Our Stand (57) —
Everyday sees the influx of people into cities with the hope of relocating, in search of better living. And with their already low financial standing, houses in cities become a near impossible area to go into at that moment. Since many are already made up to seek for a living in the city, they are forced to find accommodation in nearby satellite towns.
These places are already existing slums and answers the begging questions – why do population in these informal places keep rising alarmingly? An answer is not far fetched – the government may not be doing enough.
Finding solutions to these problems has to be traced to regulatory laws guiding activities in the housing sector. It could be lack of proper regulations to protect tenants, landlords, intending landowners or homeowners, imbalance in criteria for establishing of private or public companies between urban and rural areas, imbalance in the construction or provision of the basic infrastructural facilities between the aforementioned areas that can aid the smooth running of our daily living.
Lack of these primary (basic) amenities is what most rural places are known for in the country. In fact, it is becoming an accepted belief that rural areas are not meant to be fully developed, it has really become a mindset and it’s a problem.
Now, if the government can address and change this mindset by providing infrastructural amenities in rural areas more than how it had been previously, if they can provide more public establishments, this would imply wider spread of development.
Also, if these were to be the case, majority migrating from their villages will will begin to have a rethink because, the things needed for them to improve their lives and make living affordable, are already provided for, in these rural areas.
Attention to little details matters
Furthermore, let’s link this up with Agriculture or our personal businesses. This may be a wrong notion but, one could say that there is hardly a place where businesses in the country cannot strive. Paying attention to small details help bring the right results. A family running its poultry business needs constant provision of power, constant water supply, access to well drilled, organized markets for business to flourish. It is difficult for a business to strive without these amenities put in place.
There are other businesses too that demand properly constructed and good road networks, access to schools to grow.
But, when these are scarce for rural dwellers to make use of, they tend to turn their attention to the city where it becomes even difficult to survive.
These are the little details that the government mostly ignore, pursuing other irrelevant policies for implementation, white elephants projects that can hardly help a society to flourish and achieve the growth it desires. If they would spread development to these neglected (rural) areas, it has high chances of curtailing the high influx of persons into cities.
