Rural Development, a Means of Combating Rural Urban Migration
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The general objective of this study is to determine the effect of rural development on rural urban migration. The specific objectives are;
- To determine whether rural development can serve as a panacea for rural urban migration
- To find out the socio-economic causes of rural urban migration
- To determine the implications of rural urban migration on rural development
- To identify measures put in place for rural development by government
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The key to successful development of a nation among other things is the promotion of a viable rural economy. The challenges and prospects of rural development in Nigeria have been of great concern to the different tiers of government due to the increased rate of rural-urban migration. The various policies of the Nigerian government on rural development are to improve the living condition in the rural areas with a view to curbing the streaming rural-urban migration.
Mulgunji (1990) cited in Laah (2013) opined that the problem of rural development cannot be viewed as a narrow technical problem of increasing output, but that of the development of appropriate organizations and institutions to mobilize and encourage members of the rural society to greater productivity, help them overcome constraints of utilizing available resources, while ensuring equitable distribution of results of their collective efforts among themselves.
MEANING OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Development is an all encompassing word which involves the gradual growth of something or advancement through progressive changes over time (Hornby, 2000). These changes may be multi-dimensional involving changes in structures, attitude, institutions as well as acceleration of economic growth, reduction of inequality and eradication of absolute poverty in the society (Umeabali, 2006). Development involves economic growth, equality or social justice and socio-economic changes which are self sustaining.
Development is that process which is concerned with the general improvement of man’s living conditions. Thus, both the physical and psychological elements of development mutually reinforce each other in the process of general upliftment, which is indispensable to development. Therefore, rural development is a determined and concise attempt to focus on the general upliftment of man’s living conditions in the rural area.
Rural development is also the outcome of a series of quantitative and qualitative changes occurring among a given rural population and whose converging effects indicate over time a concomitant rise in the standard of living and favorable changes in the way of life of the people concerned. Rural development in general denotes economic development and community development actions and initiatives taken to improve the standard of living in non-urban neighborhoods, remote villages and the countryside.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter encompasses the steps employed in carrying out the study. They include research design, population of the study, sample and sampling technique, validity and reliability of the instrument, administration of instrument, data collection and method of analysis.
Research Design
The researcher made use of survey research design to collect data on rural development as a means to combat rural urban migration in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State.
Nwogu (1991), defines a survey research as one which a group of people or items is studied by collecting and analyzing data from only a few people or items considered to be representative of the entire group.
Study Population
The population of this study comprises of all the cities, towns and villages in Nigeria but respondents were only drawn from Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State. These respondents span the entire towns and villages in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State.
Sample and Sampling Technique
In carrying out this investigation, fifty (50) subjects will be selected in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, using convenience sampling method to select subjects from the Local Government.
CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS OF DATA AND PRESENTATION OF RESULTS
This chapter deals with the presentation and interpretation of results from the data collected. Section A of the questionnaire contains the bio-data of the respondents while Sections B and C contain the main questions concerning the causes and consequences of deforestation
These questions are set to elicit information or answers from the respondents. In all, a total of sixty (50) questionnaires were administered to various respondents that make up the sample population.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives an overview of the study making a quite summary of findings, conclusion of the result and further recommendations.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
The rationale of the study which was to examine if rural development can serve as a means for combating rural urban migration which was exhaustively introduced in chapter one laying emphasis on the background of the study, statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, significance of the study, research questions, limitation of the study, definition of terms.
The chapter two which was the review of related literature was introduced and meanings of rural development, urban-rural migration, causes of rural urban migration, level of rural development in Nigeria and ways to combat rural urban migration were comprehensively discussed and in details.
The procedure and methods used in conducting the research were spelt out in chapter three.
Chapter four gives the results and the interpretation of data collected, in form of response to the interview conducted by the researcher.
CONCLUSION
This study has attempted to study rural development as a means of combating rural urban migration. The results obtained following investigation during this research revealed that:
- Rural development can serve as a means of combating rural urban migration.
- Lack of basic infrastructure, poverty and illiteracy has been identified as the major causes of rural urban migration.
- Overpopulation, unemployment, poor standard of living have been identified has the consequences of rural urban migration.
- Government intervention is needed in the area of provision of infrastructure in rural area to enhance rural development and discourage rural urban migration.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Consequent upon the findings from the data analysis, this study recommends that government should encourage the drift of people to rural areas by making available such amenities that would encourage the stay of the migrants. Also, migrants should be encouraged to form themselves into cooperative societies which can be used to attract the attention of the Government or Nongovernmental organizations to establish different cottage industries in the rural areas. This encouragement would enhance rapid rural development and bring the rural communities to the mainstream of national development.
REFERENCES
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- Badru, F. A. (2004). Urbanization, Family and Social Changes in Nigeria: 1950-1999. In Industrialization, Urbanization and Development in Nigeria 1950-1999.Edited by M. O. A. Adejugbe. Concept Publications Limited. pp. 31-34.
- Eliss, F. and Harris, N. (2004). In New Agriculturist on-Line: Reporting Agriculture for the 21st Century. http://www.new-ag.info/04-5/dev.1.html.
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) FAOSTAT Agriculture Data (http://apps.fao.org/page/collections)
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- E. Uma, F. E. Eboh, P. C. Obidike (2013) Managing rural-urban migration and brain drain for sustainable economic recovery in Nigeria: Constraints and options. Journal of Economics and International Business Management Vol. 1(1), pp. 1-7, August 2013.
