THE EFFECT OF URBANIZATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT ON THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The rate of urbanization is increasing in both the developed and developing countries. However, rapid urbanization, particularly the growth of large. Cities and the associated problems of unemployment, poverty, inadequate health care, poor sanitation, urban slums and environmental degradation pose a formidable challenge in developing countries. Available statistics shows that more than half of the world lives in urban areas at the end of 2010 from 49% (3.2billion) in 2008. the same report projected that figure is likely to rise to 60% (4.9billion) by 2030. according to the UN state of the world population 2007 report, the majority of people worldwide will be living in towns or cities, for the first time in history, this is referred to as the arrival of the "urban millennium" or the 'tipping point'. In regard to future trends, it is estimated 93% of urban growth will occur in developing nations, with 80% of urban growth occurring in Asia and Africa

Urbanization simply defined, is the shift from a rural to an urban society and involves an increase in the number of people in urban areas during a particular year. Urbanization is the outcome of social, economic and political development that lead to urban concentration and growth of large cities changes in the land use and transformation from rural to metropolitan pattern of organization and governance.

Although Urbanization is the driving force for modernization, economic growth and development, there is increasing concern about the effect of expanding cities, particularly on human health, livelihood and environment. The implication of rapid urbanization and demographic trends for employment, food, security, water supply, shelter and sanitation, especially the disposal of waste (solid and liquid) that the cities produce are staggering (UNCED, 1992). The question that arises is whether the current trend in urban growth is sustainable considering the accompanying urban challenge such as unemployment, poverty and environmental degradation especially in the developing countries.

Thus, of significant attention to us is the problem of unemployment as a result of urbanization in the Nigerian urban areas. Urban unemployment or unemployment in the urban Nigeria stands for the conglomeration of people with diversity background, willing and able to work in the urban areas resulting in pressure of supply of labour over the demand for labour. Thus causing

joblessness. Implicit in this definition are the following for excessive manpower supply of labour over manpower demand for labour, there may have a risen a situation whereby job seekers irrelevant or not needed education qualification, both the public and private sector may not have involved a calculated policy to afford them the opportunity for self employment through planned programs. In

Nigeria it is estimated that in 1900 about 95% of Africa's inhabitants    South    of    Sahara    lived    from    the    Primary occupations of farming, hunting & gathering, cattle anomalism, and fishing (Aase, 2003:1) meaning that less than 5% were urban. In 1950 (the start of the independence period) 14.7% of Africa's inhabitants were urban in 2000 had it risen to 37.2% and it is expect 3.76%, 3.35% per year (UN, 2002) the Nigerian city of Lagos in  1963 had 665000 inhabitants (Rakodi, 1991) and 8.7miliion in 2000 is expected to become the worlds 11th biggest city by 2015 with 16million inhabitants (UN, 2002).

Therefore,   a          survey          by       the      UN      international          labour

organization (ILO) indicated that as many as 3 million Nigerians fall within the working age out of this, 90 percent or about 3 million are unemployed. A further study on the geographical distribution of those unemployed shows that as many as 2.7million out of the 3 million live in urban area (ILO survey report African concord 1996).

Surely, it is very difficult to ascertain the current rate of unemployment in Nigeria but evidence and indication of urban unemployment overwhelming. There is no gainsaying that there are significant correlation between urbanization and unemployment in Nigeria though Urbanization is also a consequence of industrialization or economic specialization. It connotes the movement of people principally from agricultural productivity. The process involves changing relationship and interaction. 

Conclusively, there exists convincing evidence that the bulk of urban unemployment in the country is among able bodied youths. Data shows that in 2009 at the recent Nigerian economic summit, group (NESG) policy dialogue on the Nigeria economy, Nigeria's minister of finance quoted data from the National Bureau of statistics

(NBS) saying that "unemployment in Nigeria is running at around

19.7 percent on average and almost half of 15-24 year olds living in urban areas are jobless" the theme of the policy dialogue growth through public private partnership. 

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The Nigeria population of about 150 million with a growth rate of 3.2%, more youths are getting into the educational system, more .youths are also graduating, more are getting into the urban labour market while more are also becoming unemployed. Some of the manifestation of the failing of both the educational system and the

economy are unemployment and underemployment. Urban

unemployment is growing progressively worse due to rural to urban migration. This migration is as a result of high concentration of Infrastructure and amenities in the urban areas, coupled with favourable living conditions and standard of living.

Some adolescents do not think about any job at all until they are faced with the issue of locating one in the urban center. The contributing fact to this is that career guidance is minimally emphasized in our school curriculum. When the youths are not formally provided with occupational information which forms the basis for realistic occupational choice, some often accept any job for which they are not well prepared for these result into inefficiency, low productivity, low or   lack   of job   satisfaction   and   they   all   culminate   into underdevelopment.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are:

1.         To examine the relationship between urbanization and

unemployment in    the development of Nigeria.

2.         To determine   the implication of urbanization on the development of Nigeria GDP per say.

3.         To determine also the implication of unemployment of Nigeria. GDP per say.

4.         To proffer solution that will bring these problems to the barest minimum in Nigeria. 

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

The research questions for this study are as follows:

1.  Does    urbanization    and    unemployment    have    any relationship in development of Nigeria?

2.  Does urbanization contribute to the output of Nigeria?

3.  What are the implications of unemployment on the development of Nigeria?

4.  What are the possible solutions that will bring these problems to the barest minimum in Nigeria?

1.5   STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

For the purpose of this study, the following hypothesis will be tested.

H0: Urbanization has no significant impact on economic growth.                

H1: Urbanization has significant impact on economic growth.

 H0: Unemployment has no significant impact on economic growth.     

HI: Unemployment has significant impact on economic growth. 

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of this study are as follows:         

The study would provide an econometric basis upon which   to   examine   the effect of urbanization   and unemployment on Nigeria's economy which would be useful to Nigeria as a whole. ,

The study will add to intellectual value of Nigerians. The knowledge of the effect of urbanization and unemployment will be very useful as it will broaden individuals outlook, sharpen their intellect. and inculcate in them the habit of balanced thinking.  The study will also .educate the government and youth who ignored agriculture in pursuit of white collar jobs in the office.

Finally, the study will serve as a reference material for further studies.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Though the issue of urbanization and unemployment moves in the same direction and this problem has eaten deep into the marrows of the society of Nigeria and our main focus is how to solve the problem of urbanization and unemployment in Nigeria. 

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Unemployment: (According to Pigou,) the greatest exponent of the classical view, unemployment defined as a resulted from the rigidity in the wage structure and interference in the working of free market system in the form of trade union legislation, minimum wage

legislation, e.t.c.

Unemployment: {According to everyman's Dictionary of Economics) defines unemployment as "involuntary idleness of a person willing to work at the prevailing rate of pay but unable to find

it".

"Economic Growth": (Berger 1965) stated that Economic growth means more output and changes in the technical skills, knowledge productive education, health managerial capacity) arrangement by which it is produced and distributed.  Growth may well not only involve more output derived  from   greater amounts  of inputs but also greater  ,efficiency. 

Economic Growth refers to the steady process by which the productive capacity of the economy is increased over time to bring about increases in the output of goods and services and rising levels of national income. This corroborates kindle Berger's view of economic in (1965).

The economic growth of any country is measured by the rate of increase in its (GNP) or (GDP) or better still by the total output or by per capital output. .

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): According to Okowa, W. J. (1995), defined gross domestic product as the money value of the total output of goods and services produced within the geographical confines (that is, inhabitants) of a country's territory in a given year. 

Economic Development: refers to as the problems of the economic development of underdeveloped countries. Though the study of economic development has attracted the attention of economists right from Adam Smith down to Marx and Keynes, yet they were mainly interested in the problems which essentially static in nature and largely related to a western European framework of social and cultural institutions.

Economic Development: (According to Schumpeter) defines development as a discontinuous and spontaneous changer in the stationary state which forever alters and displaces the equilibrium state previously existing. This view of Schumpeter has been widely accepted and elaborated by the majority of economists.

Economic Development: (According to kindle Berger,)

Economic Development implies both more output and changes in the technical and institutional arrangement by which it is produced and distributed. 

Development: goes beyond this to simply changes in the composition of output) and the allocation of inputs by the sectors. Recent statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that about 10million Nigerians were unemployed in Nigeria at March, 2010. The NBS defines the unemployment rate as the percentage of Nigeria's labour force that is qualified to work but did not work for atleast 39 hours

in the week preceding the survey. The total labour force is made up of people aged between 15 to 64 years and excludes students, homekeepers,     retired persons, stay-at-home parents and persons unable to work or not interested in work.

1.9 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

After the preliminary pages which consist of the cover, certification, dedication, acknowledgement, abstract and table of

.content pages. The study will be set under five chapters; they are the introductory aspect of the work which forms the chapter one, the review of related literature, in chapter two, the research methodology, in chapter three, the presentation I of Analysis  an 3 interpretation of data in chapter four and summary, conclusion and recommendation which forms the aspect  of chapter  five.   The work will be rounded up with references and Appendix.

What is Urbanization?

It’s the physical growth of rural or national land into urban areas as a result of population in-migration to an existing urban area. Effects include change in density and administration services. While the exact definition and population size of urbanized areas varies among different countries, urbanization is attributed to growth of

cities.

 Urbanization is the social process whereby cities grow and societies became more urban in nature, as opposed to being mostly rural and agricultural. Urbanization is what occurs when the rural character of a town is gradually replaced by housing and industrial development, resulting in more suburbs. Its an increase in the

proportion of people living in  urban or developed areas compared to rural areas.

 Urbanization is not merely a modern phenomenon, but a rapid and nutoric transformation of human social roots on a global scale, whereby predominantly village culture is being rapidly replaced by predominantly urban culture. The last major change in settlement patterns was the accumulation of limits- gatherers into villages many thousand years ago. Village culture is characterized by common bloodiness, intimate relationships and communal behaviour whereas urban culture is characterized by distance bloodiness, unfamiliar relations, and competitive behaviour. This unprecedented movement of people is forecast to continue and intensify in the next few decades, mushrooming cities to size incomprehensible only a century ago.

 Urbanization is not about simply increasing the number of urban residents or expanding the area of cities. More importantly, its about a complete change from rural to urban style in terms of industry structure, employment, living environment and social security.

The rapid urbanization of the world’s population one the twentieth century is described in the 2005 revision of the UN World urbanization prospects report. The global proportion of urban population rose dramationlly from  13% (220 million) in 1900, to29% (732 million) in 1950, to 49% (3.2 billion) in 2005. The same report projected that the figure is likely to rise to 60% (49 billion) by 2030. 

According to the UN State of the World population 2007 report, sometime in the middle of 2007, the majority of people worldwide will be living in towns or cities for the first time in history, this is referred to as the arrival of the “urban millennium or the typing point. In regard to future trends, it is estimated 93% of urban growth will occur in developing nations, with 80% of urban growth occurring in Asia and Africa.

 Urbanization occurs as individual, commercial and

governmental efforts to reduce time and expense in communing and transportation while improving opportunities for jobs, Education, housing and transportation. Living in cities permits the advantages of the opportunities of proximity, diversity and market place competition.

 Urbanization rates very between countries. The united states and united kingdom have a  higher urbanization level than China, India, Swaziland or Niger, but a few slower, annual urbanization rate since much less of the population is living in a rural area.

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH ENVIRONMENT SUMMIT SITUATION TO RAPID URBANIZATION

1. Citizens have the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well being.

OBJECTIVE

 To improve environmental conditions and provide safe habits for

all life. 

METHODS

Government passes law to plan and provide environmentally sound cities considering that people should not live in polluted or unsafe areas

EVALUATION

Each country subscribing to the Declaration of environmental rights and responsibilities will send six representatives, composed of people with medical, legal, political, economic, educational and scientific expertise, to a general assembly. The collective assembly will review the review the sustainable solutions outlined in the Declaration of emonmatal rights and responsibilities through the internet. The group will elect a chairman and vice chairman, from its members to lead annual meetings. The meeting will be held in each country, based on a rotating schedule for the purpose of amending solutions to make them more affective.

2.     Citizens have the right to an environment that is protected for the benefit of present and future generations. 

OBJECTIVE

To make environmental resources sustainable and make the economy reliant upon a sustainable environment 

Method

Government encourages private investment in sustainable industries like solar energy, public transportation and water reclamation with financial rewards

3.     Citizens have the right to basic services including adequate shelter, health services, Electricity, water supplies and food.

OBJECTIVE

Government with private help, provides essential services that will improve the quality of life 

METHOD

Information should be gathered about what is needed and where implement and provide opportunity for employment so that citizens can earn a living to pay for maintenance of services homes should be subsidized by government and corporations, government provides basic health services using advanced technologies and medicines at minimum costs with alternatives available.

4.     Citizens have the right to basic Education including Adult basic education

OBJECTIVE

To empower citizens with knowledge and skills

Methods

Government improves Educational systems to include curriculum focused on Job skills and life skills to prepare people for employment opportunities. Also Education is made more accessible by creating schools, technical university and universities with licensed teachers who help students, including adults and the disabled, toward earning a basic Education certificate.

5.     Citizens have the right to gainful employment opportunities OBJECTIVE

To create more jobs

METHOD

In order to prevent rapid urbanization and conserve natural ecosystems, private industry will utilize natural resources to promote tourism and create jobs in both rural and urban areas using subsides, government promotes private and foreign  investment in environmentally sound development in rural areas 

6.     citizen have the right to environmentally safe and cost effective technologies.

OBJECTIVE

To allow environmental technologies to be more accessible and at lower cost to the community.

METHOD

Government and private industry provide funding for research, development and improvement of environmentally safe and cost- effective technologies by sponsoring engineers and creating

institutions.

7 Government and individuals have the responsibility to control; population growth and the spread of disease through effective health education and family planning 

OBJECTIVE

To control population growth and disease.

METHOD

Government provides counselling for effective family planning and medical health clinics, making them both mobile for rural areas and accessible for urban areas.

8. Government and local authorizes have the responsibility to improve public transportation, upgrade basic civil services to ensure sustainable housing, better health services, sanitation, and electricity also so that the use of private motor vehicles is minimized, thus reducing congestion and air and noise pollution.

OBJECTIVE

To make public transportation clean, efficient and accessible, to the community also Government with private help. Provides essential services that will improve the quality of life

 METHOD

Industries improve cars to be environmentally friendly. Government reduces the manufacturing of private cars and sponsors

manufacturing of public transportation vehicles, encouraging people to use them by raising  parking and gasoline prices.

1.10 PROBLEMS CAUSED BY URBANIZATION

 Environmental effects due to urbanization have been observed since early in the 18th century until the mobile of the 20th century, urbanization lends were too low and the number of large cities was too small for there to be any significant effects other than local climate and hydrologic impacts

As late as 1900, there were barely 43 cities in the world exceeding,

500,000 population, of which only 16 exceeded  1,000,000. Since

1950 the number of large cities has increased very rapidly (about 400 exceed 1,000000) metropolitan areas have grown to form even large agglomeration and some very large urban areas with population in the tens of millions have emerged for example by the year 2,000 and calculate, Bornbay, cairo, Jakarta and seeul are each expected to be in the 15-20 million people range. The environment in large urban areas has deteriorated and resulted in an increased incidence of diseased and viments.

 The effects of urban development can be defined by many

factors. The most important of these factors related to and quality, the availability of safe water supplies, and provisions for sanitation and waste management. In this chapter we will consider the effects of urbanization on the atmosphere.

 Mexico city today is one of the largest cities in the world. The environmental issues present in this megapolis are a good example of the problems that plague many cities around the world.

 The population of Mexico city is over 20 million people the population has gone from approximately 3 million people in 1950 to near 20 million in 1997, with an average growth rate close to 5% much of the high growth rate of migrants from the economically depressed rural areas. Rapid urbanization has out stripped society’s capacity to meet basic human needs, leaving enormous portions of the city’s population with inadequate incomes, diets, housing, services and health care. The land area of Mexico, D.R 1,499 Knz, the area of Mexico D.F plus suburbs is near 3,129 KMz. The growth rate of the city in spatial extent is close to that of the population (5%). Mar developments are more dense and less planned, and generally include less open space. Mary developments are now built on hills slopes, generating a considerable amount of soil erosion and a significant increase in flash floods enter rainstorms. Overcrowding and inadequate housing respiratory disease and tuber culosis.  

Water

Mexico city is built on an underground a guider which significantly depleted. In general much of the water in the basin is heavily polluted, acquitters and over that supply its water are over extended and polluted; cholera recently have killed many people.

Today most of the food and water consumed writhen the basin comes from outside its boundaries may parts of the city suffer from water shortage and industrial use of water is very inefficient water receding uses only 7% of the savage, and nearly 20% of the water supply is lost through deficient pipe system. Pipe breakage represents a countries health hazard, as microorganisms from the sewage system can contaminate the fractured pipes.

 Waste 

Approximately 4-5 m3.5 of sewage water are treated and used mainly for irrigation in parks and public spaces. The remainder is eliminated from the basin by means of the deep drainage system that was built in the early 1970s and by the old surface drainage canals. This waste is mostly used for irrigation, constituting an important source of agricultural pollution.

 The health and environmental effects of inadequate solid waste disposal are felt for beyond the city in the form of water, land and air contamination on a wide area. The city produces appropriately 10,000 loans of domestic garbage per day. In consrate to developed countries, which generate liter wish a low proportion of organic residues, the garbage of Mexico city is rich in vegetable and fruit waste, and consequently could be used for making compost at a relatively low cost. Until 1987 most the residues were dispraised of in open field, recently a mix modern systems of sanitary filling into dredged pits has become operational.

 Extending and huproving waste collection, processing and disposal services is vital to control mounting health problems and prevent further damage to the environment.

Air

City streets citoged with traffic and air pollution is perhaps the worse protean the city faces. Photochemical smog is critical during the winter months when a temperature mersion stabilizes the atmosphere above the basin and the air pollutants accumulate in the stationary layer of air that covers and factories.

 Most of the air pollution originates from automobile exhaust, which are responsible for 72% of all atmospheric pollutants in mexicocity mean ozone levels in Mexico city are ten time the normal atmospheric concentration and are more than twice the Mexico limite allowned in the united states. In order to alleviate this problem, the vehicles of Mexico city are under a permanent vehicles program called “Hogno circuld” all vehicles according to the last digit of their license plate are distributed by colours along the week, and are not allowed to be driven once in a week.

 Air quality report are published daily through the national media. Based on this reports vehicle use and industrial activity are restricted, in order to protect Mexican people’s health.