AN APPRAISAL OF THE EFFECT OF RURAL URBAN MIGRATION IN NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
Migration is considered as the movement of people from one geographical region to another,
which may be on temporary or permanent basis. This study assessed the consequences of
rural-urban migration on the source region of Ughievwen clan in Ughelli South Local
Government Area. The stratified sampling technique on the basis of existing geopolitical
wards was used to divide the study area into four (4) zones. Data were generated through
primary and secondary sources. The primary data were generated through the administration
of two hundred and sixteen (216) copies of questionnaires to respondents in the study area
using the systematic sampling approach, while the secondary data were collected from
journal/publications and other published materials from textbooks and official gazette. The
data generated were analysed using multiple regression statistics. The findings of the study
show that females migrate more than the males in Ughievwen and migration is high within
the age cohorts of 15-25 years and 26-35 years. More so, migration decreases with age, and
this may be due to the higher psychological cost for migration associated with older people.
Most of the persons in the community had acquired just their basic education. Thus, most of
them are willing to migrate to major cities to obtain higher education. It has been widely
observed that the propensity to migrate increases with education. Furthermore, the study
revealed that migration is affected by socioeconomic, demographic and cultural factors. The
results of hypotheses showed that there is a significant relationship between migration and
social amenities (recreation, water, health care, electricity, and road) which was evident at F
value of 97.691 which is greater than the critical table value of 2.26 at P>0.05. Thus, it is
anticipated that an increase in the provision of social amenities will result in a corresponding
decrease in rural-urban migration. It was recommended that functional social amenities such
as electricity, pipe borne water should be provided in the rural areas as a panacea for ruralurban migration.
- INTRODUCTION
Migration is considered as the movement of people from one geographical region to another,
which may be on temporary or permanent basis (Adewale, 2005). People migrate based on
the prevailing conditions and the reasons for it vary from one person to another depending on
the situation that brought about the decision. Migration is a selective process affecting
individuals or families with certain economic, social, educational and demographic
characteristics. The movement of people from rural to urban areas is a common occurrence in
Nigeria. The movement poses some problems in the rural as well as in the urban centre even
though; there are benefits derivable from it. In most rural areas, the impact of rural-urban
migration was a rapid deterioration of the rural economy leading to chronic poverty and food
insecurity (Mini, 2000). These arise mainly due to excessive drain of youth from the rural
populace thus leaving only the older and aged members to constitute the labour force of the
rural area.
Migration to urban areas is placing increasing pressure on local government’s ability to
respond to social service needs of urban populations. This is a worldwide challenge; in 2008
over half of the world’s population will be urban, and in Africa the urban population is set to
double between 2000 and 2030 (UNFPA, 2007). On-going migration to urban areas is
placing pressure on limited appropriate housing, resulting in increases in the numbers of
urban residents now found to reside in informal housing. Informal settlements present a range
of health and development challenges to governments, including access to water, sanitation,
housing, and adequate health services, including HIV services (Ambert, 2006; Ambert,
Jassey, & Thomas, 2007; Thomas, 2006).
Apart from smoothing income flows by providing employment during the agricultural lean
season, temporary migration to urban centres is undertaken for increasing disposable income
which is then invested in a variety of production and consumption uses. However, the relative
importance of migration is highly contexted specific as its effects on the local agricultural
economy and poverty reduction is enhanced.
The movement from rural to urban areas makes a negative impact on the quality of rural
life especially when such migrants carry away their needed consumption into the city.
Migration of young adults from the rural areas also placed a greater burden on the farmers.
For farmers to cover the same area of land as when he had extra assistance, he must work
much longer hours thus depriving him of some time for leisure or participation in various
social activities. The trend of the movement of the rural people into the city has also militated
against the agricultural development in these countries. The stage of agricultural development
in Ughelli South is labour intensive, able-bodied men who should till the land have
abandoned their role in the farms, and have engaged themselves in petty trading in the urban
areas.
In recent times there are more problems associated with rural urban migration; the impacts
of these problems have apparently outweighed the associated benefits. The governments are
not aware of the annual internal migration trend, neither most of them know the factors
responsible for the movement of rural people into their cities. At the same time, most African
governments have little or no knowledge about the problems encountered by the various
households in the depressed communities of their cities. This situation has made it very
difficult or rather impossible for Delta state governments including Ughelli-South to plan and
deliver the most needed social amenities for their subjects, especially those living in the rural
areas to dissuade them from migrating into the city. More so, because of the movement of
people from these rural areas, its consequent reduction in population has attracted less
attention from the government as some already existing infrastructure facilities may be left
non-functional and new ones may not be brought to replace the old ones. Nevertheless,
European Journal of Geography Volume 7, Number 3:42 – 57, September 2016
©Association of European Geographers
European Journal of Geography-ISSN 1792-1341 © All rights reserved 44
Ughievwen is a symbol of deliberate neglect as the community lacks those infrastructural
facilities that make life meaningful (Ihonvbere, 2000).
According to Baskerville (1994), some rural communities like Ughievwen Community
have been experiencing drift of its population into neighbouring cities and towns particularly
Warri, Sapele, Ughelli and Udu. This migrating population comprises mainly people of ages
between 15 and 35 years. These people make up the largest proportion of the required
manpower of these areas. This movement obviously led to the reduction of the workforce and
consequently decrease in the agricultural output of the area, because farming was left in the
hands of aged men and women. Furthermore, the reduction in output has brought about less
income and gradual increase in poverty level.
Although, these problems are of larger dimension, pervasive and are continuing unabated,
not many governments have launched any regular research programme to monitor the trend
of the movement of their subjects on the sustainable basis. Thus the motivation of this
research is to evaluate the problems encountered by migrants, even as these problems impact
the social economic status of the Ughievwen community. The study is also meant to assess
the consequences of migration on the development of Ughievwen community and the main
factors behind the movement of the rural people.
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