The Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, has urged the incoming administration to focus on resolving issues around integrated rural development.
Speaking during the end-of-tenure news conference in Abuja on Thursday, the minister noted that rural-urban migration leads to slums in urban areas and further drive insecurity.
He said, “The issues around integrated rural development as entrenched in the National Development Plan 2021-2025 for me is key and is one program I think that the incoming government should also pay some particular attention to, and this is because if we are able to resolve the issues around the integrated rural development, we will be solving a lot of urban-related issues.
“Our youths who live in rural areas or the urban areas are in search of opportunities, so if those opportunities are provided for in the rural areas, then we are not going to have this huge rural-urban migration, and it is because we are having this huge rural-urban migration that we are having a lot of slums being developed around our urban centres.
“What that means is insecurity because as the slums grow, and there are no opportunities immediately available, these guys take to all sorts of vices, they begin to take Paraga, India Hemp and all sorts of things, and at night, when all those who went to work in the afternoon are sleeping, they will wake up to do their own work by breaking into those houses.”
The minister added that the lack of development in the rural areas has led to a huge population growth rate.
Agba also said that Nigerians should challenge state and local governments for developments in the states and not focus on only the federal government.
He said, “The issues around integrated rural development as entrenched in the National Development Plan 2021-2025 for me is key and is one program I think that the incoming government should also pay some particular attention to, and this is because if we are able to resolve the issues around the integrated rural development, we will be solving a lot of urban-related issues.
“Our youths who live in rural areas or the urban areas are in search of opportunities, so if those opportunities are provided for in the rural areas, then we are not going to have this huge rural-urban migration, and it is because we are having this huge rural-urban migration that we are having a lot of slums being developed around our urban centres.
“What that means is insecurity because as the slums grow, and there are no opportunities immediately available, these guys take to all sorts of vices, they begin to take Paraga, India Hemp and all sorts of things, and at night, when all those who went to work in the afternoon are sleeping, they will wake up to do their own work by breaking into those houses.”
The minister added that the lack of development in the rural areas has led to a huge population growth rate.
Agba also said that Nigerians should challenge state and local governments for developments in the states and not focus on only the federal government.
He further encouraged Nigerians to visit the citizen-based web application, EYEMARK, and track the execution of capital projects in the country.
He also highlighted some of the progress made by the ministry in developing and implementing critical growth and development for the country.
“We have achieved, by our commitment to the principles of the Open Government Partnership, which has gradually transformed the governance ecosystem in Nigeria.
“We also improved budgetary processes, procurement processes, boosted anti-corruption through the introduction of transparency in company ownership,” he said.
The minister further said that the ministry also developed a framework for National Monitoring and Evaluation.
“We saw to the implementation of Grid three Technology, which deploys Geospatial data for evidence-based decision-making and promotion of effective coordination,” the minister said.
