The Impact of “Jakpa” on Educational, Healthcare and Housing Development of Rural Communities in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper assessed if remittances from international migration otherwise known as Jakpa in Nigeria has made any appreciable impact on socio-economic development of the rural communities in the areas of educational, healthcare, and housing development. In the explanatory research design, we adopted both descriptive and inferential statistics to achieve the three objectives of the study which were to determine the rate of remittances receipts relative to rate of Jakpa in south-east Nigeria; determine the impact of Jakpa on Education, Healthcare and Housing in south-east Nigeria; and to ascertain the opinion of the rural people on how Jakpa have affected developmental projects that affect their lives. Primary data was generated from a sample of 1200 respondents selected across the five states of south-east Nigeria using multiple sampling techniques. Results from logistic regression analysis model show that remittances from Jakpa, has made significant impacts on education, healthcare and housing development of the rural people in the region. The findings show that any unit increase in the remittance from Jakpa has an odd ration of 4.5 for education, 5.2 for healthcare and 6.9 for housing development. Hence, the rural people are about 4.5, 5.2 and 7 times more likely to witness improvement in education, healthcare and housing development respectively. From the opinion of the rural people, persons involved in Jakpa have contributed both as individuals and groups in projects that have benefited the communities. Hence, the study recommended that, the governments at all levels should do better by instituting and implementing policies that will minimize the harmful effect of Jakpa but will maximize the positive effect for development.