal to men. For one thing, when women have better education, access to healthcare, equal access to job opportunities and equitable markets, they work and produce more, thereby earning higher incomes, and achieving higher purchasing power and savings ability which will increase the financial stability of households (Mayah, Marioti, Mere, & Odo, 2017). As further captured by Hlomendlini and Makgolane (2017), expropriating agricultural land without compensation could seriously compromise national food security and ultimately lead to poverty and unemployment, since for instance, financial institutions, regard land as collateral when providing finance to farmers. Hence, securing finance from banks will become nearly impossible for farmers. Social consequences The introduction of the capitalist infrastructure, tertiary schools and bureaucracy gradually eroded the cherished values of brotherhood, communality, empathy and system of traditional social control as well as the pristine idyll strong values of love, respect, succor and the chemistry that bind family members together. The communities have become so commercialized that pecuniary interests and impersonality guides the relationship in the communities; family instability has exacerbated; sexual pervasion and prostitution have been on the rise; criminality in forms of robbery, drug abuse, rape and cybercrimes have become unprecedented and Ikwo Local Government particularly Ndufu-Alike and Ndufu-Echara have unfortunately become the hot bed of cult and political killings, arson, kidnapping and violence. These findings support the studies by Omero, (2002) and Oya, 2007). The major drivers of these social disruption in the Ikwo Local Government have been unemployment and underemployment, land alienation, exploitation of the resources of the rural communities; the truncation of the system of livelihood without adequate mechanism of providing the requisite techniques of making the best of integration into the capitalist system; and the influx of migrants most of them with criminal tendencies occasioned by the penetration of the capitalist infrastructure and state bureaucracies. Anikpo (2015) study of the conflict and social relations 34 disruption in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria as a result of the International Oil Companies activities confirms this assertion. Again, the activities of the capitalist infrastructure in the rural areas exacerbated social cleavages in the communities. The benefits from the rural industries, schools and state bureaucracies are enjoyed by a tiny minority who through their connections appropriate the incidentals that ought to be for the community in terms of jobs, higher education and contracts. This system of inequality in accessing the benefits from the rural projects has created its own social tensions in the communities. Studies by Nzimiro and Eteng (1983) and Beckman (1988) showed how the introduction of State induced mechanized farming in the rural areas alienated the peasant farmers and created emergency rural capitalist farmers in the rural areas. Conclusion This study was aimed at investigating the effect of rural complex organisations such as the tertiary institutions, Trans National Corporations like the mining industry, private and state- owned rice milling companies and government bureaucracies on the rural household economy in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Our study focused on the following areas: the nature of economic activity as introduced by the rural complex organisations, the impact of the change on the family structure, the nature of land expropriation from the communities and state of the family income as well as the impact on social relations and social life after the intervention of the rural industries and other bureaucratic organisations. Our findings showed that, while the family income of the members of the community who are engaged in the employment of the organisations have slightly increased, the communities’ economic activities have declined because of loss of agricultural farm lands, unemployment has increased, family instability has heightened and social disequilibrium has snowballed. Thus, the introduction of capitalist oriented infrastructure or state bureaucracy if not well structured to address the development needs of the rural community may turn into a hubris that threatens the community with crises and underdevelopment while not being at risk itself. Recommendations Based on the conclusions, the study recommends as follows: 35  The government and the organisations should ensure that pristine economic activities of the communities are maintained and possibly modernised. This is in view of the fact that the higher income levels enjoyed by some of the respondents is because of their ability to combine the income from their employment and their pristine economic activities. The implication is that the indigenous economy is still very relevant to the communities and the State in general. Annihilating the indigenous economy will therefore be dangerous both to the communities and the State.  Immediate compensation and adequate socio-economic rehabilitation of those whose lands have been expropriated for the rural industries and other organisations by the companies and the State.  Immediate employment of the qualified members of the organisations host communities in their proper cadres, and conversion of all the casual staff to permanent staff status.  The companies and other bureaucratic organisations should as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the host communities, complement the efforts of the State (Government) in the provision amenities in form of schools [including scholarships], hospitals, electricity, good road network, and potable water especially in the face of the contamination of water sources with company waste disposals like lead, as is the case in Anyim Agalegu community. 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