A demographer with
the National Population Commission, Mr Gbelabo Thompson, has charged the Rivers State Government to make riverine communities  accessible through motorable roads.
Thompson, who gave this charge in a chat with The Tide, Monday in Port Harcourt, said this would curb the current high rate of rural-urban drift.
He stated that making riverine communities accessible by road would connect them to the urban centres and hasten grassroot development while decongesting the urban cities.
The demographer explained that the migration of rural dwellers into the cities is an indication that there is a disconnect between the rural and urban centres, adding that, “if riverines towns are connected to the cities, people in the rural settlements won’t have any desperation to move to the urban centres in search of better living conditions”.
He noted that past administrations did not make the development of riverine communities a priority, which he lamented, has led to increased rural-urban migration.
According to him, “government needs to take urgent steps to develop the riverine communities to impact on rural dwellers and address the population explosion in the urban centres”.
He further said, “rural dwellers feel left out in the scheme of things because they do not feel government presence in terms of basic infrastructure, therefore the need to move to the centres” and advised the government to open up rural areas through sustainable development and decongest the urban centres.

Tonye Nria-Dappa