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Socio-Economic Factors Influencing Rural-Urban Migration in Wukari

Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria1 Bello Umar Danejo, 2 Lawan Usman Abubakar, 3 Musa .A. Haruna, 4 Ruikaiya Abubakar Usman,

5 Bashir Mohammed Bawuro 1, 2,3,4,5 Department of Agricultural Extension and Management, College of Agriculture P.M.B 1025 Jalingo Taraba State

Correspondence: 5 [email protected]

ABSTRACTThe study examined the Socio-economic Factors Influencing Rural-urban migration in Wukari Local Government Area of

Taraba State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to investigate the socio-economic factors affecting youth rural-urban

migration, the prevailing condition that leading to youth migration to the urban area; the cities migrated to and activities

engage in by migrating youth and the income generating by the migrating youth. A well-structured questionnaire was usedto solicit information from sixty randomly selected migrants and were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square

analysis. The result of the study revealed that majority of the migrants were male (78.3%), single from 18years and above

are literate. The study also revealed that majority of the migrant migrated to Jalingo, Taraba state capital city due to lack ofsocial amenities and employment in their original place of residence and for educational pursuance. The result further

revealed that, the migrant engaged themselves in one form of business or the other that generated certain amount of money.

The chi-square analysis revealed a non-significant relationship between the age of migrants and the reason for their

migration in search for better employment (X2=10.83 p value= 0.37).Based on findings of the research it is concluded that,

though migration of the youth to the cities has detrimental effect on the agricultural productivity but the income generatedhelp a lot in solving some domestic financial problems. The study recommended that, government and non-governmental

organization should encourage high quality rural labour force that provides high salaries and benefit, better housing, social

amenities, low income tax rate and sanitation to the rural areas.

Keywords: Youth, Rural-urban, Migration, Factors, Wukari

1. INTRODUCTIONHuman being have desires for many things in

life, particularly those that are very essential to their well- being such as food, shelter, good water and good medical

facilities for these reason people have continued to move

from one place to another in search for better livingcondition in their lifetime the movement could be

temporary or permanent depending on the causes. One ofthe most noteworthy demographic phenomena faced bymany developing countries in the world is the shortage of

labour and food insecurity and conversely the rapid

population growth in the urban centres, which is largelycaused by the prevalence of rural-urban migration (Agesa

and Kim, 2001). Rural-urban migration is a double-edge

problem affecting both rural and urban communities.

Aworemiet al., (2011) contend that the rural

community is affected because the youth and adults whoare supposed to remain and contribute to the development

of agriculture in particular and the community in general

leave the rural areas for the cities. The lost labour of able-

bodied men and women could likely lead to decline inagricultural production (Regmi and Tisdel, 2002,Anagloet al., 2014). According to UN Report (2013),

despite the lack of reliable data on the internal migrants it

assumed that 40%of the migrants originated from the ruralareas and many of them are youth with high propensity to

migrate. Aworemiet al, (2011). The unavailability of

livelihood requirement especially the social amenities and

job opportunities in the rural areas lead to massivemigration of the youth to urban centre in search of greener

pasture. In view of the vital role played by the youth in

assisting household heads left in the rural area it become

imperative to examine the socio-economic factorsinfluencing rural-urban migration in the study area:

It is specifically aimed at:

a. Investigating the socio-economic factorsinfluencing youth rural-urban migration;

b. The prevailing condition[s][which are] leading to

youth migration to the urban areas;c. The cities migrated to and activities engage[d] in

by migrating youth and;

d. The income generated by the migrating youth.

2. METHODOLOGYThe study was carried out in Wukari Local

Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria. Wukari townlies on longitude 7o57 and latitude 9o42 east of the equator

it is situated at about 222 kilometers away from Jalingo

Taraba State Capital, it has an area of 4,308km2 and a population of 241, 546 people (NPC, 2006). The area is

inhabited by number of ethnic group; prominent among

them is the Jukun, which is the main tribe, other tribes

like Fulani, Hausa, Jiru, Shomo, Tiv and Chamba arefound in the co-existing with the Jukun.

About three quarter of the population is crop

farmers while other is cattle readers and fishermen(Oruonye and Abbas, 2011). Important crop cultivated in

the area include; Rice, Groundnut, Maize, Yam, cassava,

Millet, Guinea corn, Melon etc. Most of the farmers

cultivates small plots of land such as one hectares,farming activities usually starts around March with

clearing of land.

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2.1 Sampling Procedures and Sample Size

The sample frame for the study consisted of the

entire ten ward in Wukari Local Government Area ofTaraba State. Three wards were purposively selected for

the study because of high number of youth that ever

migrated to the cities. The selected ward are Bantaje,

Tsokundi and Jibu from each of the ward two villageswere selected and ten respondents were randomly selected

from each of the village making the sample size of thestudy to constitute sixty which questionnaire were

administered and all retrieved and used for data analysis.

2.2 Method of Data Collection and Analysis

Both primary and secondary data were used for

the study. The primary and secondary data were obtained

through administered of well-structured questionnaire to

the respondents and the secondary sources of the

information were restricted to seminar papers, Journal,textbook and pass students projects. The data obtained

were subjected to descriptive statistics, percentage and

frequency distribution and inferential statistics in form ofChi-square.

2.3 Measurement of VariablesThis study considered two sets of variable;

depended variable which was socio-economic factors

influencing migration of youth and independent variablewhich include the reasons for migration and types of

activities engaged in by the measure in years, marital

status of the measure in single, married, divorced and

widow; educational attainment of the migrants was

measured best on non-formal education, primaryeducation, secondary education, tertiary education;

household size of the migrant was measured based on the

number of the people in the house. The rural-urbanmigration of youth was measured based on the reasons for

migrations such as lack of basic social amenities, search

for Job, household, food security, looking for better

education, ethno religion crisis etc.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Migrant

Age As indicated in Table 1, Majority (56.7%) of the

migrants fall within the age range 18-21years 20% of the

migrants were within the age of 22-25 years, 13.3% ofthem are within 26-30 year while only 10% of the migrant

were within the age of 31-35 years. This show that

majority of the migrants were within their youthful stageof development, a stage when a child begins to operate

independently from the parents and it is assumed that at

this age, award could be allowed by the parent to travelsout. These implications have the strength and risks

bearing ability associated with such population

movement. This statement is in accordance with UN(2003) that majority of the youth moving out of the rural

area to urban centres were between the ages of 12-24years

were majority of them tend to engage more frequently in

temporary forms of migration.

3.2 Sex

As shown in the finding of table 1 majority

78.3% are male while 21.7% of the migrants are female.This finding could due to the fact that females are not

allowed to migrate outside their communities in this part

of the country to search for work based on the culture and

tradition except those females who have been able toattained higher level of education that are allow to migrate

and search for better Jobs in the cities. Only males areallowed to migrate outside their communities to search for

work for sustenance of the family and also involved in

tedious work while the other females that are lesseducated are left with child bearing and the household

chores (Angoet al., 2011) Ajearoet al., (2013) in their

research reported that majority of the migrants were males

to succeed, therefore, they usually migrate early in life

and when they have stabilized, they may come back to

take their family members or to marry.

On the other hand Rajan (2013) report

contradicted the finding were he posits that the percentageof female 30%) migrants in India is more than that of

male (27%) this is because migration is considered as

widely employed survival strategy among the Indiansyouth and alternate route towards engaging in the market

and economy. Marital status: the result in the table 1

indicated that, majority of the migrant (71.7%) weresingle while 29.3% were married. This finding indicated

that majority of the migrants were single which makes it

easy for them to travel back home due to less

responsibility of caring for wife and children. This finding

is in conformity with the finding of Abdur-Rokib andAbdul-Goni., 2011), Ehirimet al (2012), Pradhan (2013)

and Angoet al (2014). That the single people among the

members of the society migrated more than the marriedmigrants, who could be attributed to the fact that those

were married, may find it difficult to move without their

household members.

3.3 Educational level As indicated in the findings of Table 1, 43.3% of

the migrants had attained secondary school education,28.3% of them attained tertiary school education, while

16.7% and 11.7% of the migrant attained primary and

non-formal education respectively. The result of the study

also implies that none of the migrants were illiterate asthey had attained one form of education or the other. This

finding is in line with Pradha (2013) who in a similar

study in India reported that almost all the respondents in

this study area were literate except very few (1.1%).

3.4 Household Size of Migrants The findings of this study in Table 1, further

indicated that, (43.3%) of the migrants were from the

household size of 1-7 people, 25% were from family size

of 8-11 people, 20% from 12-14 people family size while11.7% of the migrant were from the household size of 15

people and above. This showed that most of the migrant

from rural area of Northern Nigeria were from large

households (1 and more than 15 family members), which

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might be the reason behind unavailability of enough

resources to carter for the whole members) of the family.

This therefore makes it difficult for the head of

the household to provide adequate sponsorship for the

education and other training for the all family, rather the

member provide cheap farm labour for the family. Thisfinding is in agreement with Ehirimet al., (2012) and

Angoet al., (2014) reported that, the household size of arural people is always much when compared to its

counterpart living in the city because of their dependence

on the family as a source of farm labour. The finding ofOsundo and Ibezim (2013) were in disagreement of the

finding, were they reported that the household member in

their study area (the Southern Nigeria) was small (1 more

than 10 family size) which has negative implication on

farm labour supply.

3.5 Condition Responsible for the Migration of Youth

Migration literatures proved that people migrated

out of their original place of residence due to certainreasons that affect them differently. As indicated in the

findings in table 2, majority (93.3%) of the migrants

migrated to the cities due to conflict that affected theirarea of residence, 63.3% search for better employment,

56.7% migrated to improved livelihood welfare, 53.3%

migrated to join family member in the city, 48.3%migrated because of lack of social facilities, 50%

migrated to look for money through labour, 38.3%

migrated to change environment, 26.6% migrated because

of crop failure and famine and 15% migrated because of

better housing in the city. The findings imply thatmajority of the migrants migrated to the cities as result of

conflict, lack of social amenities, search for better

employment, to improve livelihood welfare and for the purpose of furthering education which are not available in

their original place of residence but consequently found in

the cities.

This findings agree with the finding(s) of

Aromolaran (2013) reported that the important factors

responsible for youth rural-urban migration includeseducation needs, skills acquisition in various vacations,

seeking for means of livelihood, boredom in agriculture,

inadequate social amenities and expulsion due to offence

and crime committed.

3.6 Places of Migration

The findings of the study in Table 3, revealed

that 50% of the migrants migrated to Jalingo the capitalcity of Taraba State, 16.7% migrated to Yola, 13.3%

migrated to Abuja and 6.7% migrated to Jos while only

3.3% migrated to Kano State. As indicated in the finding,most of the migrants migrated to Jalingo due to

information obtained from those people that ever migrated

that Jalingo has abundant social infrastructural facilities,high rate of job opportunities, better education, its serene

environmental nature as well as it closeness to their

homes. This finding reveals that migration of the youth is

been motivated and encouraged by the community

members that ever migrated. This finding is in agreement

with Pradhan (2013) that majority of the migrants have

migrated through the influence and contact by other

villagers. The visible change in the financial status of pervious migrants was finding as the motivating factors of

migration pattern among the younger migrants.

Business engaged in by migrants in the cities asshown in the finding in table 3,(45%) of the migrants

engaged in commercial tricycle(KekeNAPEP), 23.3%engaged in petty trading, 13.4% of the migrant engaged in

studies, 10% of the migrants engaged in labourer work

while 8.3% commercial carriers. The finding implies thatmajority of the migrant engaged in one form of business

or the other that provides them with certain amount of

money which is used and some are remitted to their parent

at home. The finding also indicates that only few of the

migrants that were involved in office or government

work. This finding disagrees with Ehirimet al., (2012) thatrural people migrating to the cities end up in petty

business and labour work.

3.7 Income Generated By the Migrating Youth

The findings in table 4 depict that 38.3% of the

migrants earned between N30, 200 – N40, 000 per month,31.7% earned between N20, 200 – N30, 000, 10% of the

migrant earned between N5200 to N10, 000 per month

and 8.3% earned more than N50, 000 per month while5.0% of the migrant earned less than or equal to N5000

per month respectively. This implies that, the businesses

engaged in by the migrant was an income generating

venture when compared with those idle in the village

where youth are only fully engaged during the rainyseason of the year. This makes of the monies redeemed to

their parents purposely to fill the gap of their absence and

at the same time reduce the level of poverty affectingfamily members at home. This findings is in accordance

with Osundu and Ibezim study (2013) that most of the

migrants earned monthly income of between N5,000 –

N31,000.

3.8 Hypothesis Testing Result

The result of null hypothesis between someselected socio-economic characteristics (age, occupation,

marital status) of the migrants and some selected reason

for migration (search for better employment, further

education and lack of social infrastructure) for migrationusing chi-square analysis revealed that age of the migrants

and the reason for their migration in search of better

employment outside their communities (Table 5).

Also indicated in the table 5 chi-square analysis

result proved a significant relationship between the age of

migrants and lack of infrastructural facilities warrantingtheir migration to the cities (X2 = 4.48 P value =0.92).

This indicated that the null hypothesis is rejected. This

implies that the age of the migrants had influence onleaving their original place of residence. This is because

the rural communities lacked social amenities which are

the important factors that determine the rate of

development of a community and reduction of the rate of

migration of the able body youth to the cities.

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The chi-square analysis result in table 5 further

revealed that there is significant relationship between theeducational levels of the migrant searching for better

employment in the cities. The findings also indicated that

the level of education of the migrants determined the type

of employment to search for those migrants witheducational qualification beyond secondary school are

expected to obtain a better job.

4. CONCLUSIONIt can be inferred from the discussion above that

majority of migrants from Wukari Local GovernmentArea of Taraba State, Nigeria migrated because of ethno-

religious crisis that affected the area while others to

continue their education, search for employment, basic

amenities, to join family members in the city and to lookfor money through labour. This means[that] until the

balance[is created] or disparity in socio-economic

development between the rural and urban area are

removed, no amount of persuasion can put a stop to rural-urban migration and it[a] multiplying effects in Wukari

Local Government Area of Taraba State and entire

Nigeria. Also majority of the respondents agreed thatrural-urban migration which has pulled a lot of their

youths to the urban areas as made the youth unavailable to

help carryout house chores and assist their parents in theirtrade and profession including lack of labour force to

work on their farm before leading to low agricultural

produce and low standard of living in the area. However,

other consequences include gloomy village life, failure of

youths to learn their culture and desertion of the village bythe youth leaving behind mainly the aged and children.

All these consequences can be upturned if the disparity in

development between the urban and rural area is

substantially eliminated. This would make the youths sort

what they go in search for in the urban areas, within therural areas and therefore remain in there.

5.

RECOMMENDATIONS

As a result of this study, it is herebyrecommended that, policy makers in Nigeria should carry

out an intense effort to transform the rural area

holistically, by making available sufficient socio-economic and infrastructural amenities such as higher

income earning jobs, educational (especially tertiary

education) facilities, sanitation, health services, electricitymotor able roads (including the farm roads), pipe borne

water, good housing condition, financial institution, small

and medium scale industries and other basic socio-

economic services for the rural dwellers. A concertedeffort should also be made towards financing the rural

enterprises and encouraging effective and efficient

agricultural activities through national policy framework

and rolling plans. This would assist in increasing their productivity. Persistent effort towards improving the

urban areas without converting the rural areas would

aggregate the already problematic situation posed byrural-urban migration since higher number of youths will

migrate to the urban appealing areas. Also insincerity of

purpose, corruption, embezzlement of money meant toexecute rural developmental projects by government

officials. And finally, adequate security arrangement

should be put in place by the security agencies so as to

forestall the unrest and curtail the incessant ethno-religion

crisis which made many people fled the area for safety oftheir lives and property.

Table 1: Socio-economic characteristics of the Migrants

Variable Frequency Percentage (%)

Age (years)

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Table 2: Distribution of migrants based on reason for migration (n=6)

Reason for migration Frequency Percentage

Conflict 56 93.3

Search for better employment 38 63.3

Lack of social facilities 29 48.3Further Education 29 48.3

crop failure and famine 16 26.6

Better Housing in the city 9 15

To improve livelihood welfare 34 56.7

Look for money through labour 30 50

To learn trade 21 35

Total 311

Source: Field Survey, 2014*Multiple Responses

Table 3: Distribution of Migrants Based on Places of Migration and Business Engaged in (n=60)

Places migrated to Frequency Percentage

Jalingo 30 50Yola 10 16.7

Gombe 6 10

Jos 4 6.7

Abuja 8 13.3

Kano 2 3.3

Nature of Business Engaged in

Trading 14 23.3

Commercial carriding 5 8.3

Commercial Tricycle

(KekeNapep)

27 45

Labourer 6 10

Studies 8 13.4

Source: Field Survey, 2014

Table 4: Distribution of migrants based on income generating per month (n=60)

Amount earned/Month (N) Frequency Percentage

Less than or equal to N 5200 3 5.0

N 5200 – N 10, 000 6 10

N 10,200 – N 20, 000 4 6.7

N 20,200 – N 30,000 19 31.7

N 30, 200 – N 40, 000 23 38.3

More than N 50, 000 5 8.3

No response 0 0.0

Source: Field Survey, 2014

Table 5: Relationship between some selected socio-Economic of the migrating Youth and reason for migration

Variable X- Value P Value DF DECISION

Age and Reason for 0.83 0.37 10 NS

Migration searching

For Better Employment

Relationship between age and lack of social

infrastructure

4.48 0.92 10 S

Relationship between age and furthering

education

11.03 0.36 10 NS

Relationship between marital status and search

for better employment

3.79 0.05 10 S

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Relationship between educational level andfurther education

5.08 0.61 2 S

Relationship between educational level and

lack of social infrastructure

0.96 2 0.62 S

NS – Not Significant

S – Significant level 0.5%

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