INTRODUCTION
The rising growth of urban population in recent years has been attributed to the unequal development of the cities and their rural counterpart. Especially in developing countries like Nigeria, the urban centers remain the cynosure of attraction among the rural dwellers, pushing them in their regions in search of greener pastures. Unfortunately, the cities carrying capacities (support system) usually do not meet the infrastructural and resource need of these new immigrants. A major consequence of this sorry state-of-affair is the expansion and development of shanty or slum settlements to meet the housing needs of mostly the urban poor. Many urban dwellers who could not afford comfortable living quarters due to high cost of building their own houses, high house rent, exorbitant acquisition of urban land etc, have sort refuge in slums albeit its near-hell-status. Slums have also developed in major Nigeria cities due to increasing urban poverty, failed government policies which brought further hardship to the urban poor. It is obvious that without active intervention by national governments, rapid unplanned urban expansion will greatly exacerbate what is already a human disaster as slums life consists of insecure employment, state persecution and eviction miserable existence and extreme poverty. Slums are noted for the destruction of the urban landscape and aesthetics through environmental degradation such as erosion, indiscriminate dump of refuse, open defecation and many more.
THE CONCEPT: MIGRATION
Migration is simply the movement of people from one place to another involving a change of usual residence. From a technical point of view, Migration is conceived as a form of geographical or spatial mobility between one geographical entity and another generally involving a change in usual residence from a place of origin or departure (i.e where the movement was initiated) to a place of destination or arrival (i.e where the move is terminated). However, not all movements between geographical territories is regarded as migration. For any movement to be classified as migration, it must involve the crossing of a recognised political and administrative boundary, and also not for a short period (usually shouldn't be less than 6 months).
Migration may be internal or international. If the movement does not involve the crossing of an international boundary, then it is internal migration. Internal migration could be rural-urban (which is the prevalent type), rural-rural, urban-rural or urban-urban. For a movement which involves the crossing of an international boundary then it is classified as an international migration.
THEORIES OF MIGRATION
1.) The Labour Mobility Theory or The Push & Pull Factors Theory of Migration
The labour mobility theory or the push & pull factors theory of migration argues that labour movement across the world has always been determined by fluctuations in the demand and supply of labour relative to wages paid by the lab...
