Date Published: 01/18/10

Rural – Urban Drift and Depletion of Youths Population: The Way Forward By Nwaorgu Faustinus Chilee

That the city, township or urban  area holds out so much irresistible attraction to rural dwellers cannot be overemphasized. With social infrastructures such as good roods, electricity, hospitals both government and private ones, well equipped public and private schools, all kinds of industries and companies, etc doting the nooks and crannies of state capitals, virile youths have no other option but to migrate en mass to the cities in search of the golden fleet. Little wonder today aged men, women and children constitute a greater population who reside in the village when compared with able bodied young men and women who have made their  way straight to the city, thus neglecting and leaving the former main stay of Nigeria’s economy – agriculture in the hands of old men and women.

The mass exodus of young men and women from villages to cities in search of greener pastures apart from depleting  the number of young people who ought to work in  farmlands as farmers in order to increase agricultural produce, has also led to overpopulation, overcrowding of apartments, crime and pressure on the limited social amenities; pipe borne water, hospitals schools etc in the city. Most of these young chaps nurse pre-positive  optimism of getting well paid jobs  unfortunately not many of them are lucky in securing their dream jobs. This account for the ever increasing number of unemployed youths who have taken to self –help ventures like; hawking of sachet water, apple, soft drink, biscuits, selling of recharge cards and the likes in order to keep their heads above the water.

However, some who see the above self-help ventures as menial pursuits, find expression and solace in crime such as; armed robbery, thug, assassination, cyber crime, advanced fee fraud, pimping, prostitution among others. This trend need to be reversed or at least ameliorated by the leadership of this country if she is really interested in building bright future for its youths who are the leaders of tomorrow. Unfortunately, the leaders of tomorrow just died yesterday because they have embraced crime as a way of life and the long arm of the law has caught with them.

There is no doubt that in most rural areas social amenities are conspicuously absent, no to mention infrastructural facilities. The provision of social amenities and infrastructural facilities in rural areas will serve as a stepping stone towards making the city unattractive to the youths. For instance, there are still many communities who are not connected to the national grid. For such communities, the hope of getting connected to the national grid becomes illusive and uncertain. Many of them lack good roads, hospitals, schools, portable water, as they source water through wells, stream or rivers which are not good for human consumption. We can still count the number of colleges of education, polytechnics, state and federal universities that are located in rural areas. I do not hold anything against a few state governors who had demonstrated rare efforts in locating state universities in rural communities that have resulted in opening up such communities for socio - economic activities.

What about companies and industries? They are obviously unseen in rural areas. Agriculture is still being practiced using crude implements  which makes its unattractive and back-breaking for the youths to embrace. For great inroads  to be made towards reducing mass migration of able bodied youths to the cities, both the public and private sector should collaborate by providing infrastructural facilities and social amenities as well as  locating industries and companies in rural communities. If the above could be provided, it will not only open up rural areas for economic activities but also serve as conduit for absorbing many unemployed youths resident in the communities, thus reducing drastically the enthusiasm for jetting out to city in search of greener pastures.  

Nwaorgu Faustinus Chilee, a socio-political  commentator writes from Igboeche, Rivers state, Port Harcourt.