Economic Change and Labor Migration in Rural Nigeria

Abstract

A growing trend in migration studies in Africa is the stronger interest in the contexual analysis of migration in relation to the larger political economies. In this study, migration is viewed as a sign of economic and political change, or a manifestation of people's response to such change. Political ecology as point of view is useful for the purpose of this study with a focus on the Nigerian economy which has experienced unprecedented ups-and-downs since 1970 and therefore provides us a suitable field for study. It has become clear that household or kin group network played an important role in people's migration. It was mobilized in the period of the economic boom of the 1970 s; shifting people from farming to non-farming jobs; encouraging migration from rural areas to urban areas; andd promoting higher education. And after an economic depression, it helped young people find jobs, even in the informal sectors of towns; and to hold unemployed young people in the village. These are some ways in which migration is forcing people to adapt to the rapid economic change.