Citizens Participation and Community Development : The Moderating Role of Culture in Selected States in Nigeria

The development of communities is associated with citizens’ involvement in transformational programme design and implementation, but at times culture is perceived to be apposite. This study examined the moderating effect of community culture on the relationship between citizen participation and community development in some selected states in Nigeria. A cross sectional survey research design was adopted and the population included 5,641 membership from the selected States; Anambra and Kaduna as registered community associations. Simple random sampling technique was used to arrive at 918 as the sample size. The adapted questionnaire was validated and the reliability established. From the results, the study found that community culture has no moderating effect on the relationship between citizen participation and community development in Anambra State (R2 change = 0.002, F(3,204) = 11.536, p>0.05), and Kaduna State (R2 Change = 0.002, F(3,599) = 104.696, p > 0.05).The study concluded that citizens’ participation in development is not predicated on community culture. The study recommended that citizen enlightenment and public advocacy can be explored in order to ensure participation of citizens in community issues.