By Kehinde Adejumo
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The Olufon of Ifon, Oba Adegoke  Adeusi has  said that the accelerated rate of rural – urban migration has now become a thing of  major concern.

 Oba Adeusi expressed his concern to Community Hope during  a recent visit to the area.

He called on government at all levels to intensify integrated empowerment scheme in order to minimize the current rate of rural – urban drift.

 Ifon is the headquarters of Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State. It is an agrarian community. The people plant both cash and food crops like Cocoa and Yam  in large quantities.

The community is  known for massive Yam production and other food  crops like cassava, plantain, vegetables of different types.

Ifon community hosts various communities, inhabited by people from Kogi  state, mostly the Ebiras. They settled for farming in places like Elegbeka, Ago paanu, Molege and a host of others.

People from various parts of the state and beyond usually go to Ifon to buy foodstuffs and vegetables.

Ifon is  a few kilometers away from Edo State, with hilly and rocky topography, this makes it a home to several quarry sites.

The monarch said the accelerated rate of rural – urban migration has over- stretched the facilities in the cities to its elastic limit, thereby contributing to the crime rate as the jobs are not there for the migrants, who  are seeking greener pastures.

 He added that, in the developing countries, cities are engine of growth, but unfortunately, the facilities in the  cities are not enough for those that live in the cities as the influx of rural youths has made the facilities grossly inadequate.

He lamented that despite touted  integrated  rural development and youths empowerment programmes of successive governments in the country there is still worsening rural – urban drift.

” A visit to big cities is an eyesore considering the life style of migrants who had discovered that the jobs are not there for them as they thought before leaving the  rural areas. Some of them live under the bridge and take to crime in order to make  ends  meet “.

He commended the  Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu for his rural initiative programme and his massive investment in agriculture, which he said is a right step in the right direction.

He also commended the Governor training youths in agriculture, saying this will go a long way in tackling food security and also mop hundreds of unemployed youths off the  streets.   He stressed that cultivation of cassava, maize, rice and other food crops would reduce importation of food items  into the country.

The Olufon of Ifon, said that the money expended on the importation of these  food products could be channeled to other developmental  projects.