Counter-urbanization, Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Rural Development in Developing Countries: The Nigerian Example

Abstract

The sustainable development trajectory of rural areas hinges on the number and quality of human resources and endogenous capital. This requires a new and reformed rural development policy to comprehensively address deficiencies of the local development system, poor human resources, and the lack of legitimate local institutions, weakness of trust and entrepreneurship, as well as making all these issues as part of rural development policy. This paper aims to explore the potential of counter-urbanization as an opportunity for developing rural areas, linked with the entrepreneurship tendencies of the diverse peoples involved in counter-urbanization, the residents of rural areas and the potentials and rural capitals endowments of rural areas. In doing this, the paper also explores the age-long and modern functional relationships between urban and rural areas. In this continuum, urban and rural spaces, networks, socioeconomic activities, and identities were never truly separated, due to later urbanization and industrialization in developing countries. Using a review analysis approach, the paper relies on documentary instruments for data generation, as well as content analysis of generated data. The paper is of the view that whereas, the complex consequences of counter-urbanization, present challenges to policymakers who seek to alleviate poverty, improve rural areas conditions and reduce spatially income inequalities. It is however realized that the potentials of counter-urbanization and the closely related factors of entrepreneurship can greatly enhance rural development in developing countries, like Nigeria. What is required are that local development initiatives must use the resources they have (local knowledge, land, skills and traditions, primary production, natural environmental beauty and social networks), turning or configuring these resources into development resources to unlock their internal development capacity sustainably.