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DOI: 10.34020/2073-6495-2019-2-204-211 УДК 331.5
влияние миграции на экономику нигЕрии: современные тенденции
Адедокун о.А., карзанова и.В.
Российский университет дружбы народов E-mail: topeadedokun1@gmail.com, karzanova-iv@rudn.ru
В статье рассматривается воздействие внутренней и международной миграции на экономику Нигерии. В Нигерии, где уровень безработицы очень высок, миграция может частично облегчить ситуацию на рынке труда. Денежные переводы мигрантов, которые превышают как прямые иностранные инвестиции, так и чистый приток официальной помощи развитию, являются одной из основных форм поступлений иностранной валюты в Нигерию, помогают сократить бедность и способствуют развитию экономики. Если политическая и социально-экономическая ситуация в стране не улучшится, то нигерийцы продолжат мигрировать в другие страны. Правительство Нигерии должно в срочном порядке заняться ситуацией с миграцией, способствовать созданию рабочих мест и улучшать условия, чтобы уменьшить миграцию из страны и способствовать возвращению квалифицированной рабочей силы, которая могла способствовать национальному развитию Нигерии, домой из-за границы.
Ключевые слова: внутренняя миграция, международная миграция, денежные переводы мигрантов, бедность, экономическое развитие, Нигерия.
IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON THE ECONOMY OF NIGERIA:
RECENT TRENDS
Adedokun O.A., Karzanova I.V.
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia E-mail: topeadedokun1@gmail.com, karzanova-iv@rudn.ru
This paper examines the impact of internal and international migration on the economy of Nigeria. In Nigeria the unemployment rate is very high, and migration can partially alleviate situation on the labor market. Migrants' remittances which has surpassed both Foreign Direct Investment and Net Official Development Assistance inflows and is one of the major inflows of foreign earnings to Nigeria, help reducing poverty of households and have a positive impact on the economy. If political and socioeconomic issues in the country do not improve, Nigerians will continue to migrate to other countries. The Nigerian government should urgently address the situation with migration, contribute to job creation and improve environment to stop people from migrating and encourage its skilled labor abroad to return home to help in national development.
Keywords: internal migration, international migration, migrant remittances, poverty, economic development, Nigeria.
Internal and international migration all over the world may be very important for national economies. The patterns of internal and cross-border migration change the size, structure and efficiency of labor markets, affect the social and political situations, and the culture of receiving countries.
© Адедокун О.А., Карзанова И.В., 2019
What is the impact of internal and international migration on the sending and receiving countries and on the migrants themselves? What is the impact of brain drain and massive migration of unskilled workers from poor countries to advanced countries? In this article the analysis if internal and international migration and its impact on economy of Nigeria is provided.
MAJOR MIGRATION TRENDS IN NIGERIA
Migration of populations can be classified as follows: internal migration of population within the territory of the country, immigration into the country and emigration of population out of the country. All three types of migration are presented in Nigeria, and all of them affect the national economy.
Internal Migration in Nigeria
Internal migration is represented by Nigerians who lived in states other than their states of birth. Migration in Nigeria begins with rural to urban population movements. People born in Ogun, Kwara, Osun and Imo are the most migratory. A large concentration of migrants is observed in the states of Abia, Port-Hacourt, Anambra, Lagos, Ebonyi, Enugu, Oyo and Delta, Bayelsa and Abuja being the federal capital [6].
Reasons for internal migration in Nigeria from rural to urban areas. There are multiple reasons for rural-urban migration in Nigeria. The first set is related to the need for education and acquisition of skills in various vocations. The second set relates to the absence of desirable job opportunities in rural areas. These include the absence of employment, absence of industries and companies and boredom in agriculture. The third set of factors is social, such as inadequate amenities and expulsion from rural areas due to an offence or crime committed by the migrant. The existing dissatisfying states of affairs in the rural areas are what compel the rural people to migrate to urban areas. Besides that, people migrate in result of dangerous situations due to terrorism (for example, activities of Boca Haram).
Lack of social infrastructure in rural areas. In the rural areas many people suffer from insufficient life supporting social institutions like educational facilities (primary schools, secondary schools, vocational and technical schools, adult education, etc), health facilities (hospitals, maternity centres, etc), communication facilities (internet services, Global System for Mobile, etc), electricity and water supply. Most rural dwellers in Nigeria obtain water from streams, wells, rivers, shallow ponds or rain meanwhile urban population mainly uses pipe borne water and bore-hole water supply. Rural population suffers from inadequate supply of clean potable water, and as a result, from the water borne diseases, like cholera, dysentery, «typhoid». Similarly, electricity supply for lighting, small scale industries, recreation and other uses that is very vital to rising the rural quality of life is equally inadequate or non-existent. This underdeveloped infrastructure provokes migration of people to the cities.
Lack of Physical Infrastructure in rural areas. Physical infrastructure includes transportation facilities (roads, bridges, ferry services, ports), storage facilities (silos, warehouses, cribs, etc), processing facilities, irrigation, flood control and water processing facilities and soil conservation facilities. Urban areas are in favourable conditions in comparison with rural areas. In the riverine areas
transportation still depends largely on dugout canoes or sometimes motorized propellers. Port facilities as terminals for international trade have been greatly developed in major port towns like Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt and Calab., but rural people have small access to them.
Lack of institutional infrastructure in rural areas. Institutional infrastructure such as financial institutions, agricultural research institutions, agricultural and industrial extension services and marketing services among others is essential for the direct development of the rural areas. However, most of these institutional infrastructures, especially credit and financial institutions, are completely lacking in the rural areas. Rural farmers need loans from banks to enlarge the scale of farming, but the absence of such services in the country side leaves them in subsistence living.
Unequal employment opportunities. This is one of the crucial reasons why people migrate from the country side to cities in Nigeria. People migrate to cities in search of better job opportunities that will enhance their standard of living. Such opportunities exist in political capitals, industrial and commercial centres in cities.
Adverse natural and social events. Decision to migrate could be result of natural disasters, like flood, drought, land slide, erosion, earthquake, insect and pest infestation, or escape from political instability, rights abuses, communal clashes, outbreak of war and other adversities. In Nigeria the activities of Boko Haram forced many rural people to abandon their land and turned them into refugees in their own country. Many have migrated for safety to urban areas.
Immigration into Nigeria
Immigration for Employment. Immigrants are beneficial to every nation state. The unskilled, skilled and most especially the highly skilled individuals are beneficial as they complement the existing skills of the labor force of the natives. Immigrants apply their business skills in creating jobs, no matter how small, just like every other native citizen, which often creates jobs for the unskilled individuals. Both the skills of an immigrant and that of a native are slightly different due to their different backgrounds, culture among other areas. This makes the skills of immigrants compliment those of the native citizens.
Table 1
Distribution of foreign nationals by nationality as at August 2018
Table 2
Temporary work permits issued by Nigeria immigration service in 2018
Country of origin Number % of total foreigners
Americans 2,694 3,3
Britons 3,946 4,9
Chinese 17,995 22,2
Indians 31,660 39,1
Lebanese 6,295 7,8
Germans 1,295 1,6
Others 17,118 21,1
Total 81,003 100,0
Country of origin Number of visa issued
Indians 1,492
Chinese 1,171
Britons 987
South Africans 1006
Italians 641
Ukrainians 649
Other 1,624
Total 7570
Source: [11].
Source: [11].
Involuntary Immigration. Involuntary or forced migration is a result of natural and human-made factors, such as rapid or gradual environmental degradation, political conflicts, persecution and warfare. The humanitarian situation in West Africa is worsened notably due to insecurity and high unemployment rate, as well as drought. Two categories of forced migrants resulting from such situations include asylum-seekers and refugees.
Refugees and Asylums seekers in Nigeria. The crises in the North-West and South-West provinces of Cameroun Republic occasioned by the demand for self-determination by Anglophone Cameroonian citizens in these provinces and the subsequent crack down on the protesters by its government had caused the influx of 7,805 refugees into Nigeria as of 2017. The current Refugee Camps are in the following places; Ajassor, Agbokim Waterfall, Masson, Amana, Utanga, Ikom, Etung, Obudu (upranch), Obanliku, Ekang village, Mfaniyen village, Ojok village, Mbebah village, Nkame, Ajasong and Boki all in Cross River State. Other camps are Oron, Ikot-Eket and Mkpat Enin in Akwa Ibom State. Other states that recorded refugees are Taraba and Benue states [9].
The welfare of the refugees is being taken care of by the Nigerian government in conjunction with the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, United Nations High Commission for Refugees and well-wishers. As a result of the fact that Nigerian government and other bodies cater for the welfare of these set of people, it has a negative impact on the economy of the nation because the money that is supposed to be used for national developments is being spent on these people.
Emigration from Nigeria
The statistics in the Table below suggest that a third of all Nigerian migrants chose to go to Europe, another third moved to other African countries and the last third moved to North America.
The major reason for the migration is emigration for employment.
Table 3
Stock of Nigerian emigrants in 2015
Country of destination Male Female Total
Asia 24,403 12,789 37,192
Europe 209,629 188,848 398,476
Australia 3,812 2,570 6,382
Other African countries 219,777 155,658 375,435
North America 134,465 137,376 271,841
South America 1,204 407 1,611
Latin America 1,911 796 2,707
Total 595,200 498,055 1,093,644
Source: [19].
500 000 400 000 300 000 200 000 100 000 0
&
■J- & &
^ y
■ Female □ Male
Fig. 1. Distribution of migrants by sex. Source: [19].
Emigration for Employment. Emigration of skilled Nigerians is high. Highly skilled Nigerians who had been trained in the country go to work abroad. In the United States and Europe, highly skilled Nigerians represented a large proportion of the total immigrant population.
The OECD Database reveals that the largest number of Nigerians - 23 % of about 40,000 workers, was employed in the health-care sector, followed by the real estate and wholesale sectors (both with 12 %) in 2008 [14].
Nigerian doctors abroad mainly work in two countries - the United States and the United Kingdom. These two countries also attract most of the emigrant Nigerian nurses. Nigerian nurses found in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom are usually re-skilled to fit into the demand-driven employment. About 55 % of the 247,500 Nigerians residing in OECD countries as of 2002 were highly skilled professionals [8]. Indeed, it is the healthiest, most educated and most potentially economically active men and women who are leaving the country. Nigerian diaspora abroad are highly qualified specialists with skills in engineering, medicine, education, law and information technology, among others. Most of them are gainfully employed as doctors, nurses, lecturers, and IT professionals in the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and other countries. However, others struggle to make ends meet, with jobs such as cleaners, cab drivers, construction laborers, hair dressers, automobile repairer and retailers.
Emigration for Study Purposes. Data on emigration of Nigerian students are difficult to obtain. Government records of the number of students receiving State financial support or those studying through some bilateral agreements or student exchange programmes clearly underestimate the number of Nigerian students abroad. Data from destination countries, which should give a more complete picture, are not available either. But the fact remains that Nigerians students study in Russia, Hungary, Algeria, and other countries as well both through bilateral agreements and privately.
Economic consequences of migration in and from Nigeria
There are different economic consequences of migration of Nigerians abroad. Country does not get the work of skilled professionals. But country gets remittance inflows. Remittance inflows from Nigerians abroad are a potential economic development tool. In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is the largest recipient
of remittances, receiving nearly 65 % of officially recorded remittance flows to the region and 2 % of global inflows.
In 2014-2017 net remittances transferred by Nigerian migrants to the country exceeded significantly foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investment flows to Nigeria and accounted for 3,68-5,85 % of GDP for respective years.
The World Bank ranked Nigeria fifth among the highest remittance-receiving countries in the world. Yet official data on remittances do not include monetary inflows through informal and unregulated channels, especially through friends returning to Nigeria and through goods sent to Nigeria which are readily converted into cash.
Table 4
Nigeria: emigrants 'remittances, FDI, balance of trade in 2014-2017 (US$ million)
Items 2014 2015 2016 2017
1 Remittance inflows (RI) 20,806 21,158 19,679 22,001
2 Remittance outflows (RO) (54) (1,072) (744) (275)
3 Remittance net flows (RI - RO) 20,752 20,086 18,935 21,757
4 Workers' remittance inflows as a percentage of GDP (%) 3,68 4,14 4,48 5,85
5 Foreign direct Investment (FDI) 4,651 3,137 4,445 3,497
6 Foreign portfolio Investment (FPI) 1,041,12 -539,72 324,89 2,919,41
7 Total financial flows (FDI + FPI) 5,692,12 2,597,28 4,769,89 6,416,41
8 Balance of trade (exports - imports) 21,0 -6,4 -0,5 13,1
9 Total trade (exports + imports) 144,2 98,2 69,9 78,5
Source: [15, 3, 13].
23 000 -
22 500 -1-1-
22 00 -
21 500 -
21 000 -1-1---
20 500 -
20 000 - - ---
19 500 -
19 000 -
18 500 ---1---1---1---
2014 2015 2016 2017
Fig. 2. Migrant remittance inflows (US$ million).
Source: [2]
Nigerians in the diaspora are also active in transnational transactions and have promoted the flow of trade, capital and technology back to Nigeria. A large number of Nigerians trade in West African countries, such as Ghana, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, the Gambia and Cameroon. Most of them establish temporary residence in these countries from where they undertake business trips to Nigeria. Their business ventures in Nigeria make considerable contribution to the local economy by providing a wide assortment of goods and services [10].
Migration made an important contribution to Nigeria's recent economic growth. There are indications that overall migration has increased at a faster rate and that this increase coincided with economic growth. While the oil sector is still the primary engine of growth and a magnet for migrant workers, the marginal economic growth of 2013-2014 has been attributed to non-oil sectors - telecommunications (28 %) and wholesale and retail trade sectors (12 %). Retail trade is the main informal sector, which has traditionally been attracting low-skilled internal as well as international migrant labor. The Nigerian economy is attractive to labor migrants from the region and elsewhere. Nigeria requires highly skilled labor to sustain growth. Although evidence seems to suggest that most immigrants in Nigeria are low skilled, Nigeria's economy also needs highly skilled immigrants to fill labor shortages in the technical professions. Nigeria can yield further benefits from migration by:
(a) Aligning migration, trade and investment policies with development objectives;
(b) Leveraging remittances and harness diaspora for productive investment in sending countries;
(c) Adopting more flexible labor policies to ease migrants' mobility;
(d) Integrating migrants in labor markets.
CONCLUSION
Underdevelopment is a symptom and a cause of migration not only in Nigeria but also in many developing countries across the globe. For Nigeria to drastically discourage her citizens from moving out of the country, it should first and foremost, solve the problems or issues that make people migrate. This could be done by proportionately translating the country's economic growth to developmental projects, such as providing infrastructural facilities, ensuring security of lives and properties, providing better jobs and equal chances to the youths, promoting gender equality and reducing high population growth rates through family planning or other birth control measures. Until these issues are addressed, Nigerians will continue to migrate in large numbers to other countries for better opportunities and living conditions.
Литература
1. Adewale J.G. (2005). Socio-Economic Factors Associated with Urban-Rural Migration in Nigeria: A case study of Oyo State, Nigeria. Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University on Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Pp. 1, 14-15. JHE-17-1-013-016-2005-1203-Adewale-J-G.PDF
2. Central Bank of Nigeria: https://www.cbn.gov.ng/
3. Focus Economics: https://www.focus-economics.com
4. GDP by Country | Statistics from the World Bank, 1960-2017 http: www.worldbank.org
5. Idio E.E., Rogers W., Akadi A.P. (2015). The impact of International Migration on socio- Economic Development of Nigeria. GOJAMSS. (8)32-35. Retrieved from http:// www.gojamss.net/journal/index.php/gojamss/article/view/41/39
6. Igbolo, Magdalene Agbor (PhD) Adaka, Sunday Simeon (PhD) «Labor Migration in the Federal Capital Territory: Examining its Impact on the Socio-Economic Development of Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja».
7. IMF (2015). International migration: Recent Trends, Economic impacts and policy.
8. International Organisation for Migration, Migration in Nigeria - A country profile 2009.
9. Médecins Sans Frontières: https://www.msf.org/
10. Nigeria OIM - International Organization for Migration: https://www.iomdakar.org/ profiles/content/migration-profiles-nigeria
11. Nigeria immigration service-2017 Annual Report: https://immigration.gov.ng/2017-annual-report/2017 Annual Report - Nigeria Immigration Service.
12. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2008 Database on Immigrants in OECD Countries.
13. The Global Economy: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com
14. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2008a): www.oecd.org
15. The World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org
16. The United Nations data on international migrants' stock - 2015: www.ng.undp.org/
17 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): www.ng.undp.org/
18. Focus Economics: https://www.focus-economics.com
19. UNDESA. (2015). International Migrant Stock 2015. Retrieved from United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs: http://www.un.org/en/development/ desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/estimates1 5.shtml
Bibiliography
1. Adewale J. G. (2005). Socio - Economic Factors Associated with Urban-Rural Migration in Nigeria: A case study of Oyo State, Nigeria. Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Ladoke Akintola University on Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Pp. 1, 14-15. JHE-17-1-013-016-2005-1203-Adewale-J-G.PDF
2. Central Bank of Nigeria: https://www.cbn.gov.ng/
3. Focus Economics: https://www.focus-economics.com
4. GDP by Country | Statistics from the World Bank, 1960-2017: http: www.worldbank.org
5. Idio E.E., Rogers W., AkadiA.P. (2015).The impact of International Migration on socioEconomic Development of Nigeria. GOJAMSS. (8) 32-35. Retrieved from http://www. gojamss.net/journal/index.php/gojamss/article/view/41/39
6. Igbolo, Magdalene Agbor (PhD) Adaka, Sunday Simeon (PhD) «Labor Migration in the Federal Capital Territory: Examining its Impact on the Socio-Economic Development of Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja».
7 IMF (2015). International migration: Recent Trends, Economic impacts and policy.
8. International Organisation for Migration, Migration in Nigeria - A country profile 2009.
9. Médecins Sans Frontières: https://www.msf.org/
10. Nigeria OIM - International Organization for Migration: https://www.iomdakar.org/ profiles/content/migration-profiles-nigeria
11. Nigeria immigration service-2017 Annual Report: https://immigration.gov.ng/2017-annual-report/2017 Annual Report - Nigeria Immigration Service.
12. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2008 Database on Immigrants in OECD Countries.
13. The Global Economy: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com
14. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2008a): www.oecd.org
15. The World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org
16. The United Nations data on international migrants' stock - 2015: www.ng.undp.org/
17 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): www.ng.undp.org/
18. Focus Economics: https://www.focus-economics.com
19. UNDESA. (2015). International Migrant Stock 2015. Retrieved from United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs: http://www.un.org/en/development/ desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/estimates1 5.shtml
