FG Urged To Make Rural Areas More Accessible
A demographer, Gbenga Arowosaye, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to make rural areas more accessible for speedy development.
Arowosaye who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo, said this would reduce rural-urban migration.
He said the influx of rural dwellers in major cities and towns was due to the disconnection between the rural and the urban centers.
The demographer argued that if there were good roads connecting urban and rural settlements, many people would not be desperate to live in the cities.
“Successive governments in Nigeria had failed woefully in the area of rural development; it has totally disconnected the people at the grassroots from civilization’’, he said.
Roads and electrification for rural areas
He, therefore, canvassed for consistent rural development through provision of good roads and rural electrification scheme.
“Our rural settlements need urgent attention if government wants to make an impact in the lives of the people at the grassroots and also address population explosion at the city centers.
“Rural dwellers are desperate about coming into cities and towns due to little or no government presence in their domains in terms of necessary infrastructure.
“Of course, rural-urban migration is one issue that is taking the attention of many governments of the world, which is so alarming in Africa and Nigeria in particular.
“My candid advice for the federal government is to be proactive in opening up the rural areas through sustainable development and drastically reduce over-crowding in the cities.
NAN
