Determination of Socio-economic Factors Influencing Youth Rural-Urban Migration in Sokoto State, Nigeria

• Published in: Journal of human ecology (Delhi) 2014-03, Vol.45 (3), p.223-231
• Main Authors: Ango, A.K., Ibrahim, S.A., Yakubu, A.A., Usman, T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Factors; Migration; Rural-Urban; Socio-economic; Youth
• ISSN: 0970-9274; 2456-6608
• DOI: 10.1080/09709274.2014.11906695

The study examined the factors influencing youth rural-urban migration in some purposively selected Local Government Areas of Sokoto State, Nigeria, due to abundance of youth that ever migrated to the cities. A structured questionnaire was used to solicit information from one hundred and twenty randomly selected migrants. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS 16.0 version. The result of the study shows that majority of the migrants were male (100%), single (72.5%), above the age of 18 years, and literate. The study also reveals that majority of the migrants migrated to Kaduna State of Nigeria due to lack social amenities and employment in their original place of residence and for educational pursuance. The findings further reveal that majority of the migrants practiced temporary migration by coming back home at the onset of the raining season. It is evident from the findings that the migrants engaged themselves in one form of business or the other that generates certain amount of money worth than remaining home idle. The Chi-Square analysis reveals a non-significant relationship between the age of migrants and the reason for their migration in search for better employment (χ 2 = 10.83, P-values=0.37). Based on the findings of the research, it is concluded that, though migration of the youth to the cities has detrimental effects on the agricultural productivity but the income generated helps a lot in solving some domestic financial problems. It's recommended that Government and Non Governmental Organizations should encourage high quality rural labour force that provides high salaries and benefits, low income tax rates, better housing, social amenities and sanitation to the rural areas.