Nigeria: Gowon Wants Rural-Urban Migration Checked

allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Gowon Wants Rural-Urban Migration Checked

Abubakar Ibrahim

12 May 2009

"A well developed rural area will be an attraction for people to settle in their rural communities and stop the migration," former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon has said.

The former Nigerian leader who chaired the 1st All Nigeria Rural Development Summit at the International Conference Centre, Abuja yesterday told participants from federal, state and local governments, international development and donor agencies and non-governmental organisations, "to review the important question of rural development, the present and existing policies and legislation and its importance for and in national development".

He urged the summit to look at all the basic requirements for rural development like roads, water, power, health, education, agriculture and rural development and the enhancement of productive capacity in the agricultural and rural development subsector of the economy.

Gowon reminded the conference of the Federal and State governments efforts at rural development in the Third National Development Plan, 1975-80 which emphasised on agriculture and agro-allied industries and the development of infrastructural facilities .

"Of great value is the joint efforts by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO), USAID, DFID, and many Nigerian experts/consultants who carried out sectoral studies between 1999-2004 that determined the existing status in the rural and how to address the numerous problems. The outcome culminated in the development and launching of the National Policy on Integrated Rural Development and Strategies which unfortunately were not effectively executed."