Forced Internal Migration, Proliferation of Urban Slums and Disquiet in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria

Forced migration is at an all-time high in northern Nigeria due to rising conflicts and crimes. This study, therefore, investigated forced internal migration, slums proliferation and disquiet in Kano Metropolis. This was carried out using descriptive survey design, along with questionnaire and interviews as instruments of data collection from randomly selected 1000 respondents in six purposively selected slums in Kano City. Findings indicate that 92% of the sampled migrants into Kano were forced out of their homes due to rampaging conflict and insecurity, mainly from Borno, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, and Taraba States. Also, 87% of the respondents migrated due to armed conflicts such as terrorism, banditry, cattle rustling, farmer-herder conflict, and communal clashes over land ownership. The overall mean scores of 2.76 showed that respondents agreed that forced migration led to proliferation of slums in Kano. Discrimination, lack of jobs, hosts-migrants’ contestation over job, human rights abuse and intimidation of migrants by the law enforcement agents caused disquiet. In sum, forced migration into Kano has the tendency to aggravate conflict and insecurity. It is recommended that government at all levels should intensify efforts on countering terrorism, insurgency, banditry and other forms of insecurity to reduce forced migration into Kano Metropolis.