Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Project Management in Rural Infrastructure Development in Northern Nigeria: Towards an Integrative Framework

Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) contain context-specific insights about community organization, resource management, and social coordination that mainstream project management frameworks rarely incorporate. This study develops an integrative framework combining IKS and formal project management for rural infrastructure development in Northern Nigeria. A participatory research design will engage rural communities across Zamfara, Yobe, and Kogi States in a three-phase process: ethnographic documentation of indigenous project management practices in community infrastructure, critical dialogue workshops comparing IKS and formal PM approaches, and integrative framework co-design with community knowledge holders, local government engineers, and project management academics. Framework testing will be conducted through pilot applications in two rural infrastructure projects. This study constitutes an original decolonial contribution to project management theory by centering indigenous epistemologies in framework design. Findings will generate an integrative practical framework for project management practitioners and development agencies working in rural Northern Nigeria. Keywords: indigenous knowledge, project management, rural infrastructure, Northern Nigeria, integrative framework