Urbanization, Migration and Sustainable Development: A Case Analysis of Nigeria

Urbanization is one of the significant phenomena of the modern world. Rapid urbanization, over urbanization, shanty houses, slums, crime rates, degradation of the environment, even the  ozone layer are among the issues discussed within this context. And cities are the nation-state's greatest social, cultural, and political institutions. Urbanization may both contribute to the nation's development and to the country's underdevelopment. If it is a controlled urbanization that achieves an equal level of industrialization, it contributes to the expansion of the industrial, production, service, and finance sectors, as well as other economic activities. If urbanization is not a result of industrialization and economic development, then it may hamper the development of the country and give rise to so many political, economic, and social problems. This paper examines contemporary issues in urbanization and migration in Nigeria amid growing demands for public services. For this purpose, rapid urbanization and its effects worldwide will be studied, particularly with reference to developing countries. Later, the Nigerian experience will be explained. An additional element of the paper is to analyze new innovations in public policy approaches towards sustainable development in the age of increasing globalization. It was expected that the creation of new local states over the same period would perhaps decentralize spatial economic activities while spurring development in the inner regions. Still, we have not witnessed any significant levels of regional or national integration that could supercharge the hinterland economically. While we continue to observe unprecedented transformations across global regions, driven by new innovations in information technology, changing labor relations, improvements in transportation networks, and increased capital mobility, Nigeria’s inner regions continue to experience economic dislocation. Economic development and population growth have been critical to Nigeria's urbanization. Both of these will be examined in detail in this paper, along with some policy recommendations on sustainable development.