For those curious
Nigerians conversant with the nation’s capital of Abuja in the last one and
half decade, have you ever wondered why Abuja is now so choked up that
vehicular and human movements have constituted incredible logistical nightmares
necessitating the introduction of the tough new transportation policy to
decongest the town of archaic and environmentally hazardous minibuses?
Again, has anyone ever
wondered why majority of the self-appointed spokespersons of the various
amorphous ethnic, religious and regional groups often generate much noise
promoting their self –centered cleavages from the comfort of their palatial
homes in Abuja or Lagos rather than reside in their country homes in the
geo-political zones?
Pardon my further line
of interrogation but it is necessary to ask if anyone has taken time off their
busy schedules to travel to the country- sides and see for themselves the
extent of rot of most public infrastructure and indeed the total absence of
good governance in much of the states that make up the Nigerian federation?
These questions are
necessary given the fact that while politicians from both divides were busy the
whole of last week bickering over irrelevances and other mundane issues
associated with the year 2015 general elections, a frightening alarm was raised
in the local media by the National Population Commission (NPC) concerning the
phenomenon of rural-urban migration of most Nigerians in search of the elusive
greener pastures.
Upon extensive
contemplation, I came up with the conclusion that the far-reaching import of
that landmark report from the National Population Commission [NPC] is that
Nigeria is suffering from debilitating lack of constructive politics and dearth
of good governance.
As is already a
notorious fact, the consequences of lack of good governance and constructive
politics in any nation is that the people will inevitably suffer from problems
associated with mass poverty; mass illiteracy; corruption; and near-situation
of anarchy.
From the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] came another
frightening report that Nigeria tops the infamous list of nations with the
largest percentage of her children of school age who are out of school.
The report which was widely covered by a respected online newspaper PREMIUM
TIMES stated that with approximately 10.05 million children out of former
schooling, Nigeria holds the record of having the highest number of its young
people out of school.
I will return to the
burning issue of high rural to urban migration in Nigeria as captured by the
National Population Commission, but first, let me repeat here that Nigerian
politicians of all classes don't give a damn about all these so long as they
have their own ways of funneling public fund in the treasury of the states they
control into their private pockets. These politicians who behave like over
spoilt school children are often seen quarreling in the media among themselves
as was the recent public spats between the Presidential Media Adviser Reuben
Abati and former anti-graft chief Mr. Nuhu Ribadu over some partisan matters.
Having established the
preliminary aspects, to now let you into the aspects of that shocking but
realistic report of the National Population Commission before dwelling on the
adjunct fact of dearth of constructive and quality governance, has become
imperative at this juncture.
Specifically, The
Guardian, Sunday, June 2nd, 2013 on page 3 carried a story with the title; “Population Commission
warns government on rural – urban Migration".
The warning by the
population panel was contained in the internal migration survey of Nigeria for
year 2010, even as the agency of the federal government sounded a note of
warning that the different levels of government at the national, sub-national
and local government segment must implement urgent development-based measures
to discourage rural dwellers from embarking on urban migration.
The report stressed the
need to develop essential strategies for job creation in rural areas, a move
that would, in the long run, also address youth restiveness arising from
unemployment.
The survey, which was
randomly conducted among 101,939 respondents in the six geopolitical zones,
revealed that 11,257 were migrants, 11,209 non-migrants, and 1801 were return
migrants.
At the official
presentation of the report in Abuja, Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Festus
Odimegwu, stressed the need for government to adopt best practices of managing
migration, so as to promote balanced growth, reduce incidences of violence and
better human resource utilization.
He said: “Government
should adopt some of the best practices of managing migration. Such practices
include deliberate policies of discouraging over-urbanization, assimilation of
migrants and proper integration of return migrants, among others”.
The survey, according to
him, revealed that the highest percentages of migrants were persons with no
education, followed by those with primary education, and the least were persons
with post graduate qualification.
Odimegwu mentioned that
the survey highlighted employment opportunity as a critical push factor that
encourages migration in Nigeria, especially among youths, hence the need for a
proper articulation of policies to address issues of employment and rural-urban
drift for better socio-economic planning.
Dr. Aworemi Joshua Remi;
Abdul-Azeez Ibrahim Adegoke and Opoola Nurain, who had earlier in June 2011
carried out a scholarly study of the factors influencing rural-urban Migration
with Lagos State as the case study, were said to have adduced
profound sociological reasons why this ugly trend persist.
The study carried out by
these scholars, revealed that unemployment, education, family reasons,
inadequate social amenities in the rural communities, avoidance of boredom in
agriculture and health reasons are the major factors influencing rural-urban
migration in Nigeria.
The scholars gave a
far-reaching recommendation thus; “It was however recommended that to stem down
the rate of the migration, functional amenities such as pipe borne water,
electricity, recreational facilities should be provided in the rural areas.
Good educational facilities and qualified teachers should be made available in
the rural areas. Agro-allied industries must be set-up in the rural areas in
order to provide job opportunity for the rural dwellers”.
But the recommendations
made by both the National population commission and the three university
researchers aforementioned on how best to check the increasing trend of
rural-urban migration in Nigeria, are not extra-constitutional since even the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 (as amended) has made
several provisions on the necessity for the equitable development of all parts
of Nigeria by the government.
For instance, section
16(1) of the constitution has clearly provided that the “State shall
within the context of the ideas and objective for which provisions are made in
this constitution, harness the resources of the nation and promote national
prosperity and an efficient, a dynamic and self-reliant economy”.
But because of the
dearth of constructive politics and good governance, most Nigerians are left at
the mercy of poverty, corruption and lawlessness.
Responding to the
question of what role government must play to bring about development and
economic happiness to the greater number of the people, Daron Acemoglu and
James A. Robinson in their scholarly book titled “WHY NATIONS FAIL”, said
responsibility lies squarely with government.
In their words: “To
function well, society also needs other public services: roads and a transport
network so that goods can be transported; a public infrastructure so that
economic activity can flourish; and some type of basic regulation to prevent
fraud and malfeasance”.
There is no doubt that
the Nigerian government at all levels have substantially failed to address the
challenges confronting the nation’s economy to stop it from failing but worst
still, officials of government have often engaged in corruption and
ostentatious life style even when millions of Nigerians starve to their death
for want and better jobs. The anti-graft agencies are long on media drama and
short on actual prosecution of serial fraudsters in government offices.
The absence of
constructive and quality governance is felt more in the states and local
government areas whereby majority of rural dwellers are deprived of the basic
necessities of life thereby necessitating the dangerous rural-urban drift.
Only few days back,
report of massive fraud that happened in the Zamfara state Universal Basic
Education Board (ZUBEB) emerged whereby the chairman Alhaji Murtala Adamu
Jengebe was asked by the state House of Assembly to refund the allegedly stolen
sum of N1.061 Billion back to the treasury.
Media report from the
News Agency of Nigeria said following a recent report submitted by the
Special Committee on investigations into Zamfara Universal Basic Education
Board’s (ZUBEB) operations and financial activities, the Zamfara State House of
Assembly has unanimously resolved that the embattled Chairman of the Board,
Alhaji Murtala Adamu Jangebe, should no longer serve in any capacity in Zamfara
state government again.
In its 184th resolutions
which was also copied to all security agencies in the state, the state house of
Assembly resolved that the ZUBEB Chairman and anybody found to be a party to
the excessive misappropriations of public funds should be arrested with
immediate effect through the office of the Attorney-general and the
Commissioner for Justice of the state for prosecution.
The statement, which was
signed by the House Acting Clerk, Isah Abdullahi Bayero, noted that the State
House of Assembly has unanimously resolved that the Chairman of ZUBEB must
return the sum of N1.061 billion against the initial figure 797.2 million naira
earlier discovered to be misappropriated from the seven accounts operated by
the Board.
The House reportedly
stated that going by the discoveries made by the house, it was satisfied that
it no longer has trust in Jangebe to administer the affairs of the Board and he
therefore should with immediate effect vacate the office.
The Zamfara show of
shame as stated above is only but a drop in the ocean because massive
corruption go – on in much of the state capital across the country and to a
large extent, one will begin to wonder why only one state government official
could gain access to such huge fund belonging to the state primary universal
education board as was the case in Zamfara. What makes this particular case
annoying is that Zamfara state is among the Northern states said to be
educationally disadvantaged and here is a man saddled with the duty of bringing
quality primary education to the teeming youth who has deviated from his duty
and resorted to alleged open stealing of public fund. What a big shame?
The lack of constructive
governance is responsible and the outcome is that the rural people who cannot
find opportunity for good education will migrate to the urban areas thereby
overstretching the capacity of the infrastructure in the urban areas.
* Emmanuel Onwubiko;
Head; Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria; blogs @
www.huriwa.blogspot.com; www.huriwa.org.
12/6/2013
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