Factors influencing rural-urban migration of youths in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the factors influencing rural-urban migration of youths in Osun State, Nigeria. A multistaged sampling technique was employed in the selection of 240 of the respondents (youth) from three local government areas of the state. Data for this study were sourced primarily through the use of well-structured questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential analyses were employed in the analyses of the data. The result of this study showed that mean age of the respondents was 22.60 years. The study further revealed that majority (68.8%) of the respondents were male, single, had family size of between 5-8 and had secondary education. The results revealed that the poor electricity supply in the rural areas, bad condition of roads, absence of pipe-borne water were push factors driving the youth away from their communities into urban areas. Results further revealed that better employment opportunities, superior wages in the urban areas, improved living condition are pull factors that attract rural youths to the urban centres. Majority (68.8%) of the respondents were not willing to stay in the rural areas with or without improvement in the condition of living in their communities. The results of this study revealed that age (r-0.51; p < 0.01), sex ( 2-34.57; p < 0.05) and educational level ( 2-45.57; p < 0.01) of the respondents were significantly related to their decision to migrate from rural to urban areas. The study recommends that government should provide basic social amenities in the rural areas as they are found in the urban so as to encourage the youth to stay.

Investigating Rural – Urban Migration in Developing Countries of the World a Focus in Nigeria

“…Poor electricity supply, bad condition of roads and absence of pipe-borne water in rural areas were push factors driving rural youths away from their communities into urban areas. Better employment opportunities in the cities, superior wages in the urban areas, improved living condition in the cities were found to be pull factors that attract rural youths to the urban centres [14]. The problem that stimulates this present research interest is rate at which our youths (young boys and girls) are moving from rural areas to urban centres is very alarming.…”

Migration and Agricultural Investment in Southeast, Nigeria

“…The former entails the movement away from one's country of origin and the latter involves movement into a country. The type of migration existing within a country is internal and there are four main categories of internal migration-rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to urban and return migration (urban to rural) (Ofuoku, 2012;Eze, 2016;Alarima, 2018).…”

“…Urban to rural migration, often called return migration, describes the movement of people from urban areas to rural areas. The most common type of internal migration in Nigeria is rural to urban (Alarima, 2018;Amrevurayire and Ojeh, 2016;Ofuoku, 2012). This type of movement can be fuelled by economic reasons especially when there is perceived better life in the cities which attracts one to move or it can be involuntary when there is something undesirable in one's destination that pushes him to migrate/leave (Alarima, 2018).…”

“…The most common type of internal migration in Nigeria is rural to urban (Alarima, 2018;Amrevurayire and Ojeh, 2016;Ofuoku, 2012). This type of movement can be fuelled by economic reasons especially when there is perceived better life in the cities which attracts one to move or it can be involuntary when there is something undesirable in one's destination that pushes him to migrate/leave (Alarima, 2018). In many instances, economic forces are the main determinants of rural to migration (Ehirim et al, 2012;Onyeneke and Aligbe, 2016).…”

“…For example, Akpan et al (2014) and Iheke (2014) documented the importance of remittance to agricultural productivity and output in Nigeria; Redehegn (2019) averred that remittances increase crop and livestock income in Ethiopia; Ofuaku (2018) opined that it enhances food security in the rural areas of Nigeria while Olowa et al (2013) found its significant impact on poverty reduction in Nigeria. It is a survival strategy for some households and many others invest their remittances in agriculture and other productive activities (Alarima, 2018;Oketayo and Olaleye, 2016).…”