WHY ARE WE MIGRATING? A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE CAUSES AND IMPLICATIONS OF MIGRATION ON NIGERIA

Abstract

Migration has historically been a source of opportunities for people to improve their lives and those of their families especially when the condition of living is not favourable in the migrant’s home state. Today, the practice of moving away from home in search of a better place is becoming common. The ease of global mobility allows people to migrate to distant places around the world. The rate of human migration has increased recently due to many factors. There are many factors that cause people to migrate from one country to another. These factors include social, political and economic aspects; the effects also vary for both sending and host countries. First, human migration is due to social factors such as, racism, religion, hunger, poverty, insecurity and the list continues. This paper seeks to evaluate the causes and implications of migration of Nigerians from their home states to other countries of the world. It is the position of this paper that most of the migrations that do occur in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular are caused by such factors as poverty, religious violence and insecurity. The paper employs the historical analysis method to investigate why people live their home country for another. The paper concludes therefore, that unless the problems arising from these factors are tackled headon, the implications will be grave for Nigeria.