Rural-Urban migration (Urbanization) is the act of people leaving their rural areas for urban centres and this is gradually becoming global as people are continuously leaving their homelands in search of greener pasture in urban centres as they feel migrating from the rural areas would do them greater good in achieving their desired success, but sometimes the reverse becomes the case.
This migration has its advantages as it sometimes help people to explore other parts of the state, nation and the world at large, it also gives them the opportunities to grasp modern knowledge and be more exposed to civilization, but as they say, “there are always two perspectives to the look of things” which are the positive and negative aspects and how they affect people not just the poor (low class) but also the hegemonic class (rich).
The dangers in rural urban migration are gradually becoming vast in proportion but to mention a few.
– The dangers of overpopulation are bound to arise as the population of the urban centres would increase rapidly because persons from diverse ethnic localities from the society may be in a particular urban centre and this can also cause strain on social amenities.
– Also thuggery will occur from jobless youths and other persons because of unemployment because when the population outweighs the job or skills available in these places, people become stranded and many left out, thereby engaging themselves and time in illicit acts that are harmful to society such as robbery, rape etc
– Also issues of increased cost of living will occur because people like landlords, landowners, and even traders seize these opportunities to make money thereby inflating the cost of products, as they feel that is a better idea in urban centres.
– Rural urban migration leads to concentration of services and facilities, such as education, health and technology in urban centres which is a disadvantage to rural communities.
– Also rural urban migration can lead to food scarcity and food insecurity because if majority of the population leaves their rural areas where the farms are located definitely farming activities will be at a decreased level and this would lead to a decrease level in the agricultural sector of a state or nation.
– Finally, there would be the risk of high level of illness because of the population in this urban centres, this would lead to a rapid spread of diseases and illness and sometimes too many loss of life.
– Conclusively, it is inevitable that these dangers cannot be overlooked or underestimated and for nay administration of government that does not want its tenure to be perceived as inept in governance should work towards putting up different schemes, programmes (skills acquisitions) related to these rural areas as to instigate awareness in the people of those areas of what they posses in their habitat and how they can change those raw materials to fiscal cash and the monetary value of these raw materials. ###
By Clifford Tom George
