Shelter which is one of the basic needs of man cannot be overlooked neither can it be overemphasized, if this need (shelter) is limited there is bound to be anarchy, a fight for territory, creation of boundaries especially in urban centres where the population is high and this is accruable to a poor rural housing scheme of the government and definitely the situation would be likened to the early times of man.
Rural housing scheme should be one of the benevolent gestures any administration should employ to instigate the awareness of its citizens on the importance of being industrious and productive no matter where they find themselves and how inferior these places may be or look, they the citizens should be the machines of development for such places.
There is an adage that “anywhere there is development, people of diverse culture and social strata will settle and invest”. This (rural housing scheme) has social and economic factors attached to it, the social factor there is that people from different ethnic localities will come and do business which is also an economic factor because where there are people’ investment, different scale of businesses will emerge.
The essence of rural housing scheme is to reduce overpopulation in urban centres because taking Port Harcourt (town axis) as a case study people clamour because they feel if they live or reside there, they will survive better than their rural area where they have different raw materials that are explorable.
Also land and house owners have seized this opportunity to inflate the price of land for sales and rents for accommodation in urban centres even when the accommodation provided is not conducive or sometimes even unhealthy to reside.
Even people seize this opportunity in urban centres to carry out fraudulent act such as selling or leasing someone else’s property just to make money and elope with the money which may lead to the arrest of an innocent person.
Also cases of a large populace of unemployed youths, because the jobs are limited compared to the population that will reside in these urban area and this have led to thuggish behaviour from youths in these areas and society at large as they feel their rural areas are not efficient for them anymore.
Government should put up these rural housing scheme to enhance industrial activities to play up in different parts of the state/country, this would lead to decreased population in the urban centres in a state or country and also reducing crime rates.
Also government and companies should endeavour to make accessible routes (roads) that would lead to the rural areas in a state or country as to enable people freely go and explore these areas.
Finally, this scheme is part of the amenities every government owes its citizens because checking the “social contact theory” of the early days of man and establishment of governance, shelter is a very important factor to man and when this factor is upheld by any government; the value of the lives and property of its citizens are seen to be upheld and taken seriously. ###
