The Link between Rural-Urban Migration of Youth and Crime in Anyigba Town, Kogi State-Nigeria

Abstract

This study was conducted to establish the link between rural-urban migration of youth and crime in Anyigba town of Dekina local government area of Kogi State- Nigeria. Data were collected through the application of structured questionnaire and personal interviews. The study has established that in Nigeria, the youths migrate from the rural areas to the cities due to the general lack of socio-economic facilities that would vitalize social life. It has shown that on getting into the urban centres, they face the problem of unemployment in the formal sector and therefore end up in the informal sector where incomes are low and intermittent. It has noted that due to the low incomes in the informal sector and their intermittent nature, these migrant youths get engaged in unlawful livelihood means. The study has thus recommended that since rural Nigeria is essentially rural and depend on agriculture, agriculture should be modernized. Modernization of agriculture could yield substantial benefits. For example, modernising agriculture will create new job opportunities in production, distribution, processing and other related services. Modernization of agriculture will provide the ‘pull’ needed to keep the young people on the land instead of migrating to the cities. Millions of Nigerian youth enter the labour market daily facing huge challenges especially unemployment. Therefore, the federal, state and local governments should provide the rural areas with more resources. Policies should be formulated to target the youth who are leaving the rural areas. Emphasis should be on entrepreneurship. In Nigeria, rural areas are not being provided with enough opportunities and are losing their young people. This has serious socio-economic consequences. Therefore, rural infrastructures such as electricity, water, roads, educational institutions, etc should be provided in the rural areas to make the young people to remain in the rural areas. The migrant youths are always normal people when they leave their villages but meet abnormal situations in the cities. Their actions are therefore a response to the abnormal situations. Therefore, effective policing by both the community and other security agencies should be intensified so as to limit the freedom these youths have in expressing their dispositions and desires.