Population Commission Warns Govt On Rural-urban Migration

[TGD]

 THE National Population Commission (NPC) Saturday released the Internal Migration Survey in Nigeria for year 2010, with a call on government to, as a matter of urgency, put in place deliberate policies to discourage migration to urban centres.

The report stressed the need to develop essential strategies for job creation in rural areas, a move that would, in the long run, also address youth restiveness arising from unemployment.

The survey, which was randomly conducted among 101,939 respondents in the six geopolitical zones, revealed that 11,257 were migrants, 11,209 non-migrants, and 1801 were return migrants.

At the official presentation of the report in Abuja, Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Festus Odimegwu, stressed the need for government to adopt best practices of managing migration, so as to promote balanced growth, reduce incidences of violence and better human resource utilisation.

He said: "Government should adopt some of the best practices of managing migration. Such practices include deliberate policies of discouraging over-urbanisation, assimilation of migrants and proper integration of return migrants, among others."

The survey, according to him, revealed that the highest percentage of migrants were persons with no education, followed by those with primary education, and the least were persons with post graduate qualification.

Odimegwu mentioned that the survey highlighted employment opportunity as a critical push factor that encourages migration in Nigeria, especially among youths, hence the need for a proper articulation of policies to address issues of employment and rural-urban drift for better socio-economic planning.

 

 

 

 

The NPC boss, who spoke through the Chairman Technical Management team, Dr. Festus Uzo, stressed the need for government to come up with health intervention programmes that would further secure the health of people, as well as create better environmental conditions for improved living standards.

For proper strategising to meet rising and increasing security challenges, the survey recommended that governments at all levels should reorganise the significance of community-based security arrangements to complement the role of the police in tackling the present security challenges.



The Guardian

[Shola Sholaz]

No one needs to warn anyone before we know that is never a nice thing to happen. We should always learn to appreciate wherever we are.