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MANAGEMENT OF RURAL URBAN MIGRATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUTION

1.1      BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The burden of rural-urban migration in Anambra State is multifaceted and intertwining. As such, an analysis of one decompose component or consequence, such as unbearable population density, impinges on other issues within the identifiable cycle of burdens. For instance, in examining the management of rural- urban migration and its effect on economic development, has it result to increase in population in the urban areas   while the rural areas lack development or at the extreme its explosion. Various other subsequent effects are expected to be considered.

Population explosion activates the housing challenge both at micro (family) and macro (society) levels. Congestion in households and communities has implications for both the health and psychology of victims. Nigerian cities such as Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Kano, and Onitsha among others are characterized by human traffic, vehicular congestions, environmental pollution, consistent in-migration and spurious expansion of territories to accommodate human additions.

Nigeria is a country with over 150,000,000 million people (Censes 2006) and the giant of Africa. Most international organizations and foreign investors find a good market in Nigeria. The oil-boom in the 1970s has deeply affected the economic development of the  country and  continues to  do  so  as  government focuses on oil sector and neglects the agricultural sector which was the prime of the economy and economic development before the oil-boom. Government insensitivity to the plight of the rural communities whose major source of livelihood is agriculture has lead to migration of the rural dwellers to urban area for a good standard of living.

Nigeria, at independence in 1960, was largely a producer and net exporter of primary products. The six major agricultural products then were cocoa, rubber, palm oil, groundnut, cotton and palm kernel (Idode, 1989).  Although there existed mining and quarrying activities, these were of negligible percentage and never counted for the economy as a whole (Olaloku, 1979). In other words, agricultural produce  and  raw   materials  constituted  the  main  income  for  the  country. Specifically, the Nigerian state as an exporter of agricultural goods had 69.4% of its total GDP for the year 1963/64 comprising the six aforementioned agricultural commodities (Olaloku, 1979:8).

Rural-Urban migration has led to uneven development of the country.  The urban areas are over-populated while the rural areas are densely-populated, as young men and women leave the rural areas due to lack of infrastructures, social amenities, employment and economic development of the rural areas. According to Nyagba (2009), rural communities are the most important sectors of the Nigerian economy, indeed the West African regional population. There are several reasons to support this position.

Agriculture and rural development are crucial for the structural transformation and economic development of West Africa region. Agriculture contributes 20 per cent of GDP in northern Africa and 30 per cent of GDP in sub – Saharan Africa (Nyagba, 2009). The rural population represents an average of over

60 percent of the total population on the continent; about 90 per cent of the rural labor force engages directly or indirectly in agricultural activities. For the continent‟s rural people,  accelerated agricultural and rural development would contribute to greater efficiency, increased household income, improved standards of living, and poverty reduction.

According to Onah (2010), agriculture had been the main foreign earnings in Nigeria before the advent of oil and accounted for major contribution to her GDP. Agriculture is a major source of employment for over 80% of Nigerians before oil dominated the economy. The poor technology, environmental hazards, high cost of implements due to neglect of agriculture has forced the rural farmer and young people in search of white collar jobs and high rate of rural-urban drift to survive. According to Peil (1981), people who migrate are mainly motivated by the desire to  improve  their  standard  of  living  above  what  is  earlier  obtained  at  home.

Migration is also caused by the desire of people to go to school and acquire knowledge to develop themselves and their environment

Migration from the rural area to the urban area has become almost accepted as a normal phenomenon in Anambra state as many rural dwellers migrate to major urban areas in the state like Awka, Onitsha, Nnewi etc. as a result of economic development in these urban area. Most of the youths who want to enroll into tertiary  institutions  come  to  Awka,  where  federal  universities,  College  of Education and other private universities are located. Those who want to engage in business and entrepreneurship find themselves in Onitsha. Onitsha is one of the largest commercial centers in West Africa, while others go to Nnewi to establish industries where household materials are produced and various auto parts are assembled. Therefore, most of the youth and adult men and women of working age (18-60) have left the rural area which has contributed negatively to economic development of Anambra state. The elderly men and women are left to provide for themselves with their little farm lands since most lands are used to build large mansions which nobody lives rather some people are paid to keep watch over their properties.

However, some of the migrants come back to these rural areas with experiences from the urban area, having made use of all forms of techniques to survive as a result of high competition in those urban areas. Some may set up

patent medicine store, motor mechanics workshops, vulcanizing, hair salon, supermarket, restaurants, etc. while others may terrorize the rural dwellers, through robbery, kidnapping and criminal activities. Likewise the urban areas suffer from overpopulation,  unemployment,  crime,  social  vices,  over  utilization  of infrastructure and poor management of social amenities. If the rural communities are able to develop the local technology, thereby give way for further development, it will attract government, international bodies, non government organizations and other agencies to support development of such area.

Policies and project such as rural electrification, self-help projects, DFRRI, ADP, NOA, ANIDS, NEEDS and SEEDS were some of the programmes setup by the federal, state or local government to manage the rural urban migration through some of these rural development policies or integrated rural development to see to its success. However management of rural-urban migration in the state seems to have some difficulty. In managing some of the programmes the state or local government, have put in place some agencies to address these problems and its adverse effects on economic development of the state. These agencies will be analyzed effectively to see how adequate they are in carrying out their duties.

Rural-urban migration has affected food production in the state. Most of the basic food stuffs are imported from the northern part of the country even t hough we  have  a  better  climate  condition  in  the  eastern  region.  The  inadequate

infrastructure and social amenities has also hampered development as most of the programmes and projects are located in the urban areas while the primary beneficiaries do not benefit from the project. In Nigeria most of the developmental plans are in favour of the urban areas.   Business and commercial activities are successful where the market is. The rural areas do not have that market and factors of production are inadequate for economic development in Anambra state. It is on the strength of this situation and occurrences, that the researcher decided to study the”Management of Rural-Urban Migration and Economic Development, with emphasis on Anambra State.