Exploring the economic and social impacts of rural-urban migration of youths in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

The primary driver of urban unemployment and population pressure in an emerging nation like Nigeria is the phenomena of rural-urban migration, which is primarily sparked by rural "push" forces and urban "pull" factors. This circumstance also has an impact on the healthy growth of rural and urban communities. Despite this, little research is done to assess how it would affect urban residents' quality of life and rural livelihood. To this end, this study is mainly concerned with exploring the economic and social impacts of rural-urban migration of youths, determine the socio-economic characteristics of rural-urban migrant youths in the study area, assessing the impact of rural-urban migrant youths particularly on economic aspects (employment, cost of living, urban informal sectors) in the study area, investigate the impact of in-migration of youths particularly on social services (education, housing, health and other social facilities) in the study area, and investigate the push and pull factor that influence rural-urban migration in Abuja. Questionnaires were given to 210 rural-urban young people who were chosen at random to learn about the issues. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the participant-provided data. Youth from rural and urban migration move to cities in quest of work and to use city services and amenities. Youth migrants have put pressure on the socioeconomic as well as environmental conditions and characteristics of the study region because of the ongoing outflow of rural migrants seeking out urban basic utilities. Because of the high incidence of rural-to-urban migration, Abuja now faces issues such a housing shortage, unemployment, rising cost of living, limited access to social services, an increase in crime, the growth of urban informal sectors, and other challenges.