More Nigerian females involved in internal migration
NIGERIAN females have migrated to various parts of the country over and above their male counterparts, a recent study carried out to, among other things, provide baseline data on internal migration has shown.
The Internal Migration Survey, which was conducted by the National Population Commission (NPC) in conjunction with the International Organization for Migration, was carried out in three main stages. The first stage, which was the design stage, began in the first quarter of 2008 and was completed in the fourth quarter of 2009. Subsequent stages commenced in 2010 and extended into 2012.
According to the data exclusively obtained by The Guardian from the 67-page survey document, female migrants stood at 51.5 per cent while male migrants’ ratio was 48.5 per cent. 47.2 per cent female migrants admitted that their spouses essentially influenced their movements, while 32.5 per cent male migrants moved because relatives influenced them.
Such movements, the survey showed, could be across local council boundaries of the same state or to another council in another state within the Nigerian border over the last 10 years.
The study aimed to also identify causes and courses of internal migration, measure consequences of internal migration in the country and canvass best practices in the management of internal migration in the country on sustainable basis.
However, the composition of migrants, the document revealed, differed from state to state. For instance, the percentage composition of female vis-à-vis male migrants is higher in states like Sokoto, which has 64.8 per cent as opposed to 35.2 per cent for men. In Plateau, the story is similar with 62.2 per cent for females and 37.8 per cent for their male counterparts.
In Adamawa, it was 62 per cent for female migrants, while 38.1 per cent was males. Also in Jigawa State, females maintained lead over men with 59.7 to 40.3 per cent.
Consequently, states with lower female percentage have higher male migrant population. Examples of such states are Oyo, which has 43.3 per cent female to 56.7 per cent male migrants. Ogun State has 43.9 per cent female to 56.1 per cent male ratio.
In Akwa Ibom State, the female is 44.0 per cent as against 56.0 per cent male, while in Enugu, the female ratio was lower with 44.4 per cent to 55.6 per cent male.
On return migrants, who had to do with people returning to their original places of abode after retirement, there was the predominance of male return migrants (61.3 per cent) compared to a lower figure of 38.7 per cent entered for females.
In Akwa Ibom, 93.3 per cent male returned while in Adamawa, it was 93.3 per cent, and Abuja, 75 per cent.