Your Life Don Better!

“You’re going to the city?! your life don better!”, a local Nigerian parlance used to say a person’s lot in life has changed for the better.

Whether it’s moving to a bustling city in Nigeria or to an entirely different country in search of greener pastures, Rural-Urban, Cross Country & International migration has become a thing that many aspire to because it means that you have ‘blown’. Often, when people leave, the most they do is send back money to erect buildings in their names. This is all well and good for personal fulfillment but does it offer long-term benefits to you or your community at large beyond bragging rights?

Now don’t get me wrong, I do not think that migration in itself is bad, rather I say, let’s plug these problems that make us see migration as the sole way to success for members of rural communities.

City living is not all roses and sunflowers, neither are the roads paved with gold. In fact, many urban cities like Lagos are rife with roads bad enough to compete with rural communities, open, waste filled drainage & sewage systems, pollution by the way of sound & smoke from generators, traffic that keeps you in a spot for hours. All of these put huge strains on one’s health, shortening life expectancy.

Can we champion a movement of people to rural communities, encouraging growth, planned development and sustainability, keeping things as close to nature as possible? Access to fresh farm produce means that you eat healthy, clean air, surrounded by greenery, affordable cost of living, appropriate paced lives with home to workplace commutes as short as 5 minutes, giving you more time to be productive and relax. Argh the bliss!

Beyond personal gain, there’s a whole lot of difference that can be made when the ones ‘who made it out’ come back to invest themselves and resources to contribute to building sustainable businesses and communities.

Shining the light on some examples, meet Rotimi Williams of Kereksuk Rice Farm, an internationally trained journalist who after years of studies & working in different organisations set out to run the second largest commercial rice farm in Nigeria by land size. Situated in Nasarawa state in northern Nigeria, Kereksuk has more than 600 natives of Nasarawa as employees. His farm trains approximately a hundred Fulani women in rice farming, at the same time, employing their men as security guards and finally, feeding their cattle from the rice straws after harvest. Look at the number of families his singular choice is giving a chance to earn a living and probable access to better amenities.

While this is a crusade to invest in rural communities, on a commercial scale, they too offer their own advantages such that when tapped into, everyone enjoys mutual benefits. Affordable manpower is one that can’t be overemphasised as rural communities have that in abundance. Closeness to raw materials is also another. Picture a scenario where a commercial fruit juice company is located in the middle-belt of Nigeria known to be the food basket of the nation, such a company will enjoy proximity to products & won’t have to concern themselves with the logistics of transporting fresh farm produce that are prone to rot, to the city.

It’s a win-win for everyone!

A sustainable community is one that seeks to address & over time, eradicate social issues such as poverty, hunger, the unequal distribution of income, poor health, poor human development etc. A sustainable community is one that empowers people irrespective of their class with capacity to feed, house, clothe, educate and afford themselves access to amenities that will help them grow and better their lives.

We must do more than pay lip service to community development, beginning with mindset and shifting into actions. More of us need to actually take the steps towards building sustainable communities.

What steps are you taking in your own little corner?

Photo Credits: Nifemi Oluwadare on Behance, @RotimiWilliams and @Iamhamamat on Instagram

Referenced: Forbes, ‘Meet The 35 Year-Old Entrepreneur Who Owns Nigeria’s 2nd Largest Rice Farm’