The socio-economic impact of rural-urban migration on the rural areas in Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

There have been rapid increase of youths movements from rural area to urban centres, no one is in doubt today of the fact the rate at which people (especially, the youths) move from rural area to urban centres is affecting the lives of the rural dwellers. Nigeria is a developing country; in fact, she is at the threshold of being a developed nation. On this note it is wise to be acquainted with the meaning of the world “migration”.

Migration according to Udo (1980) defined migration as the permanent or semi-permanent change in residence from one administrative unit (district, country, province, state or country) to another. And it is usually considered to be an economic man’s reaction to socio-economic differentials between regions. Migration has become an important factor influencing population dynamics in a geographical area. Fertility and mortality determines the rate of natural population increase in any locality. The overall size of the population such an area depend on the pattern of migration. Population movements are often responsible for observable sudden changes in population size in many locality. It is however, pertinent to note that migration is an instrument to the solution of many social and economic problems. As a socio-economic act, migration may not be of interest in itself other than in the result of its effect, but it does often gives rise to problems as well as providing solutions.

My people from rural area have been moving to urban centres. Rural urban has attracted many people simply because of white collar jobs, education, change of environment, climate or whether condition etc. the rural urban migration in ora clan can be seen as a spontaneous human effort to achieve balance between population and resources. It is natural phenomenon which produces demographic social and economic interaction that reduces some of the irregularities of nature i.e. people wants to move from a place where there are no socio amenities (rural), to where there are socio amenities (cities). According to Lawai (1983). The implications of this movement is that while most of our urban centres suffers from over population of people and activities, rural areas are often under populated. There are two factors responsible for this movement from rural area to urban centres. These are the “push” and the “pull” factors.

Push factors: This factor causes the forwards movement of people from rural to urban centres. While the pull factor, it directed or draw people towards itself e.g. education, white collar job and among others. The most affected people in this rural urban migration are the educated youths who are unable to obtain a suitable job in a rural area.

Rural-urban migration has a dual impact on the individual as well as the community either directly or indirectly. It is through the contribution of successful migrants that most important projects in ora clan have been made possible. This fact can be buttressed by the financial support given to gigantic project like the building of community school and village town hall in ora. It is against this introductory background of the study that the researcher has intended to examine how rural-urban migration has affected the socio-economic development of rural settlement with particular reference to oral clan in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

Since 1960 there has been massive movement of people from rural areas to urban centres. This project was meant to find out the socio-economic impacts of rural-urban migration. Prothero (1965) recognizes four of rural urban migration which are the daily movement, seasonal migration, short-term or periodic movements, definitive or long term movements.

Rural-Urban Migration has become too rampant on the rural areas especially the study area (ora clan), in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State. And they migrate without considering the socio-economic impact of this movement on their parents and the community in general.

Perhaps this movement may be as a result of lack of social amenities in the rural areas, searching for white collar jobs, for education purposes, climate condition among others. This is what the researcher will find out in this project. But finance and time has been the major constraints to the realization of this research work.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

In view of the above stated problems, the study therefore seeks to:

i. Identify the causes of migration from ora village to urban centres and enumerate the rationale behind such movements.

ii. Examine the negative and positive of socio-economic impacts of rural urban migration.

iii. Suggest possible remedies to check such influx of people from rural areas to urban centres form sound national planning and developmental purpose.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Since research preposition are meant to test the validity of assumption, the following questions are stated for the purpose of this study.

a. Why rural urban migration has greater influence on the life of rural dwellers.

b. Did rural-urban migration occurs because of lack of employment opportunities in the rural areas

c. Why did the rural-urban dwellers migrate to urban centres?

d. What is the socio-economic impact of migrating from rural area to urban centres?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

– The study when successfully completed will be of value to the educational planners.

– The study will be of importance to researchers/students working on related topics.

– The study will reveal the reasons why people migrate from rural area to urban centres.

– The study will also be an addition to previous work on the topic. Thus, an addition to knowledge.

1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Migration: This means the movement of people from one place to another. Teriba (1982) sees migration as the movement of people from one civil division to another.

Settlement: This is a place where people live.

Emigration: It is the movement of people out of a country.

Immigration: This is the movement of people into country.

Net migration: The difference between the number of immigration and emigrants.

Immigrant: These are people that move into a country.

Emigrants: These are people that engage in the movement out of a country.