research article the effects of rural-urban migration on...

Hindawi Publishing CorporationInternational Journal of Population ResearchVolume 2013 Article ID 610193 10 pageshttpdxdoiorg1011552013610193

Research ArticleThe Effects of Rural-Urban Migration on RuralCommunities of Southeastern Nigeria

Chukwuedozie K Ajaero and Patience C Onokala

Department of Geography University of Nigeria Nsukka 410001 Nigeria

Correspondence should be addressed to Chukwuedozie K Ajaero ajaerockyahoocom

Received 27 February 2013 Revised 9 June 2013 Accepted 29 July 2013

Academic Editor Sally Guttmacher

Copyright copy 2013 C K Ajaero and P C Onokala This is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work isproperly cited

This paper examined the effects of rural-urban migration on the rural communities of Southeastern Nigeria Data were obtainedusing mixed methods approach comprising questionnaire surveys and key informant interviews Six rural local government areas(LGAs) were selected based on population size and spatial equity from two states of Southeastern Nigeria From each of the ruralLGAs fiftymigrant-sending households were sampled for the studyMultiple regression and hierarchical cluster analyses were usedto estimate and categorize the effects of rural-urban migration due to remittances and community projects executed by the rural-urbanmigrants respectively In addition theChi-square andKruskal-Wallis tests were utilized in prioritizing areas for developmentinterventions in the rural communitiesThe regression analysis shows that rural-urban migration contributes significantly towardsthe development of their rural communities through monetary remittances and the involvement of the rural-urban migrants incommunity development projects Based on the findings recommendations such as initiation of development projects based onthe identified needs of each of the rural communities to augment the effects of migration in the study area are made

1 Introduction

Globally the nexus between migration and development hasremained an issue under vigorous academic debate [1ndash6]Therefore the process of people migrating to other areas insearch of a better life is not a novel one What has howevergained currency is the increasing voluntary movement inquest of better quality of life by low-skill and low-wageworkers as well as high-skill and high-wage workers fromless developed rural areas to more developed urban areasespecially among the poor in the developing countries [7ndash10]

In this regard rural-urban migration results from thesearch for perceived or real opportunities as a consequenceof rural-urban inequality in wealth [11 12] This inequalityandor urban bias in development according to researchfindings over the years results from the overwhelming con-centration of wealth assets purchasing capacity economicactivities and variety of services in the urban centres as wellas the continued neglect and degradation of rural environ-ments or areas [13ndash26]

Migration has also been identified as a survival strategyutilized by the poor especially the rural dwellers The assess-ment of the effects of migration on rural areas has remainedrelevant since migration acts as a catalyst in the transforma-tion process of not only the destiny of individual migrantsbut also the conditions of family members left behind localcommunities and the wider sending regions One significantsource of development for the rural populace as a result of thisincreasing drift towards the cities is remittances Recentlymigrantsrsquo remittances and the income multipliers they createare becoming critical resources for the sustenance strategiesof receiving households as well as agents of regional andnational development [27] Households that receive theseremittances tend to use the proceeds primarily for currentconsumption (food clothing) as well as investments inchildrenrsquos education health care improvement in householdfood and security and water and sanitation Nevertheless theability of remittances to compensate the labour shortage inrural areas is still a function of the amounts and value of

2 International Journal of Population Research

remittances received by migrantsrsquo households at home espe-cially in the developing countries [27]

Consequently the effects of rural-urban migration in therural places of origin of migrants may be manifest in twoways First the rural-urban migrants send remittances totheir relatives in the rural areas and these remittance-receiv-ing households use the remittances for various purposesSecondly these rural-urban migrants execute various ruraldevelopmental projects in their rural areas of origin In Nige-riamostmigrants coming fromaparticular rural communityto live in an urban area usually form rural community associ-ations in the urban areaThese community associations in theurban areas articulate from time to time the developmentalneeds of their rural communities of origin and contributeresources to execute projects such as road construction andthe award of educational scholarships to students in the ruralareas

A combination of these rural community projects exe-cuted by the rural-urban migrants and the uses of remit-tances by rural remittance-receiving households serve asindicators of the effects of rural-urban migration on thepopulation concerned In this regard and in tandem withcontemporary praxis the paradigm shift in the meaning ofdevelopment emphasizes personal satisfaction consequent onimprovement in the quality of life of the ldquoindividualrdquo andorldquopopulationrdquo involved in the developmental process [28]Accordingly each population ranks community developmen-tal projects and uses of remittances in the order of importancethey believe will ensure their satisfaction and happiness It isalso the existence of these projects and the uses of remittancesderivable from the migration process that reflect the level ofsocioeconomic development that can be traceable to rural-urban migration [29] Therefore the combination of theseprojects by migrants and the various uses of remittancesin the past three years according to the respondents arewhat they see as indicators of development in their ruralcommunities

In different parts of the world Nigeria inclusive researchhas been carried out on the effects of migration on themigrantsrsquo rural communities of origin Some of these studiesinclude those of Glytsos [30] in Eastern Europe Sibanda[31] in South Africa Azam and Gubert [32] in Mali Lucas[33] in Albania and Morocco Nwajiuba [34] in NigeriaAdams [2] in Latin America McKenzie [35] Taylor andMora [36] in Mexico Sorenson [11] in Somali Pozo [37] andthe World Bank [7] in developing countries However thesestudies focus mainly on international migration and on usesof remittances leaving the research that estimates the effectsof rural-urbanmigration on rural communities in developingcountries undone

Rural out-migration is important in the Igbo speakingareas of Southeastern Nigeria This is because the massexodus of people from the overpopulated areas of Igbolandhas been one of the most spectacular phenomena of the 20thcentury in Nigeria [38] Studies onmigration in SoutheasternNigeria include an assessment of changes in urban-rural tiesfrom 1961 to 1987 in Eastern Nigeria [39] Also anotherstudy in Anambra state found that many Igbo familiesencouraged their family members to migrate because of

the belief that their continued stay in the village will notbring financial success [40] Moreover a study carried outin Aba southeastern Nigeria focused only on rural-urbaninteractions without examining the migratory processes thatyielded the interactions [41] while [34] concentrated on inter-national migration and its impact on livelihoods Recently[42] carried out a study of rural-urban migration on thepoverty status of migrants in urban areas of Abia state

In other parts of Nigeria the factors associated withdrift of youths from rural to urban areas in Kwara statehave been examined [43] Reference [44] used the logisticregression model to appraise the factors of rural-urbanmigration into Lagos state while the characteristics and deter-minants of rural-urban migration in Ajeromi-Ifelodun LGAof Lagos state have also been investigated [45] Furthermorethe National Living Standard Survey (NLSS) (2004) datacollected for rural Nigeria has been used to estimate amultinomial logit model of the economic and demographicdeterminants of migration and receipt of remittances in ruralNigeria [46]

From the review of the literature it is clear that most ofthe rural-urban migration studies done in Nigeria virtuallyexcluded the effects of these rural-urban migrations on therural sending communities and are in most cases sample sur-veys on characteristics and determinants of migration Thereis therefore a need for studies that will determine the effectsof rural-urbanmigration on rural communities in developingcountries especially in Nigeria where rural-urban migrationhas been on the increase in recent times The estimation ofthe effects of rural-urbanmigration on the rural communitieswill aid policy interventions by governments and develop-ment agencies in their quest to facilitate the developmentof these rural communities The purpose of this research istherefore to examine the effects of rural-urban migration onrural communities of Abia and Imo states of Nigeria

2 Materials and Methods

21 The Study Area The study area comprises six rural localgovernment areas (LGAs) in Abia and Imo states Theyexhibit homogenous environmental and agro-climatic char-acteristics are part of the Igbo-speaking areas of Nigeria andwere formerly a single state (ie old Imo state) before Abiastate was carved out of the old Imo state in 1991 These statesare located between latitudes 4∘8010158401015840 and 8∘4710158401015840 north of theequator and longitudes 6∘6710158401015840 and 7∘1310158401015840 east of theGreenwichmeridianThe population of the rural LGAs used in this studyaccording to the 2006 population census is 593222 personsThis number is made up of 298171 males and 295051 femalesas shown in Table 1 [47]

From Table 1 it could be seen that the population isnot evenly distributed in the study area and the averagepopulation density of the study area is 727 persons per squarekilometer While 44 percent of the population lives in urbanareas 56 percent of the population lives in the rural areas [12]Literacy level in the study area is 86 percent and 93 percentfor females and males respectively while about 18 percent offemales and 14 percent of males aged between 6 and 11 have

International Journal of Population Research 3

Table 1 Population distribution of the study area

LGA Males Females Total populationIkwuano (Abia state) 70509 67388 137897Isikwuato (Abia state) 56660 59134 115794Ukwa East (Abia state) 29410 28729 58139Nkwerre (Imo state) 40845 39425 80270Onuimo (Imo state) 50779 48589 99368Owerri West (Imo state) 49968 51786 101754Source Federal Government of Nigeria [47]

no formal education Also 68 percent of males and 57 percentof females are employed [48]

22 Selection of Sample Population In Nigeria a rural areais defined as an area having a population of less than 20000persons [48] Also each state in Nigeria has three senatorialzones and therefore there exist six senatorial zones in thetwo states used in this study From each of the senatorialzones in the two states a rural LGA was selected so as toensure spatial equity in the two states used in this study Inall six rural LGAs were used for this study In selecting arural LGA from each senatorial zone all the rural LGAs inthe zone were ranked in terms of their population size basedon the 2006 population census results From the rankings theleast populated LGA was systematically selected from eachsenatorial zone in the study area on the premise that the lesspopulated a rural LGAs the more relatively rural such anLGA will be compared to the more populated rural LGAsgoing by the definition of rural areas inNigeria byNPCaboveThe sampled rural LGAs are as follows

(i) Abia state Ukwa East LGA (representing Abia SouthSenatorial zone) Isikwuato LGA (representing AbiaCentral Senatorial zone) and Ikwuano LGA (repre-senting Abia North Senatorial zone)

(ii) Imo state Nkwere LGA (representing Imo West Sen-atorial zone) Onuimo LGA (representing Imo NorthSenatorial zone) andOwerri West LGA (representingImo East Senatorial zone)

From each of the rural local government areas (LGAs) fiftyrural-urban migrant-sending households were used for thestudy totaling three hundred households In the selection ofthe households the communities in each LGAwere arrangedin terms of their population size based on the results of the1991 population census The results of the 1991 census wereused because the results of the 2006 census do not containcommunity level data After arranging the communitiesaccording to their population sizes the five least populatedcommunities were selected from each LGA for samplingIn each of the selected rural communities ten rural-urbanmigrant-sending households were randomly selected andused for this study

23 Data Collection This study utilized a mixed methodsapproach for data collection and analysis Mixed meth-ods approaches have recently been utilized in development

research in Nigeria and have been noted to be user-friendlyespecially where there is paucity or absence of baseline data orwhen dealing with research participants with low literacy lev-els [49] In the collection of data for this research householdquestionnaire was administered on the respondents who arethe household heads so as to derive information on incidenceof rural-urban migration in sampled households the natureof remittances sent to the rural households by the rural-urban migrants uses of remittances by the rural householdsand rural community developmental projects executed by therural-urban migrants in their rural areas of origin

In addition two key informant interviews (KIIs) werealso conducted with one traditional ruler and one opinionleader considered to be adequately knowledgeable in eachof the sampled rural LGAs Thus in each of the states sixKIIs were conducted giving a total of twelve KIIs for thetwo states The interviews were used to gather ethnographicinformation especially those which may be difficult to beadequately captured by questionnaires because African socialdynamics do not always or often find expression fully orpartially in figures [49] As a result illustrative quotes fromthe KIIs are used to buttress the quantitative data Finallysecondary sources of data on population size and character-istics were used as appropriate Furthermore secondary datawere used in the review of the literature and in the selectionof analytical techniques used in this study The sources ofsecondary data include the National Population Commissionoffices libraries government offices and data from otherpublished sources

24 Data Analysis The nature of remittances sent to therural households by the rural-urban migrants the uses ofthese remittances by the rural receiving households and thenature of developmental projects executed by the rural-urbanmigrants in their rural communities of origin were high-lighted with descriptive statistics Furthermore regressionanalysis was used to quantify the effects of rural-urbanmigra-tion on the rural migrant-sending communities in the studyarea using data on the projects executed by the rural-urbanmigrants in these rural communities and the various uses ofremittances by the rural receiving households According toAnyadike [50] the regression equation used is of the form

119884 = 119886 + 1198871198831+ 1198881198832+ 1198891198833+ 1198901198834sdot sdot sdot 119911119883

119899 (1)


where 119884 represents the magnitude of the effects of rural-urban migration (dependent variable) 119886 is the constant thatscales the equation 119887 sdot sdot sdot 119911 represent the projects executed bythe rural-urban migrants in their rural areas of origin anduses of remittances by the rural receiving households (theindependent variables) and 119883

1sdot sdot sdot 119883119899refer to the regression

coefficients of the independent variables Subsequently hier-archical cluster analysis was used to classify the magnitude ofthe effects of rural-urban migration in different parts of thestudy area based on the results of the regression estimates

In addition the Chi-square analytical technique was usedto test the variations observed in the effects of rural-urbanmigration in the rural areas while the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks test (Kruskal-Wallis test)was used to prioritize the developmental impact variables inthe study area for policy formulation and implementationThe Kruskal-Wallis test which is a nonparametric method ofanalysis is an advanced form of the Mann-Whitney 119880 testIt was used because unlike the Mann Whitney 119880 test thatanalyses the association of only two variables the Kruskal-Wallis test analyses the degree of association between morethan two variables In addition the technique assumes anidentically shaped and scaled distribution for variables andbrings out significant results when at least one of the variablesof analysis is different from the others [51] All the analyseswere carried out using SPSS program and the results of theanalyses presented in tables and charts

3 Results and Discussion

31 The Nature of Remittances and Community Projects Exe-cuted by the Rural-Urban Migrants in Their Rural Areas ofOrigin Amajor contemporary issue in migration research isthat of remittances Literature abounds as noted in earliersection of thiswork on the importance of remittances asmostpeople left behind bymigrants always look up to themigrantsfor remittances The importance of remittance transfer isthat it will help those left in the rural areas to cope withthe hardship associated with diminishing andor completedepletion of the environmental resources on which theirlivelihood depends According to our respondents the rural-urban migrants remit any or all of the food money andclothing to their rural households of origin The results inTable 2 show that while 81 of the rural-urban migrant-sending households admit that they receive remittances fromthe rural-urban migrants in Abia state only 2069 of therural-urbanmigrant-sending households in Imo state receiveremittances from the rural-urban migrants

This sharp difference in the proportion of rural house-holds that receive remittances between the two states may bedue to the fact that most of the heads of the rural householdsin Imo state are very educated and retired civil servants wholive on their pension and depend less on remittances fromtheir wards who migrated to the city On the other hand themajority of the heads of the rural households in Abia state arenot too educated engage more in petty trading than in paidand pensionable employment and lack sufficient money forthe sustenance of their households They therefore dependso much on remittances from their wards in the urban area

as a means of livelihood In addition the most commonremittance to these rural households according to findingsof this study is in the form of money as revealed by 8250and 1470 of the heads of the rural households in Abia andImo states respectively It can also be seen that the majorityof the rural households comprising of at least 40 of the ruralhouseholds in Abia and Imo states receive remittances onceevery month The information on the amount of remittancesshows that most remittances in both states range between2001 and 6000 Nigerian naira The proportions of ruralhouseholds that receive remittances within this range ofmoney make up over 50 of respondents in both states

Key informant information reveals that most of theserural households depend solely on agriculture and otherprimary economic activities for their livelihood As such asteady supply of remittances is viewed with utmost impor-tance in augmenting their farm proceeds and their othersources of livelihoods despite the fact that the amount mayappear to be too small Furthermore this study found outthat the majority of these rural households does not evenearn up to 5000 Nigerian naira per month from the sale oftheir agricultural produce in a month and as a matter of factthey eagerly expect these remittances from the rural-urbanmigrantsThe fact that the rural-urbanmigrantsmostly remitonce amonth is also an indication that whatever resources leftat home for their relatives in the rural areas are inadequate tocater for their needs It also seems that theymostly remit oncea month when they have collected their salaries or wages

Finally the results in Table 2 also revealed that 7210of the respondents in Abia state agree that the rural-urbanmigrants engage in rural community projects in their ruralareas of origin as against 27 of respondents in Imo statewithin the period of this study This view was echoed in aresponse in one of the KIIs

This disparity in the proportion of rural-urbanmigrants who execute rural development projectsmay be due to two related reasons First Imo statebeing the original state from where Abia state wascarved out is more developed and as such hasless need of development projects than Abia stateThis is because more government projects exist inImo state In addition the population of Imo stateis more educated than the populations of moststates in Nigeria resulting in Imo state populationbeing involved in rural community developmentalprojects earlier than their counterparts in Abiastate

(Chief Uche 72-year-old retired principal from Isikwuatointerviewed on November 7 2011)

Some of the rural projects these migrants engage ininclude road construction and rehabilitation sinking of com-munity water boreholes rehabilitation of schools and award-ing of scholarships to brilliant and indigent students

32 Estimation of the Effects of Rural-Urban Migration inthe Study Area In this study the estimation of the effectsof rural-urban migration in the rural communities (placesof origin of migrants) is anchored on two categories of


Table 2 Nature of remittances and community projects by the migrants

Abia ImoSend remittances

Yes 8100 2060No 1900 7940

Nature of remittancesMoney 8250 1470Cloth 6500 880Food stuffs 2750 290

Frequency of remittancesEvery week 2250 590Once every month 4000 4410Twice a month 2250 2650Once a year 750 000Less than once a year 000 880During festivals 750 1470

Amount of remittances (in Nigerian nairalowast)Less than 2000 1840 0002000ndash4000 2890 35304001ndash6000 2630 23506001ndash8000 790 5908001ndash10000 790 1180More than 10000 1060 2350

Involvement in community projectsYes 7210 2790No 1760 8240

lowast1 US dollar = 160Nigerian naira

independent variables The first category of variables is thevarious rural developmental projects executed by the rural-urban migrants in their rural communities of origin Thesecond category of variables is the various ways the ruralremittance-receiving households use remittances receivedfrom the rural-urban migrants A combination of these twocategories of independent variables according to the respon-dents leads to the development of the rural communitiesandor the improvement in the quality of life of the ruralpopulations

Consequently the regression analysis results shown inTable 3 have a constant (119886) of 1879 and the calculated119865 valuefrom the ANOVA which was used to test the significance ofthe regression analysis is 0640 Since this calculated 119865 valueis less than the table 119865 value it means that there really existsa significant relationship between the independent variablesand the dependent variable which in this case representsdevelopmental impact of rural-urban migration

The results in Table 3 show the estimates of the con-tributions of the independent variables to the developmentof the rural communities For instance it can be seen thateach 0054 increase in using remittances to train children inschool translates to one unit increase in effects of rural-urbanmigration keeping all other factors constant Alternativelyeach 0067 decrease in the use of remittances to executefunerals in the study area translates to one unit increase inthe effects of rural-urban migration in the study area

These regression coefficients were subsequently multi-plied by the frequency of respondents that indicated thatthey engage in the projects and the frequency of usage ofremittances for different purposes in the study area so asto quantify the aggregate magnitude of the effects of rural-urban migration in the different rural communities using allthe independent variables As shown in Table 4 Imo EastSenatorial zone recorded the greatest aggregate magnitude ofthe effects of migration while Imo West zone recorded theleast magnitude of the effects of migration in the study area

However the aggregate results of the effects of migrationbetween the two states show that Abia state has an impactscore of 1357 as against a low score of 739 recorded in Imostate despite the fact that Imo East zone recorded the greatestscore of 2572 The aggregate low score for Imo state meansthat the lower scores recorded for Imo West and Imo Northwere significant enough so as to neutralize the high scorefrom Imo East This aggregate score is further explained bythe results of the analyses in Table 2 above where only 2060of Imo state rural-urban migrants remit to their places oforigin as against 81 of rural-urban migrants who remit inAbia state The recipients of these remittances in the ruralareas place high premium on the remittances according toPa Godson Eze

I usually look up to my first son who lives in Abato send money to me for the payment of the school


Table 3 Regression analysis results of effects of rural-urban migration

Migration impact variables Regression coefficients Significance levelDebt repayment 0080 003lowast

Buying of food 0001 002lowast

House buildingmaintenance 0043 012Savings 0013 014Education of children 0054 002lowast

Investments 0044 012Funerals minus0067 016Purchase of household goods 0029 003lowast

Education project 0044 000lowast

Electrification project 0124 002lowast

Water supply project 0097 004lowast

Road project 0007 013Agricultural project minus0091 002lowast

Church project 0046 035Other projects 0052 023lowastSignificant at 005 level of significance

Table 4 Aggregate magnitude of the effects of rural-urban migration

Area of study Aggregate developmental impactSenatorial zones

Abia North 1256Abia Central 1366Abia South 1372ImoWest 713Imo North 752Imo East 2572

StatesAbia 1357Imo 739

fees of my youngest daughter who lives with meand takes care of my house since my wife is lateand I am no longer strong enough to carry on withmy work as a carpenter

(PaGodson Eze 67-year-oldmale from Ikwuano Interviewedon September 23 2011)

Even though the recipients of these remittances use themfor specific purposes the frequency which they expect theremittances also varies from recipient to recipient As statedin the quote above that particular recipient usually expectsthe school fees once in three to four months which representsan academic term in the school that his daughter attendsElsewhere the remittances may be expected on a biweekly ora monthly basis as noted below by a respondent in a focusgroup discussion at Onuimo LGA

I survive mainly on the money and food stuff myson and his wife send to me I usually engage inlittle subsistence farming and use the money theysend tome once every twoweeks to buymost of thefood I cook in my house The money they send tome every two weeks depends on the amount they

can afford since my son is an artisan and may notbe able to send the money in bulk at the end of amonth

(Madam Ifenyinwa 55-year-old widow interviewed onNovember 5 2011)

In addition only 2790 of Imo state rural-urbanmigrants are involved in community projects as against7210of their counterparts inAbia state Subsequently usinghierarchical cluster analysis the area of study was groupedinto three categories to show the relative developmentalimportance of migration in the study area using hierarchicalcluster analysis as shown in Figures 1 and 2

Figure 1 indicates that the magnitude of the effects ofrural-urbanmigration is categorized into three with Imo Eastrecording relatively high effect while Imo North and ImoWest recorded a relatively low effect of rural-urbanmigrationAt state level Figure 2 reveals that while Abia state has arelatively moderate effect of migration Imo state recordedrelatively low effect of rural-urban migration

TheRegression results have established the fact that rural-urban migration exerts varying effects in different parts of


Imo East

Imo WestAbia North

Imo North

Abia Central

Relatively low impact (lt1000)Relatively moderate impact (1000-2000)Relatively high impact (gt2000) State boundarySenatorial boundary

Key

0 10 20(km)

Abia South

N

Figure 1 Aggregate magnitude of the effects of rural-urban migration on rural communities in the study area

the study area Subsequently Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallisanalyses were used to pinpoint the exact influences of theindependent variables across the different LGAs in the studyarea The Chi-square test was used to determine whether theobserved effects of the independent variables across differentparts of the study differ significantly from the general effectsof these variables as indicated by the regression analysisThe purpose is to prioritize areas of interventions withregards to maximizing the effects of rural-urban migrationin different parts of the study area Subsequently the resultsof the Chi-square analyses for the two states in the studyarea indicate that some of the independent variables differsignificantly in their effects in the study area In Abia statethe variables that differ significantly in their impact are theuses of remittances for debt repayment buying of foodhouse buildingmaintenance savings education of childrenand the involvement of rural-urban migrants in educationprojects In Imo state it is only the involvement of rural-urban migrants in education that differs significantly inits effects across the state Again to be able to isolate thesenatorial zones where the effects of these variables varysignificantly the Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to the dataas shown in Table 5 For the purposes of this study a scoreof more than 50 means that such a variable is viewed by

the respondents as possessing significant and desirable effectsof rural-urban migration

In the results shown in Table 5 the scores for the senatori-al zones that exhibit significant effects of rural-urban migra-tion are made bold and italicized for easy comprehensionof their various degrees of impact It can be seen that inAbia state for instance the effects of education of householdmembers have a high impact on the population ofAbia SouthIt has a rank of 52 as against the ranks of 39 and 36 recorded inAbia North and Abia Central respectively Also in Imo Stateinvolvement of rural-urban migrantsrsquo education project isviewed as having more development effects in ImoWest thanin ImoNorth and Imo EastThe results show that educationalprojects ranked 54 in ImoWest as against 36 and 44 recordedin Imo North and Imo East respectively

4 Conclusions and Recommendations

This study revealed that upon migration the rural-urbanmigrants usually send back remittances in the forms ofmoney food and clothing and at a definite interval withmostof them remitting once a month In addition the rural-urbanmigrants also embark on and execute some developmentalprojects in their rural communities of origin Both theavailability or otherwise of these developmental projects and


N

ImoAbia

0 10 20(km)

Relatively moderate impact (1000-2000)Relatively low impact (lt1000) Regional boundaryState boundary

Key

Figure 2 Aggregate state-level magnitude of the effects of rural-urban migration in the study area

Table 5 Kruskal-Wallis results of developmental impact variables of rural-urban migration

Migration impact variable Abia North Abia Central Abia South ImoWest Imo North Imo EastDebt repayment 46 41 38 43 44 46Buying of food 44 51 32 47 43 43Savings 48 39 38 42 48 42House buildingmaintenance 43 48 36 42 49 42Education of children 35 36 52 50 41 42Investments 40 48 39 45 44 44Funerals 42 41 41 45 43 45Purchase of household goods 42 44 39 45 44 44Education project 32 41 51 54 36 43Electrification project 42 39 43 44 44 45Water supply project 46 42 37 41 47 45Road project 47 41 37 44 45 44Agricultural project 46 41 38 46 45 42Church projects 42 40 42 44 46 43Other projects 39 44 41 45 45 43

the various uses of the remittances are viewed by the ruralpopulation as an indicator of socioeconomic developmentConsequently as long as these projects and the uses of theremittances are concerned they improve the populationrsquosquality of life andwell-being and increase their happiness andsatisfaction all of which according to respondents representsocioeconomic development This study was also able toquantify the contributory effects of these rural developmental

projects and the various uses of remittances in the study usingregression analysis The different parts of the study area werecategorized into areas that experience low moderate andhigh effects of rural-urban migration

The Kruskal-Wallis test was able to pinpoint areas thatrequire more and urgent developmental intervention in thestudy area Having quantified the effects of rural-urbanmigration in the various parts of the study area it is


expected that the findings of this study will make it easy forgovernments NGOs policy makers and so forth to initiateappropriate development interventions to augment the con-tributions of rural-urban migration in the area These inter-ventions should be aimed at the projects which the Kruskal-Wallis test identified as needing priority attention in thedifferent parts of the study area As noted earlier each statein Nigeria has three senatorial zones and each senatorial zonehas a senator These senators are regularly paid some moneyto execute some developmental projects in their senatorialconstituencies It is therefore recommended that the senatorstake cognizance of the needs of their various constituenciesin the initiation and execution of constituency projects

Second governments at Federal State and LGA levelsshould ensure that social infrastructures are put in place inthe rural areas so as to improve the quality of life of thepopulationConsequently skills acquisition centers should beestablished in different parts of the study area These centerswould be used to inculcate self-sustaining skills in the youthat the same time providing them with employment and help-ing to stem the tide of rural-urban drift Finally concertedeffort should be directed towards improving the agriculturecapacities of the rural populations since agriculture is theirmain source of livelihoods If their agricultural capacities areimproved it will translate to increased agricultural produceandultimately reduce the dependency of the rural householdson remittances for survival It should be noted these thisrecommendations are not exhaustive but as noted earliermore appropriate ones can be added based on the uniquenature of the area concerned However if diligently executedthese recommendations will go a long way in augmentingthe contributions of rural-urban migration towards socioe-conomic development of the study area

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the International Foundationfor Science (IFS) Stockholm Sweden through a grant toChukwuedozie Kelechukwu Ajaero The authors are alsograteful to the two anonymous reviewers for their commentsand suggestions

References

[1] R H Adams ldquoRemittance and poverty in Ghanardquo WorkingPaper 3838 World Bank Policy Research 2006

[2] R H Adams ldquoRemittances poverty and investment in Gua-temalardquo in International Migration Remittances and the BrainDrain C Ozden andM Schiff Eds pp 53ndash80World Bank andPalgrave Macmillan Washington DC USA 2006

[3] A De Sherbinin ldquoRural householdmicro-demographics liveli-hoods and the environmentrdquo in Proceedings of the BackgroundPaper Population-Environment Research Network Cyber Semi-nar April 2006

[4] H De Haas Engaging Diasporas How Governments and Devel-opment Agencies Can Support Diaspora Involvement in theDevelopment of Origin Countries A Study for Oxfam NovibOxfam Novib Den Haag The Netherlands 2006

[5] Y Niimi and C Ozden ldquoWorld Bank Policy ResearchrdquoWorkingPaper 4087 2006

[6] World BankWorld Bank Indicators Online World BankWash-ington DC USA 2007

[7] AAdepoju ldquoIssues and recent trends in internationalmigrationin Sub-Saharan Africardquo International Social Science Journal vol52 no 165 pp 383ndash394 2000

[8] A Adepoju ldquoChanging configuration of migration in AfricardquoMigration Information Source 2004 httpwwwmigration-informationcomFeaturedisplaycfmID=251

[9] R Black S Ammassari S Mouillesseaux and R RajkotialdquoMigration and pro-poor policy inWest AfricardquoWorking PaperC8 University of Sussex DRC onMigration Globalization andPoverty 2004

[10] EconomicCommission forAfrica (ECA) ldquoInternationalmigra-tion and the achievement of MDGs in Africardquo in Proceedingsof the International Symposium on International Migration andDevelopment Turin Italy June 2006

[11] N N Sorenson ldquoThe development dimension of migrantremittances toward a gendered typologyrdquo in Proceedings of theInternational Forum on Remittances Washington DC USAJune 2004

[12] I A Madu ldquoSpatial inequality in Nigeria the imperative ofgeographic perspectives in the development processrdquo Journalof Social and Economic Development vol 8 no 2 pp 105ndash1202006

[13] J R Harris and M P Todaro ldquoMigration unemployment anddevelopment a two-sector analysisrdquo The American EconomicReview vol 60 no 1 pp 126ndash138 1970

[14] A T M N Amin ldquoEconomics of RuralmdashUrban relationsreexamined in the light of growing environmental concernsrdquoRegional Development Studies vol 1 pp 27ndash54 1994

[15] Q M Islam ldquoWhat about the slum dwellersrdquo The BangladeshObserver Dhaka Bangladesh 1999

[16] P C BhattacharyaRural-to-UrbanMigration in LDCS A Test ofTwo Rival Models Economics Division vol 14 School of Man-agement Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh UK 2002

[17] R Afsar Internal Migration and the Development Nexus TheCase of Bangladesh Bangladesh Institute of Development Stud-ies Dhaka Bangladesh 2003

[18] E Berner ldquoPoverty alleviation and the eviction of the pooresttowards Urban land reform in the Philippinesrdquo InternationalJournal of Urban and Regional Research vol 24 no 3 pp 554ndash566 2000

[19] T Wang A Maruyama and M Kikuchi ldquoRural-Urban migra-tion and labor markets in China a case study in a NortheasternprovincerdquoThe Developing Economies vol 38 no 1 pp 80ndash1042000

[20] F EllisA Livelihoods Approach toMigration and Poverty Reduc-tion Paper Commissioned by the Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID) Overseas Development Group Univer-sity of East Anglia 2003

[21] G J Gill ldquoSeasonal labour migration in Rural Nepal a prelim-inary overviewrdquo Working Paper 218 Overseas DevelopmentInstitute London UK 2003

[22] D P Pun Rural landscape change landscape practices valuesand meanings the case of Jagatpur VDC Chitwan Nepal [MPhilThesis in Social Change] Department of Geography NorwegianUniversity of Science and Technology (NTNU) TrondheimNorway 2004

[23] A A Ullah ldquoBright city lights and slums of Dhaka city deter-minants of Rural-Urban migration in Bangladeshrdquo MigrationLetters vol 1 no 1 2004


[24] P Pradhan and R Parera ldquoUrban growth and its impact on thelivelihoods of Kathmandu Valley Nepalrdquo UMP-Asia Occasion-al Paper 63 Urban Resource Network for Asia and Pacific(URNAP) AIT Pathumthani Thailand 2005

[25] K P Timalsina Rural Urban migration and livelihood in theinformal sector a study of street vendors of KathmanduMetropol-itan City Nepal [Philosophy Thesis in Development Studies]Department of Geography Norwegian University of Scienceand Technology (NTNU) 2007

[26] C K Ajaero and A T Mozie ldquoThe Agulu-Nanka gully ero-sion menace what does the future hold for population atriskrdquo in Climate Change and Migration Rethinking Policiesfor Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction M Leighton XShen and K Warner Eds Working Paper no 152011 pp 72ndash79 United Nations UniversitymdashInstitute for Environment andHuman Security (UNU-EHS) andMunichRe Foundation 2011httpwwwehsunuedufileget5395

[27] World Bank Empowering People by Transforming InstitutionsSocial Development in World Bank Operations 2005

[28] T CNzeadibe andCKAjaero ldquoAssessment of socio-economiccharacteristics and quality of life expectations of Rural commu-nities in Enugu State Nigeriardquo Applied Research in Quality ofLife vol 5 no 4 pp 353ndash371 2010

[29] C K Ajaero and P C Onokala ldquoSpatial appraisal of socioe-conomic impacts of Rural out-migration in the Niger Deltaregionrdquo in Proceedings of the TTI and CPEDWorkshop on Con-fronting the Challenges of Development Environmental Manage-ment and Peace Building in the Niger Delta Beyond the Amnestypp 23ndash34 Benin Nigeria July 2011

[30] N P Glytsos ldquoThe role of migrant remittances in developmentevidence from Mediterranean countriesrdquo International Migra-tion vol 40 no 1 pp 5ndash26 2002

[31] A Sibanda ldquoWho gets to drop out of school in South AfricaThe role of individual and household attributesrdquo African Popu-lation Studies vol 19 no 1 pp 99ndash117 2004

[32] J-P Azam and F Gubert ldquoMigrant remittances and economicdevelopment in Africa a review of evidencerdquo in Proceedings ofthe AERC Plenary Session Nairobi Kenya May 2005

[33] R E B Lucas ldquoMigration and economic development inAfricaa review of evidencerdquo in Proceedings of the African EconomicResearch Consortium Biannual Research Workshop NairobiKenya June 2005

[34] C Nwajiuba International Migration and Livelihoods in South-eastern Nigeria Global Migration Perspectives Geneva Switz-erland 2005

[35] D JMckenzie ldquoBeyond remittances the effects ofmigration onMexican householdsrdquo in International Migration Remittancesand the Brain Drain C Ozden and M Schiff Eds pp 123ndash147TheWorld Bank and PalgraveMacmillanWashington DCUSA 2006

[36] J E Taylor and J Mora ldquoDoes migration reshape expendituresin Rural households Evidence from Mexicordquo World BankPolicy Research Working Paper 3842 2006

[37] S Pozo ldquoImmigrantsrsquo Remittances James Woods and Christo-pher OrsquoLearyrdquo Principles of Labor Market Information 2007

[38] M Z Hossain ldquoRural-Urban migration in Bangladesh a microlevel studyrdquo in Proceedings of the Brazil IUSSP ConferenceAugust 2001

[39] A LMabogunje ldquoA typology of population pressure on resour-ces inWestAfricardquo inGeography in aCrowdingWorldW Zelin-sky L A Kosinsky and RM Prothero Eds Oxford UniversityPress London UK 1970

[40] J Gugler ldquoLife in a dual system revisited Urban-Rural ties inEnugu Nigeria 1961ndash87rdquoWorld Development vol 19 no 5 pp399ndash409 1991

[41] B Chukwuezi ldquoDe-agrrianisation and Rural employment inIgboland Southeastern Nigeriardquo ASC Working Paper 37 Afri-caka Studiecentrium LeidenCentre for Research and Docu-mentation (CRD) Kano Nigeria 1999

[42] D Okali E Okpara and J Olawoye ldquoRural-Urban interactionsand livelihood strategies series the case of Aba and its regionSoutheastern Nigeriardquo International Institute for Environmentand Development (IIED) United Kingdom Working PaperSeries 4 2001

[43] N C Ehirim R U Onyeneke N M Chidiebere-Mark and VC Nnabuihe ldquoEffect and prospect of Rural to Urban migrationon the poverty status of migrants in Abia State Nigeriardquo Agri-cultural Science Research Journal vol 2 no 4 pp 145ndash153 2012

[44] G B Adesiji V Omoniwa S A Adebayo BMMatanmi and JA Akangbe ldquoFactors associated with the Youthsrsquo Rural-Urbandrift in Kwara State Nigeriardquo Interdisciplinary Journal of Con-temporary Research in Business vol 1 no 8 pp 69ndash77 2009

[45] J R Aworemi and I A Abdul-Azeez ldquoAn appraisal of the fac-tors influencing Rural-Urban migration in some selected localgovernment areas of Lagos State Nigeriardquo Journal of SustainableDevelopment vol 4 no 3 2011

[46] C K Ajaero and O I Okafor ldquoSelectivity and determinantsof Rural-Urban migration into Lagos State Nigeriardquo NigerianJournal of Geography and the Environment vol 2 no 1 pp 214ndash229 2011

[47] Federal Government of Nigeria Federal Republic of NigeriaOfficial Gazette vol 94 Government Printer Lagos 2009

[48] National Population Commission (NPC) The 2003 NigeriaDemographic and Health Survey Findings and Implications forAction South East Zone Government Printer Abuja Nigeria2004

[49] T C Nzeadibe R N C Anyadike and R F Njoku-Tony ldquoAmixed methods approach to vulnerability and quality of lifeassessment of waste picking inUrbanNigeriardquoApplied Researchin Quality of Life vol 7 no 4 pp 351ndash370 2012

[50] R N C Anyadike Statistical Methods for the Social and Envi-ronmental Sciences Spectrum Books Ibadan Nigeria 2009

[51] G W Corder and D I Foreman Nonparametric Statistics forNon-Statisticians John Wiley amp Sons Hoboken NJ USA 1stedition 2009

Submit your manuscripts athttpwwwhindawicom

Child Development Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

Education Research International


Biomedical EducationJournal of



Psychiatry Journal

ArchaeologyJournal of



AnthropologyJournal of


Research and TreatmentSchizophrenia


Urban Studies Research

Population ResearchInternational Journal of


CriminologyJournal of


Aging ResearchJournal of



NursingResearch and Practice

Current Gerontologyamp Geriatrics Research

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom

Volume 2014

Sleep DisordersHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

AddictionJournal of


Depression Research and TreatmentHindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014


Geography Journal


Research and TreatmentAutism


Economics Research International


remittances received by migrantsrsquo households at home espe-cially in the developing countries [27]

Consequently the effects of rural-urban migration in therural places of origin of migrants may be manifest in twoways First the rural-urban migrants send remittances totheir relatives in the rural areas and these remittance-receiv-ing households use the remittances for various purposesSecondly these rural-urban migrants execute various ruraldevelopmental projects in their rural areas of origin In Nige-riamostmigrants coming fromaparticular rural communityto live in an urban area usually form rural community associ-ations in the urban areaThese community associations in theurban areas articulate from time to time the developmentalneeds of their rural communities of origin and contributeresources to execute projects such as road construction andthe award of educational scholarships to students in the ruralareas

A combination of these rural community projects exe-cuted by the rural-urban migrants and the uses of remit-tances by rural remittance-receiving households serve asindicators of the effects of rural-urban migration on thepopulation concerned In this regard and in tandem withcontemporary praxis the paradigm shift in the meaning ofdevelopment emphasizes personal satisfaction consequent onimprovement in the quality of life of the ldquoindividualrdquo andorldquopopulationrdquo involved in the developmental process [28]Accordingly each population ranks community developmen-tal projects and uses of remittances in the order of importancethey believe will ensure their satisfaction and happiness It isalso the existence of these projects and the uses of remittancesderivable from the migration process that reflect the level ofsocioeconomic development that can be traceable to rural-urban migration [29] Therefore the combination of theseprojects by migrants and the various uses of remittancesin the past three years according to the respondents arewhat they see as indicators of development in their ruralcommunities

In different parts of the world Nigeria inclusive researchhas been carried out on the effects of migration on themigrantsrsquo rural communities of origin Some of these studiesinclude those of Glytsos [30] in Eastern Europe Sibanda[31] in South Africa Azam and Gubert [32] in Mali Lucas[33] in Albania and Morocco Nwajiuba [34] in NigeriaAdams [2] in Latin America McKenzie [35] Taylor andMora [36] in Mexico Sorenson [11] in Somali Pozo [37] andthe World Bank [7] in developing countries However thesestudies focus mainly on international migration and on usesof remittances leaving the research that estimates the effectsof rural-urbanmigration on rural communities in developingcountries undone

Rural out-migration is important in the Igbo speakingareas of Southeastern Nigeria This is because the massexodus of people from the overpopulated areas of Igbolandhas been one of the most spectacular phenomena of the 20thcentury in Nigeria [38] Studies onmigration in SoutheasternNigeria include an assessment of changes in urban-rural tiesfrom 1961 to 1987 in Eastern Nigeria [39] Also anotherstudy in Anambra state found that many Igbo familiesencouraged their family members to migrate because of

the belief that their continued stay in the village will notbring financial success [40] Moreover a study carried outin Aba southeastern Nigeria focused only on rural-urbaninteractions without examining the migratory processes thatyielded the interactions [41] while [34] concentrated on inter-national migration and its impact on livelihoods Recently[42] carried out a study of rural-urban migration on thepoverty status of migrants in urban areas of Abia state

In other parts of Nigeria the factors associated withdrift of youths from rural to urban areas in Kwara statehave been examined [43] Reference [44] used the logisticregression model to appraise the factors of rural-urbanmigration into Lagos state while the characteristics and deter-minants of rural-urban migration in Ajeromi-Ifelodun LGAof Lagos state have also been investigated [45] Furthermorethe National Living Standard Survey (NLSS) (2004) datacollected for rural Nigeria has been used to estimate amultinomial logit model of the economic and demographicdeterminants of migration and receipt of remittances in ruralNigeria [46]

From the review of the literature it is clear that most ofthe rural-urban migration studies done in Nigeria virtuallyexcluded the effects of these rural-urban migrations on therural sending communities and are in most cases sample sur-veys on characteristics and determinants of migration Thereis therefore a need for studies that will determine the effectsof rural-urbanmigration on rural communities in developingcountries especially in Nigeria where rural-urban migrationhas been on the increase in recent times The estimation ofthe effects of rural-urbanmigration on the rural communitieswill aid policy interventions by governments and develop-ment agencies in their quest to facilitate the developmentof these rural communities The purpose of this research istherefore to examine the effects of rural-urban migration onrural communities of Abia and Imo states of Nigeria

2 Materials and Methods

21 The Study Area The study area comprises six rural localgovernment areas (LGAs) in Abia and Imo states Theyexhibit homogenous environmental and agro-climatic char-acteristics are part of the Igbo-speaking areas of Nigeria andwere formerly a single state (ie old Imo state) before Abiastate was carved out of the old Imo state in 1991 These statesare located between latitudes 4∘8010158401015840 and 8∘4710158401015840 north of theequator and longitudes 6∘6710158401015840 and 7∘1310158401015840 east of theGreenwichmeridianThe population of the rural LGAs used in this studyaccording to the 2006 population census is 593222 personsThis number is made up of 298171 males and 295051 femalesas shown in Table 1 [47]

From Table 1 it could be seen that the population isnot evenly distributed in the study area and the averagepopulation density of the study area is 727 persons per squarekilometer While 44 percent of the population lives in urbanareas 56 percent of the population lives in the rural areas [12]Literacy level in the study area is 86 percent and 93 percentfor females and males respectively while about 18 percent offemales and 14 percent of males aged between 6 and 11 have













119884 = 119886 + 1198871198831+ 1198881198832+ 1198891198833+ 1198901198834sdot sdot sdot 119911119883

119899 (1)



















Yes 8100 2060No 1900 7940





































Imo East

Imo WestAbia North

Imo North

Abia Central


Key

0 10 20(km)

Abia South

N








N

ImoAbia

0 10 20(km)


Key










Acknowledgments


References





























































Psychiatry Journal



















Volume 2014


AddictionJournal of




Geography Journal

















119884 = 119886 + 1198871198831+ 1198881198832+ 1198891198833+ 1198901198834sdot sdot sdot 119911119883

119899 (1)



















Yes 8100 2060No 1900 7940





































Imo East

Imo WestAbia North

Imo North

Abia Central


Key

0 10 20(km)

Abia South

N








N

ImoAbia

0 10 20(km)


Key










Acknowledgments


References





























































Psychiatry Journal



















Volume 2014


AddictionJournal of




Geography Journal























Yes 8100 2060No 1900 7940





































Imo East

Imo WestAbia North

Imo North

Abia Central


Key

0 10 20(km)

Abia South

N








N

ImoAbia

0 10 20(km)


Key










Acknowledgments


References





























































Psychiatry Journal



















Volume 2014


AddictionJournal of




Geography Journal






























Imo East

Imo WestAbia North

Imo North

Abia Central


Key

0 10 20(km)

Abia South

N








N

ImoAbia

0 10 20(km)


Key










Acknowledgments


References





























































Psychiatry Journal



















Volume 2014


AddictionJournal of




Geography Journal






N

ImoAbia

0 10 20(km)


Key










Acknowledgments


References





























































Psychiatry Journal



















Volume 2014


AddictionJournal of




Geography Journal








Acknowledgments


References





























































Psychiatry Journal



















Volume 2014


AddictionJournal of




Geography Journal










































Psychiatry Journal



















Volume 2014


AddictionJournal of




Geography Journal





research article the effects of rural-urban migration on...

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