ABSTRACT

This study examined the impacts of rural-urban migration on the rural development of Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. Rural-Urban migration has been identified as a means of survival strategy among those involved to create livelihoods in the urban areas. In this context the present study explores increasing rural urban migration and its impacts on rural development. Data was obtained using both primary and secondary methods. The primary data involves the administration of questionnaire while the secondary data involves the review of relevant literatures. A sample size of 10 communities was drawn from the study area and 20 questionnaire was administered in each of the selected communities using the snowball sampling technique. Analysis of data was done descriptively. Simple percentage was used and the result of the analysis was presented in charts and tables. In addition, The Chi-square of dependence was used to test the hypothesis which states that rural-urban migration has no significant impact on rural development in the sampled communities. Results from the analysis shows that rural-urban migration has a significant impact on rural development in the area. Based on the findings,the following recommendations are made: provision of basic social amenities, improved agricultural system, location of industries in rural areas and increased government participation in rural development processes. This will reduce the negative impact of rural urban migration on rural development in the area.