The Influence of Migration and Crime on Development in Lagos, Nigeria

The Influence of Migration and Crime on Development in Lagos, Nigeria

Johnson Oluwole Ayodele (Lagos State University, Nigeria)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-8909-9.ch021


Considering the implications of population movements for places of origin and destinations, migration has garnered significant interest in recent scholarship. To advance this objective, this chapter examines the influence of migration and crime on development in Lagos, Nigeria. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data from 310 respondents. Data were analysed. Results show that 84.4% of Hausa, Yoruba (76%), others (73.3%) and Igbo (57.8%), planned their migration to Lagos. Overall, 95.8% of the respondents acknowledged that they had no assurances of jobs before migrating to Lagos. As frustration develops, some migrants embrace crime and endanger development. The study concluded that if development is inclusive, migration will be naturally controlled as individuals will remain in their places of origin rather than constituting nuisance to development in Lagos. It therefore suggests that government should control crime so that the people can see the possible constructive interactions between migration and development.
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Migration is the movement from one place in the world to another for the purpose of taking up permanent or semi-permanent residence. This is usually across a political boundary due to certain reasons. These include natural disasters, physical conditions, worry of insecurity; differences in economic opportunities; differences in social amenities and change in standing such as high level of education and wealth (United Nations, 2013; National Geographic Xpeditions, 2013). By 1990, approximately half of the 54 countries in Africa concentrated more than 10 per cent of their urban populations in one single primate city (UNFPA, 2007:11). Migratory movement within Nigeria is not a recent phenomenon. It dates back to a period long before her colonial invasion. Individuals migrate for different reasons. For some, based on Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC) (2013) thought, migration serves as a way of moving out of poverty and a cause of social exclusion. For others having a deep-seated sense of personal inadequacy to compete fairly for socio-economic survival may see in migration an opportunity to disrupt the development agenda of others, using criminal methods, typically for their selfish advantage.

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