Abstract The study investigated the effect of migration on economic development in Nigeria from 1981 to 2023. The study used human development index (HDI) to proxy economic development as the dependent variable while net migration rate (NETMIG), poverty (POV), foreign direct investment (FDI) and unemployment (UNEM) were used as the explanatory variables. Descriptive statistics, unit root test, bound cointegration test, as well as Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) were employed to analyze the data. The study reveals that both in the short run and long run, net migration (NETMIG) had a negatively insignificant impact on economic development; in the short run and long run unemployment (UNEM) had a positive and significant impact on economic development. Also, in the short run, foreign direct investment (FDI) had a positive and significant impact on economic development in Nigeria while it had a negative and insignificant impact on economic development over the data period. The study thus concluded that migration did not promote economic development in Nigeria within the period under review. The study recommends that the Nigerian government should implement targeted migration policies to address specific needs of the country by improving infrastructural provision such as electricity, good roads, adequate pipe borne water etc. and government should improve on working conditions and wages to reduce the pull factor of better job opportunities. Keywords: Migration, Net Migration, Economic Development, Poverty, foreign direct investment, unemployment
Ekong et al. (Mon,) studied this question.