Journal articles on the topic 'Land settlement Nigeria'

The urban cities in Nigeria are experiencing a deformation causing an urban decay with poor housing construction, improper use of unplanned land hindering urban spatial development. In this paper examination of slum prevalence in Nigeria and aims to propose development scheme to improve informal settlement of the urban cities focusing on governmental intervention and development policies in all level of governmental authorities to upgrade the living conditions and obtain value for the urban low class. Harvesting the potential of the work force of this regions for urban development, aims to provide highlight to the use of infrastructural development particularly road network to aid connectivity and urban design. A review of informal settlement mainly on the absence of infrastructure and degraded environmental conditions in an unplanned settlement in the city of Kaduna popularly known as Railway Down Quarter, proposes a possible strategy and approach for a sustainable upgrading policy. This research develops a conceptual approach of the necessity of mainly road infrastructure a medium that introduces services and a sustainable development in informal settlements in Kaduna, Nigeria by government intervention. 
 Keywords: Slum upgrade, government policy, road infrastructure, Railway Down Quarter, Kaduna, Nigeria

Settlement models help to understand the social–ecological functioning of landscape and associated land use and land cover change. One of the issues of settlement modeling is that models are typically used to explore the relationship between settlement locations and associated influential factors (e.g., slope and aspect). However, few studies in settlement modeling adopted landscape visibility analysis. Landscape visibility provides useful information for understanding human decision-making associated with the establishment of settlements. In the past years, machine learning algorithms have demonstrated their capabilities in improving the performance of the settlement modeling and particularly capturing the nonlinear relationship between settlement locations and their drivers. However, simulation models using machine learning algorithms in settlement modeling are still not well studied. Moreover, overfitting issues and optimization of model parameters are major challenges for most machine learning algorithms. Therefore, in this study, we sought to pursue two research objectives. First, we aimed to evaluate the contribution of viewsheds and landscape visibility to the simulation modeling of - settlement locations. The second objective is to examine the performance of the machine learning algorithm-based simulation models for settlement location studies. Our study region is located in the metropolitan area of Oyo Empire, Nigeria, West Africa, ca. AD 1570–1830, and its pre-Imperial antecedents, ca. AD 1360–1570. We developed an event-driven spatial simulation model enabled by random forest algorithm to represent dynamics in settlement systems in our study region. Experimental results demonstrate that viewsheds and landscape visibility may offer more insights into unveiling the underlying mechanism that drives settlement locations. Random forest algorithm, as a machine learning algorithm, provide solid support for establishing the relationship between settlement occurrences and their drivers.

This study applied GIS and remote sensing technology to assess agricultural land use and vegetative cover in Kano Metropolis. It specifically examined the intensity of land use for agricultural and non agricultural purpose from 1975 – 2015. Images (1975, 1995 and 2015), landsat MSS/TM, landsat 8, scene of path 188 and 052 were downloaded for the study. Bonds for these imported scenes were processed using ENVI 5.0 version. The result indicated five classified features-settlement, farmland, water body, vegetation and bare land. The finding revealed an increase in settlement, vegetation and bare land between 1995 and 2015, however, farmland decreased in 2015. Indicatively, higher percentage of land use for non agricultural purposes was observed in recent time. Conclusively, there is need to accord surveying the rightful place and priority in agricultural planning and development if Nigeria is to be self food sufficient.
 Keywords: Geographic Information System, Agriculture, Remote sensing, Land use, Land cover

To conserve a resource without having adequate data and finance is difficult and frustrating. The situation of wildlife in Nigeria is nevertheless different. Except in the Yankari, Upper Ogun, and Kwiabaha, Game Reserves, and the Kainji Lake National Park, little efforts have been made to protect the Nigerian animal wildlife resources from human pressure and widespread extinction. To many, what remains of the wild animals are best seen in the few state-owned zoological gardens in Nigeria. However, because most indigenous large animal species—including Elephant, Buffalo, Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Rhinoceros, Leopard, and Ostrich—have not been able to reproduce in the various zoological gardens so far, the hope to conserve these animals is brittle. The questions are, what factors are working against wildlife conservation? Indeed, what hopes exist for Nigerian animal wildlife?Animal wildlife is a declining resource in Nigeria because of unplanned land-use practices. For example, landuses in game reserves are often conflicting and contradictory. Four land-uses: timber extraction, hunting, food-crop production, and settlement, are simultaneously going on in game reserves, with little or no control measures and with no management plans. The excessive demands for land for these conflicting uses have greatly disturbed the ecosystems involved, thus making the survival of the wild animals uncertain. Specifically, the problems of wildlife conservation in Nigeria are: (a) poaching; (b) indiscriminate burning of the vegetation; (c) uncontrolled grazing activities in the reserves; (d) intensive logging for domestic and industrial uses; (e) user rights on the reserves enjoyed by the traditional owners of the land before reservation; (f) lack of adequate funds to manage the reserves; (g) ineffective legislation; (h) lack of trained manpower; (i) urban sprawl; and (j) infrastructural development of roads, electric and telegraph lines, and irrigation schemes, all within the game reserves.The future for Nigerian animal wildlife depends on the nation's ability to conserve what is left either in their natural habitat or, at least, in zoological gardens. The task is not simple under conditions of economic depression, with inadequate manpower and without effective management of game reserves. In these circumstances, the game reserves should be reduced to manageable numbers, while state governments should win public sympathy through adequate conservation publicity and the provision of sufficient vehicles and personnel to manage the game reserves.The policy of land-use in game reserves should be reviewed, while researches should be conducted on (a) the levels of land-use that could be consistent with maintaining wild animals in the reserves, (b) the number and species of animals hunted per year, (c) the population of animal species in the game reserves and their habitat suitability, (d) the endangered and extinct animal species and specific reasons for the decline in their populations, and (e) human problems peculiar to each reserve and ways of minimizing them.

Climate variation largely impacts migration in with the capacity to worsen conflict and security situations in parts of Africa, Nigeria in particularly, already facing security threats from the activities of sedentary and nomadic pastoral farmer’s interaction. Increasing variations in rainfall patterns significantly impact the migration patterns of vulnerable households and constitute a risk factor to their livelihoods. For effective adaptation plan and sustainable livelihood decision that has climate resilient future, there is need for better understanding of the conflict and security implications of climate variation. This paper, therefore, interrogates the nexus between climate variation and migration, as well as the impact of this nexus on conflicts and security of lives and properties in Nigeria. Using critical analysis and qualitative methodology, the study establishes that migration settlement policies that fail to define the rights and duties of settlers and those of indigenes of any particular community, create loopholes for the reification of identities and identity-induced crisis. The conclusion of the paper is that migration issues resulting from climate variation have not been adequately addressed to involve all stakeholders. There is the need to harvest environmental impact assessment data of climate variation to guide the provision of alternative options to climate-related emergencies across Nigeria.

This study examines the potentials of Remote Sensing techniques and GIS in land resources management with particular reference to detect land use and land cover changes in Jos East L.G.A, between 1995 to 2015. In this study, administrative maps, remotely sensed data (Landsat and Nigeriasat-1 satellite imageries) and GIS techniques were used in the image analysis. All these were done using Ilwis 3.3 Academic, ERDAS 9.3, IDIRISI 17.0 and ArcGIS 10.1. Digital camera was also used for ground truthing. The results were presented using classified imageries. Between the years 1995 to 2015, there was consistent change in the land use land cover of Jos east with different LULC categories. Throughout the study years, vegetation was observed to have the highest percentage of the total land coverage with 57544.28 ha (63%) in 1995, decreasing to 50322.96 ha (50%) in 2005, and 34969.95 (39%) in the year 2015. While agricultural/farm land was gradually increasing throughout the study period with 21271.05 ha (23%) in 1995, 27017.37 ha (27%) in 2005 and 25406.19 ha (28%) in 2015. Findings also showed that build-up-areas/settlement development increased consistently from 1451.97ha (2%) in 1995, 3290.49 ha (3%) in 2005 to 5817.96 (6%) in 2015. It was concluded that agriculture in the study area is increasing while large areas of vegetation is drastically reducing and being converted to farmlands and settlements. It is recommended that government should put up a reliable land management system in form of restrictions on premature conversion of agricultural land, there should be policies that control threat to the vegetation cover. Government should take cognizance of the land use and land cover at a regular interval to ascertain the changes that are taking place in the study area.

<p><em>This paper examines the urban planning implications of informal sector activities in Barkin-Ladi Town, a post mining settlement in Plateau State, Nigeria. The objective of the paper is to examine the planning challenges posed by the informal sector activities and to make appropriate recommendations towards integrating and regulating such activities within the settlement. A total of 187 questionnaires were administered on three categories of informal sector activities in the area, while interviews were conducted with the staff of the Area Office of the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Town Planning and of the Works Department of the Barkin Ladi local government council, which is the planning authority. The research revealed that trading was the dominant informal activity being undertaken by 63% of the respondents, followed by cottage industries (14%) and tertiary services (23%). Planning challenges pose by informal activities included: change of use without planning approvals, encroachment on access roads, conflicting land uses, non-compliance with the relevant planning law on zoning. There were no spatial developmental plans or guidelines by the relevant planning authority to regulate the activities of informal sector activities. Environmental management challenges were lack of access to basic infrastructure, degradation of the urban environment, and insecurity of life and property. It is recommended that there is the need for planners to understand the valuable contributions of the informal activities to the local economy by integrating them in the spatial development frameworks through appropriate zoning, location, space management and regulatory policies. Basic infrastructure and services should be provided to enhance their productivity, while government and other stakeholders should improve access to loans, micro-finance, material resources and capacity building of informal participants.</em></p>

This paper presents the finding of a about 80% of adult working population of survey on the potential of Animal the State. Thc 1.5 million hectares of land traction technology in Ogun State of Iraq covers mainly the rain of Nigeria. A total of fifteen settlement forests and the derived Savanna. The (Camps) and sixty households were farnicts, who arc mostly small holders and purposely selected and surveyed arc resource-poor, cultivate on the average using a combination of structured 1.2 hectares with traditional farm interview schedule and participatory implements. Farm production is achicvcd. Rural Appraisal technique. Data were almost entirely with the aid of family analysed using descriptive statistics. labour as costos hired labour is Fulani of Kwara State of Nigeria origin prohibitive and there are labour shortage settled in Ogun State with their cattle particularly for land preparation, weeding for over 25 years and are pursuing and harvesting Government effort at sedentary lifestyle as agro-pastoralists. introducing tractor hiring services was a They operate under a relatively secure failure as thc policy could not be sustained tenurial arrangement that allow them to due to high hiring charges, delays in settle and practise arable crop farming. providing the service and unavailability of They prepare the land for planting tractors. This situation gives a compelling using the ridge system, which favours the need for a locally sustainable cheaper use of animal traction. The very cost labour-saving technology. of hired labour represents a major Omotayo and Idisi (1990) reported that the incentive for adoption of animal U$C of animal traction contributed traction technology. The average cattle immensely to farm output and family herd size is 30. All the respondents were income in Northern Nigeria. They are aware of the use of animal traction. technology was not extended to Southern Although none of the respondents had Nigeria because of the perceived fear of using the technology in Ogun State, they tested . Reports (Adu. 1993: Ogungbe nevertheless believed that the technology and Adu, 1998) on the settlement of Fulan can be used in the State. They all agro-pastoralists with their cattle in the indicated readiness to release their humid zone of Nige cattle for training if the technology is to Also, experiences from other parts of West be introduced. The paper discussed Africa with similar ecological and socio animal traction in rural economy, its cultural setting or environment, confirmed potential and constraints.

The Andoni Rivers, Creeks, and Lagoon have been under stress due to over fishing which has led to the extinction of many fishes and other aquatic species. The extinction of fish has also led to the modification of fishing methods from the previously known methods such as cast net, drag net, hook and line etc to a more sophisticated method like the cover bush, and Oyima in the big Rivers. The shortage of fish in the Rivers has also discourage youths from engaging themselves in fishing rather they choose to involved in crude oil theft, arm robbery, and kidnapping that are anti-people. This study utilizes GIS software and remote sensing technology for aquaculture site selection analysis in Andoni LGA, Rivers State, Nigeria that will create direct and indirect employment opportunities to the men, women, and the youths thereby eradicating youth’s restiveness in the area. The dataset used for the study are 2002 Landsat image, DEM data, and settlements point data. The software used is ArcGIS 10.1 for weighted over analysis and IDRISI TAIGA 16.0 for image classification. The three criteria (land use/ cover, DEM, settlement) were weighted in the weighted overlay tool with percentage of influence for lu/lc 40%, DEM 20%, and settlement 40%. The suitability model for aquaculture ponds was produced with seven (7) classes from not suitable class value “o” to very highly suitable class with value “6”. The very highly suitable class is made-up of 51 polygons with a total area of 278.1 Ha. this represents 1.0% of the total area (32928.4 Ha.), occurring more in the south and few in the northern map position along the Rivers. It was observed that the 51 polygons all have area that can support aquaculture ponds and also the location of it can support fresh and salt water ponds. The class o (not suitable) represents the water body in the study area covering an area of 8099.0 Ha. this represents 29.15% of the land area. It is not suitable because aquaculture cannot be sited in the water body since its serves as the food basket of the people. This study therefore justified that GIS and remote sensing integration can be used for aquaculture site selection because of the spatial components inherent in the criteria. The Local Government Authority should considered aquaculture programmes as key to the eradication of unemployment and youths restiveness through direct investment in the sector.

Urban forests are an essential component of urban areas as they provide many environmental and social services that contribute to the quality of life in cities. Urban forests in most cities of Nigeria are gradually becoming bitty as a result of urbanization activities, thereby posing adverse effects. In this study, we assessed the changes in the urban forests cover under the influence of different human settlement (HS) extents across the urban area of Ibadan city using remotely sensed data. The pattern of change(s) in the urban forests cover over 20 years were examined by analysing and manipulating Landsat and Sentinel-2 datasets using Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS 10.1, and Erdas 2014 software. The extents of human settlement (for the year 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020) were extracted (from Landsat datasets), analysed, and mapped to evaluate the status of the urban forests cover under different human settlement extents. The result reveals a substantial land cover changes within the urban area of Ibadan. The urban forest cover decreased from 24.14% to 7.99%. Also, there is a significant decrease in the urban forests cover as a result of a substantial increase in human settlement extent (102,806 to 122,572 pixels). The study provides an opportunity to map the status of urban forest cover and extents of HS in a developing city using remotely sensed data and applications of GIS tools.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to review the quest for physical development and economic viability which has overshadowed the social aspect of sustainable development that produces a liveable urban settlement in many emerging economies. Many of the urban areas of developing countries are characterized by sporadic/unguided land-use changes as a result of urbanization coupled with poor planning and management of land-use. Unfortunately, these changes are impacting negatively on the social fabric of sustainable and this calls for urgent attention.
 Methodology: The study is based on an extensive review of literature on land-use changes and social sustainability in both the developed and emerging economies in order to identify gaps in practice and management of urban land development.
 Main Findings: The results showed that although a considerable investment has been made and enormous efforts geared towards achieving sustainable development in Nigeria urban areas, little or no attention devoted to social sustainability in the planning and execution of these projects has rather led to unsustainable development. Many developmental projects and planning were politicized and thereby jettisoned social sustainability in the process.
 Implication: It is important that urban land-use change should be appropriately monitored, purposively driven, and stakeholders must be responsive to promoting social sustainability to achieve a wholesome urban development.
 Novelty: This study to the best of our knowledge is the first attempt that links urban land-use change and social sustainability especially in Nigeria. It has also provided information to guide the land-use planners, the policymakers and other stakeholders towards achieving a wholesome urban land-use development.

The land use land cover change and its modeling approach has recently been considered by the scientific community to observe environmental changes. Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) give major techniques which can be useful in the analysis at the town locale as well as the city levels. RS data from Thematic Mapper sensor of 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014, and 2018, Operational Land Imager of 2018 were used for the analysis. The study used a supervised classification technique for classification, and Cellular Automata Markovian (CA-Markov) Model analysis was used for future projection of 2038. The result shows that the projected the year 2038 with 0.9079 K-standard value of stimulation, the study further uses Maximum likelihood classifier (MLC) a supervised classification method to classify the images. The study reveals a continuous pattern of urban growth from 3.96 km2 in 2018 to 4.73 in 2038 in terms of settlement growth, dense vegetation has decreased from 11.73 in 2018 to 8.55 in 2038 also shrubland has decreased from 44.82 to 36.30, the last bare land has increased more than all the classes from 162.69 to 173.69. The findings of the present study are useful for planners and decision-makers in sustainable natural resource management.

Abstract Subject and purpose of work: Security of tenure is observed as an underlying tool for measuring the development among communities of developing countries. Despite this, the issues related to peoples’ thinking or feelings as well as to what drives security of land tenure are poorly understood and inconclusive. This study examines the residents’ perception of security of land tenure in rural Nigeria. Materials and methods: A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 125 respondents from the study area by administering a questionnaire while key informants were subjected to an in-depth interview. Results: The data for the study were collected and analysed using content analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that the perception of security of land tenure varies in the area studied and across the settlement categories. Further results showed that four factors such as income, length of stay, culture, and education were identified as major factors influencing the residents’ perception of the security of land tenure. Conclusions: The study concluded that socio-economic and cultural factors influence the residents’ perception of security of land tenure in the area researched.

The management of ecosystem has been a major contributor to the control of diseases that are transmitted by snail intermediate hosts. The ability of freshwater snails to self-fertilize, giving rise to thousands of hatchlings, enables them to contribute immensely to the difficulty in reducing the endemicity of some infections in the world. One of the effects of land use/land cover change (LU/LCC) is deforestation, which, in turn, leads to the creation of suitable habitats for the survival of freshwater snails. This study was aimed at studying the land use/land cover change, physico-chemical parameters of water bodies and to understand the interplay between them and freshwater snails in an environment where a new industrial plant was established. Landsat TM, 1984, Landsat ETM+ 2000 and Operational land Imager (OLI) 2014 imageries of the study area were digitally processed using ERDAS Imagine. The land use classification includes settlement, water bodies, wetlands, vegetation and exposed surface. Dissolved oxygen, water temperature, pH, total dissolved solids and conductivity were measured with multipurpose digital meters. Snail sampling was done at each site for 30 minutes along the littoral zones, using a long-handled scoop (0.2mm mesh size) net once every month for 24 months. Independent t-test was used to determine the variation between seasons, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to test the relationship between physico-chemical parameters and snail species while regression was used to analyze the relationship between LU/LCC and freshwater snails. Species’ richness, diversity and evenness were examined using Margalef, Shannon Weiner and Equitability indexes. Snail species recovered include: Bulinus globosus, Bulinus jousseaumei, Bulinus camerunensis, Bulinus senegalensis, Bulinus forskalii, Amerianna carinatus, Ferrissia spp., Segmentorbis augustus, Lymnaea natalensis, Melanoides tuberculata, Physa acuta, Gyraulus costulatus, Indoplanorbis exuxtus and Gibbiella species. Out of the total snails recovered, M. tuberculata (2907) was the most abundant, followed by Lymnaea natalensis (1542). The highest number of snail species was recovered from Iho River while the least number of snails was recovered from Euro River. The mean and standard deviation of physico-chemical parameters of the water bodies were DO (2.13±0.9 mg/L), pH (6.80±0.4), TDS (50.58±18.8 mg/L), Temperature (26.2±0.9°C) and Conductivity (74.00±27.5 μS/cm). There was significant positive correlation between pH and B. globosus (r = 0.439; P<0.05). Dissolved oxygen showed significant positive correlation with B. globosus (r = 0.454; P<0.05) and M. tuberculata (r = 0.687; P<0.01). There was a positive significant relationship between LULCC and B. camerunensis (p<0.05). The positive relationship between LULCC and the abundance of B. globosus, B. jousseaumei was not significant. The area covered by water bodies increased from 3.72 to 4.51 kilometers; this indicates that, more suitable habitats were being created for the multiplication of freshwater snails. We therefore conclude that, increase in areas suitable for the survival of freshwater snails could lead to an increase in water-borne diseases caused by the availability of snail intermediate hosts.

Sustainable development is the positive socio-economic change that does not undermine the ecological and social systems upon which communities and social systems are dependent. Land provides services to humans and other life forms as well as providing raw materials in production process. Land provides waste assimilation services as well as other ecosystem functions. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of gully erosion on the residents of Kurmin Gwari settlement, Kaduna State, Nigeria. The study intends to identify the percentage of the residents according to localities that have suffered socially and economically from gully incidents. It also intends to determine the relationship between adverse social and economic effects suffered by the affected people in the various localities of the study area. The Primary sources of data are direct observation from fieldwork and the use of questionnaire, while the secondary sources are topographic map and library materials. Descriptive statistical tools were applied to deal with the techniques of summarizing and describing data collected. Percentages, proportion and mean were applied to get expected frequencies. The result revealed that at Layin Pumpo 65% of respondents are affected by destruction of ancestral homeland by gully erosion. 100% are affected by loss of source of water supply. 72.5% find the gully site frightful. 92.5% experience trauma as a result of gully erosion in the area and 57.5% lost relatives. The study recommended that due to gully erosion and other natural environmental disasters, the need for an integrated environmental planning is paramount.

AbstractHelping conflict-affected persons requires an understanding of conflict impacts on their livelihoods. Hence, effects of farmers-herdsmen land-use conflict on livelihoods of farming households in Benue State were investigated. Data were collected from 110 farming households in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas (LGA) using interview schedule and focus group discussion. Most (56.4%) respondents were male, aged 51.6 ± 1.6 years, cultivated 9.14 ± 5.75 acres of farm size and had been involved in farming for 27.7 ± 14.16 years. The majority (>90%) experienced high degree of exposure to conflict incidences such as destruction of properties, homelessness and poor access to market. The respondents indicated a high effect of land-use conflict on farming households’ livelihoods (81.8%) and land availability/use (>50%) following conflict regime induced by climate change. All respondents perceived the anti-open grazing prohibition law as a right step to reducing conflict occurrence. There was no significant difference in the effects of farmers-herdsmen land-use conflict on livelihood of farming households in Guma and Logo LGA (t = 0.051). Farming households were highly vulnerable to the effects of farmers-herders conflict and are supportive of the current local authority’s prohibition of open grazing. A concerted effort involving religious institutions, government and non-governmental organisations including persuasion of herders to consider other options of livestock production such as ranching or settlement scheme would add impetus to the on-going efforts to resolve the conflict.

In its determination to provide food and jobs for Nigerians, and appeal to educated young men to set the pattern for farming, many state governments have re-introduced Farm Settlement Scheme (FSS)/Graduate Employment Scheme once abandoned. One major challenge leading to programme failure in Nigeria is the inability to know the influence of the factors on the participation and constraints of such programmes. This study analysed the determinants of crop farmers? participation in FSS in Lagos State with the aim of drawing some lessons for future rural development programmes. One hundred and thirty (130) farmers were sampled through two-stage sampling procedures. Data were collected with the aid of a questionnaire and were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics such as the logit regression model. Results show that about 67% of the respondents were male and 72% were married. The major constraining factors to participation in FSS were administrative bottlenecks, inadequate capital, and government interference. The logit regression showed that educational level, farming experience, extension contacts and security of land under FSS were the significant variables (P<0.5) that directly influenced the probability of participation of the farmers in FSS in Lagos State, Nigeria. Farming experience is very crucial for the survival of FSS. Therefore, it is recommended that the determinants of participation and constraints to the participation of the farmers be assessed in any rural development programme to know the necessary action against failure. The effort at increasing extension contacts about FSS will further encourage farmers to participate in FSS.

Erratic power supply is a serious problem to most part of Rivers State, Nigeria in general and Ikwerre Local Government Area in particular. This situation does not only halt social and economic development of the area but has also given birth to other social vices such as arm robbery, kidnapping, and other criminal activities. Renewable energy is an alternative form of energy aim at alleviating the problems of erratic power supply. It is generally considered as the cleanest form of energy. Solar photovoltaic is a type of renewable energy which derived its energy from the sun. The construction of solar plant requires the selection of suitable location for the generation of optimal energy. The purpose of the study is to determine suitable locations in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State to site solar photovoltaic plant using multi-criteria analysis (MCA) in ESRI’s ArcGIS. The dataset used for the determination of the optimal sites include; solar radiation and slope map produced from digital terrain model (DTM), pipeline, road network, land use/ cover map, soil map, and settlement. The datasets were converted to raster and reclassed into six classes for the purpose of data integration. The datasets were weighted according to their relative importance in the weighted overlay tool. Solar radiation has the highest percentage influence 40, followed by proximity to pipeline and road network which are 15 each. The model produced four suitability classes ranging from poorly suitable to highly suitable class. Highly suitable class has an area of 10139.87ha with 548 polygons, representing 15.78% of the study area. Further analysis was carried out using highly suitable class and settlement layer, it was found that three (3) optimal sites were obtained as most suitable for sitting solar plant. The three polygons were located in the region with very high solar radiation, accessible to road and away from built-up areas. The above results suggest the usefulness of GIS in site selection, particularly in sitting solar photovoltaic plant. It is recommended that further study should include transmission line which was completely omitted in this analysis due to inability to get the shapefile from the ministry of power.

AbstractIn recent times, clash after clash has arisen between herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria. These conflicts were linked to the effects of climate change in northern Nigeria, but have been exacerbated by other factors including ethno-religious sentiments. Herdsmen forced to migrate southwards face intense competition for arable and grazing land with the farmers in Nigeria's middle belt. This invariably leads to conflicts, often resulting in gruesome murder and carnage. Thousands have died, many more have been maimed and millions displaced because of this crisis. As a solution, the Nigerian government proposes to set up grazing reserves and rural grazing area settlements in all states of the federation. The problem with this proposal is how and where to obtain the land. This article reflects on the legal implications of the proposal and argues in favour of grazing reserves and ranching on the basis of a private freehold / leasehold tenure arrangement, not through the compulsory acquisition of land by the government.

The goal for attainment of sustainable infrastructure for cities and communities of the world was set to be attained latest by year 2030. Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) specifically is about making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. This paper in consideration of this laudable goal considers vertical developments incorporating mixed use as an option to lateral development in educational institutions communities in Nigeria. Data were collected from selected educational institutions in Nigeria and were compared with similarly selected educational institutions outside Nigeria using internationally accepted ranking criteria as basis to see if possessing excessive land mass as observed in Nigerian Universities will lead to better academic performance and better world ranking as witnessed in foreign Universities. The result shows that total land mass available to educational institutions outside Nigeria is minimal, more productively used and effectively maintained in a sustainable manner than land available to higher institutions in Nigeria where land is awkwardly used and wasted. Higher Institutions should center more on research and academic excellence rather than possessing massive lands that are not effectively maintained. This work therefore recommends that Authorities in Nigeria should reduce land mass requirement for establishment of higher institutions and mandate investors to develop vertically by applying the mixed use concept.

My case study is taken from the northern Igbo of Nigeria and focuses on the village-group of Ihuwe, which name is today rendered as Ihube— thanks to its Anglicization during the period of colonial rule. This not-withstanding, the people still call themselves “Ihuwe,” the form I use in this paper. The Northern Igbo area, especially the area around Awka, Orlu, and Okigwe, is commonly regarded as the heartland of Igbo culture and civilization. Ihuwe, in that portion of old Okigwe Division known today as Okigwe Local Government Area (LGA), lies in a region of southern Nigeria that has been identified as having witnessed human activity from very early times, at least from the period of Acheulean culture. It also lies on the geographically and historically prominent Nsukka-Udi-Okigwe cuesta, which archeology tells us entered the Iron Age quite early in African history, no later than about the eighth century BCE. We are thus dealing with one of the areas of ancient human occupation, as well as an area known for its dense demographic profile. It is these features–early human settlement and occupation with its attendant consequence of severely attenuated oral history, dense demographic profile, and being the cradle land of Igbo culture—that help to define the Northern Igbo and mark them out from the Western, Eastern, Southern, and North-Eastern Igbo, believed to be relatively more recent descendants from them.Perhaps another feature that calls for mention here is their political culture. Although, like their other Igbo kinsmen, they could boast of having evolved only micro-, and therefore weak, states (what social anthropologists of the colonial period refused to refer to as states), they had their own special model of these micro-states.

Globally there are concerns about outdoor air pollution and its effects on the environment and human health. Researchers are concerned with the negative effects of and best mitigation strategies for air pollution. Climate change and human health are a common phenomenon associated with air pollution, as carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed and emitted naturally as part of the carbon cycle. This study was aimed at assessing the emission level of CO2 in Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria and its effect on the environment and human health. Fifty specific residential and commercial locations were considered, and over 1200 observations of CO2 field data were collected and analysed during two seasons–dry and wet. The land-use settlement pattern was taken into consideration. The data were collected weekly at different time bands (2-, 4-, 6-, and 8-hour time intervals) using the AMPROBE CO2-100, CO2 meter gas detection instrument with self-calibration capability of ±30 parts per million (ppm), ±5% reading (0–5000) accuracy. A Garmin CX60 global positioning system was used to obtain the point locations Universal Transvers Mercator coordinates. The results showed higher mean CO2 emission values of >541 ppm and <713 ppm during the dry and wet seasons, respectively. It was also observed that these values were contrary to and exceeded the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and Occupational Safety and Health Administration normal outdoor level standards of 350–450 ppm. These higher CO2 values were found in the residential and commercial districts, and if not monitored and controlled they will have adverse effects on human health and climate change effects. Quick interventions would be to plant trees to sequestrate the CO2 and to regulate the transportation system within the area due to continuous carbon emission.

Background: In Nigeria, medicinal plants are now being threatened due to increased urbanization, land clearing for farming and over-harvesting from their natural habitats. As such, if such trends continue, some of these medicinal plants might increasingly become not available and in the extreme circumstance be faced with extinction. Methods: An epidemiological descriptive field survey that employed a carefully-structured, closed-ended, interviewer-administered, paper-based questionnaire designed to capture information on the use of medicinal plants as antimalarial and for management of other associated illnesses. We also employed Global Positioning System (Garmin etrex 75) to captures the geo-coordinates of previously identified medicinal plants across the footpath transect at 20 m intervals. A total of twenty-one (21) medicinal plant species were surveyed across five communities with varying numbers per locations. Results: Out of the nine (9) identified traditional healers across the communities, all claimed to have used at least one or combinations of these plants for treatment of malaria. An image classification performed through land cover land use map of the study area revealed six classes: swamp /water bodies, river valley, savanna woodland, degraded woodland, grassland and settlements cluster. Most threatened species such as Aristolochia ringes, Mucuna prurins, Azadirachta indica, Kigelia africana, Citrus limon, Ludwigia suffruticosa, Parkia biglobosa, and Picralima nitida are those found in Malete KWASU campus axis in the degraded woodland and settlement cluster classes. This is due to the high level of forest destruction in the area as a result of growing student population and massive constructions of students’ hostel. We reported that about 60% of original plant cover has been lost between 2005 and 2015. It was observed that availability of surface water bodies played a crucial role in influencing the distribution of identified medicinal plants. The nearest neighbour analysis gave a nearest neighbour index of 0.695 at p=0.000003 and z-score of -4.70314. This shows that the observed random distribution of medicinal plants in the study area was statistically significant. It has been observed that random patterns are usually associated with natural occurrences. The random spatial pattern confirms that these plants have not yet been affected by anthropogenic activities and hence need to be conserved there in the wild. Conclusion: There is need to leverage on conservation of medicinal plants for treating malaria in their natural habitats. Also, the need to ensure sustainable harvesting and other socio-ecological process to ensure these are not threatened to the extreme case of extinction in these communities. In the view of the above, we recommend that KWASU-Malete campus axis be monitored, proper urban planning initiatives implemented and ensure cultivation and preservation of these plants are incorporated into the greening efforts of the Kwara state government in this area.

IntroductionThis essay provides an explanation of the dynamics of the interactionbetween Islam and politics by placing emphasis on the role played byMuslims in the collision of traditionalism and British rule as colonialismtook root in Lagos. The focus is on the development of a political schismwithin the nascent Muslim community of metropolitan Lagos at the startof the twentieth century up until the end of the 1940s. It highlights therole of Islam in an emerging urban settlement experiencing rapid transformationfrom a purely rural and traditional center into a colonial urbancenter. The essay is located within the broader issues of urban change andtransition in twentieth-century tropical Africa. Three major developments(viz: the central mosque crisis, the Eleko affair, and the Oluwa land case)are used as the vehicles through which the objectives of the essay areachieved.The introduction of Islam into Lagos has been studied by T. G. O.Gbadamosi as part of the history of Islam in southwestern Nigeria. Thisepic study does not pay specific attention to Lagos, devoted as it is to thegrowth of Islam in a far-flung territory like the whole of modem southwesternNigeria. His contribution to a collection of essays on the historyof Lagos curiously leaves out Islam’s phenomenal impact on Lagosianpolitics during the first half of the twentieth century. In an attempt to fillthis gap, Hakeem Danmole’s essay also stops short of appreciating the fundamentallink between the process of urbanization, symbolized in this caseby colonial rule, and the vanguard role played by Muslims in the inevitableclash of tradition and colonial rule in Lagos between 1900 and 1950.

Africa is the region with the sparsest overall population, but to infer that Africa has no problems of rural land shortage would be quite wrong. The continent has the highest and fastest-rising rate of population growth—lately over 3 per cent annually—and the distribution of people across the continent is quite uneven. At least as far as rain-fed lands are concerned, some of its local densities already count among the world's highest. Several of its nations—for instance Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria—encompass within their borders a full spectrum from range land or desert with fewer than five per square kilometre to better-watered settlements of over 500 per square kilometre, where domestic groups have space for little more than kitchen gardens.

AbstractThe study examined land accessibility constraints among migrants in rural border settlements of Ogun State, Nigeria. It specifically examined dimensions, extent of importance of the constraints and their joint interactive influence on land accessibility. Data were collected through questionnaires on migrant household heads. A multi-stage sampling technique was used for the selection of 492 respondents for the study. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (t-test, relative important index (RII) and correlation statistics). The study revealed that the majority of the sampled migrants were within an active and productive population (31-60 years). Also, the larger percentage of the respondents were male (64.8%), married (70%), farmers (67.2%) with no formal education (51.3%). Most of the migrants have stayed above 6 years (79.8%) in the study area. This is an indication that migrants would have detailed experience about their land accessibility constraints. Findings showed that the high cost of land was the major constraint to land accessibility and non-availability of land (scarcity) was the least constraint. The study further revealed that the high cost of land, inability to transfer land, difficulty in land transaction and insecure tenure jointly influenced migrants' access to land in the study area. The study therefore recommended the need for an efficient land administration and governance at local government level in order to accommodate the attendant needs of rural migrants in the study area.

The purpose of this study is to examine the existing land tenure systems in Gombe state Nigeria with a view to determining its impact on agricultural productivity in the study area. The targeted population for the study comprised of 7,832 households in purposively selected agrarian settlements cutting across the 3 senatorial districts in Gombe state Nigeria. The population was stratified into three zones and two locations were selected from each zone. The sample size for the study comprised of 500 households in each of the study locations. Hence, 500 questionnaires were administered on the household heads of the 6 study locations making a total of 3,000 questionnaires (representing 38.3% of the targeted population). However only 2,223 (74.1%) questionnaires were correctly filled and returned for analysis. The random sampling technique was adopted in the questionnaire administration. Descriptive statistical tools such as frequency counts, averages, weighted mean and percentages were used in analyzing the data obtained. The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to identify and rank the variables. Inferential statistical tool such as multiple regressions were also used in analyzing the relationship between the criterion or dependent variable and the predictors or independent variables. The study revealed that customary land tenure system is the predominant type of tenure system (60.1%) practiced in the study area. Similarly, agricultural productivity in the study area was shown to be impeded by land tenure insecurity (RII, 0.933963), political/bureaucratic bottlenecks in land rights acquisition for agricultural purposes (0.846154) and tenure rules such as stipulated in the Nigerian Land Use Act of 1978 (RII, 0.65596) among others. The study also showed a strong positive relationship of 0.809 between land tenure systems and agricultural productivity in the study area. The study concluded that for better agricultural productivity in the study area in particular and similar developing economies in general, farmers need to have secured land tenure as this encourages investments in the secured land which consequently improves agricultural productivity.

The literature indicates that most housing in the urban areas of many countries in the global South is in informal settlements, provided through informal mechanisms that are often not well understood. This paper contributes to understanding the forces influencing real estate markets in informal settlements, drawing on a case study of the under-researched Ayobo community in Lagos, Nigeria. The paper examines the roles played by government agencies and other market actors, including buyers, sellers, informants, financiers and witnesses, in relation to the operation and regulation of informal land markets. The analysis of the data, drawn from a survey and interviews, reveals a thriving property market, which is socially if not formally regulated. The paper concludes that this flourishing informal market needs strengthening to effectively meet the housing needs of urban residents.

Abstract
 Nigerian urban environments are characterized by uncontrolled organic and consciously created urban settlements driven by a host of factors. This study used geo-informatic technology to assess the anomalies in the Master Plan of Idah town between 2005 and 2015. The Master Plan of Idah town and high resolution IKONOS images were acquired to provide data for the study while geo-informatic technology was use in the data analysis. The results show that in 2005 residential land use exceeded the expected area in the Master Plan by 1,474,270.6 m2, commercial land use is not accordingly developed having an area of 3,290 m2 encroached upon, that of industrial is encroached upon by 569,766.8 m2, educational is encroached upon by 769,766.8 m2, recreational is encroached upon by 1,521 m2, health is encroached upon by 62,802 m2, religious is encroached upon by 8,026 m2 while government and civic land is encroached upon by 9,265 m2, and transport is encroached upon by 50,333 m2. The study further revealed that the anomalies in the urban Master Plan of Idah town advanced in 2015 with the residential land use exceeded the expected land area designated for it in 2005 by 8,142,704.7 m2 while other land uses that were not fully developed were also encroached upon. Despite the detailed master plan was prepared for Idah town covering the period 1974 to 2005 the implementation is absolutely void. The study recommended that, the Master Plan should be urgently renew to avoid further land use development resulting in more anomalies.

Conflicts and crises do not imply peace rather they are anti-peace. They stand for or symbolize problems in human society. Historically, Nigeria profiles the highest statistics of violent conflicts in Africa. These conflicts range from land disputes, resource control, and ethnic cleavages to wars of liberation. Unfortunately, the dilemma confronting Nigeria today is not really the occurrence of conflicts and crises in the real sense, but how to resolve them in such a manner as to prevent the past ones from reoccurring and contain the present ones from escalating or degenerating into full-scale war. Therefore, it is against this backdrop that this paper examines the nitty-gritty of conflicts and crises, their antecedents, and their management and resolution in Nigeria. The paper also presents methods for better management and resolution of conflicts and crises in Nigeria. Finally, the paper concludes that the traditional conflict resolution techniques such as mediation, reconciliation, adjudication, and negotiation as well as cross-examination which were employed by Africans in the past, offer great prospects for peaceful co-existence and harmonious relationships in post-conflict periods than the modern method of litigation settlements in law courts. Thus, the paper recommends among others that the Nigeria government, especially the National Assembly should make and implement policies aimed at addressing the root and trigger causes of conflicts and crises in the country.

Spectacular, unique natural, and human tourism features in Nigeria have suffered and are still suffering from one form of encroachment or another. The aim of this study was to chronicle all the encroachment activities at the Lame Bura Game Reserve in Bauchi State, Nigeria. The methods used in the study were key informant interviews, focus group discussions and field observation. The qualitative data was analyzed, and the Purposive sampling technique was applied in the study. Findings from the results show that notable forms of encroachment include acquiring land illegally for agriculture, buildings, settlements, livestock grazing, hunting, poaching of wild animals, collections of forest products for medicine, food and timber. In conclusion, it was observed that there are outright contradictions in respecting the policies and conservation laws. It is therefore recommended that there should be urgent implementation of conservation policies and laws governing the establishment and management of protected areas in order to achieve sustainability within protected areas.

The study examined establishment of irrigations for effective marketing of agricultural produce. The specific objective is to ensure that irrigations established are providing water flow over lands for nourishing crops among others. Research question is to what extent do irrigations cause water flow over lands for nourishing crops among others. Research hypothesis is, there is no significant relationship between irrigations and causing water to flow over lands for nourishing crops among others. Review of related literature had insight at facilitating institutions in the marketing of agricultural products. The economic theory was propounded by Han and Mathews (1966); which was discussed. Empirical review was stated. Survey research design was embraced. Area of the study was Ekpe farm settlement at Ihiala, Ihiala local government area, Anambra state, Nigeria. Population of the study was farmers in Ekpe farm settlement. The sample size was 215 but 206 copies of questionnaire were used and duly filled. Two point likert scale of questioning was adopted. Discussion of the study was based on establishment of irrigations for effective marketing of agricultural produce. The study concluded that establishment of irrigations and effective marketing of agricultural produce. The study recommends that federal or state government is expected to establish irrigations for the farmers among others.

Abstract Studies have shown that information on landscape transformation is an important benchmark data set because of its value as an environmental change indicator. Therefore, dynamism of landscape transformation over a 34-year period are analysed for a case study in Ibiono-Ibom, Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. The study adopted a mixed method consisting of remote sensing and GIS-based analysis, and semi-structured interviews covering 400 households while factors contributing to landscape structures and changes are studied. The results point out three main driving factors responsible for the landscape transformation in the study area: agricultural practices which lead to intensification of forest resources, riparian vegetation, vegetated wetlands and non-vegetated wetlands; urbanization which modifies the structure and morphology of the landscape, and finally, population growth directly related to massive infrastructural development which encroached on all other land spaces. GIS-based analysis of remotely-sensed data showed that built-up area had increased by 7535.2 ha between 1986 and 2020; shrub and arable land by 1343.9 ha and light forest decreased by 4998.3 ha. While bare-land reduced by 1522.1 ha; vegetated wetland reduced by 1092 ha; water body coverage reduced by 168 ha and non-vegetated wetland size also reduced by 2029.4 ha. Analysis of household survey results revealed that the perceptions of respondents validate the observed patterns during the remotely-sensed data analysis phase of the research, with 54 % (n=400) of respondents reporting a decline in agricultural land use, and 19.3 % (n=400) observing a decline in forest areas in the study area. Furthermore, agricultural intensification, urban development, timber exploitation, firewood collection and increase in settlements were identified as the proximate drivers of these observed landscape transformation dynamics in the study area. The study concluded that the variation in landscape transformation of the study area are clear indication of the extent of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation in the study area.

The nineteenth century was in many ways a revolutionary one among the Yoruba of western Nigeria. The Yoruba civil wars caused much social and political disorganization of the existing entities in Yorubaland. Among other effects, the wars caused the uprooting of conquered and devastated peoples from their original homes to new lands. The Egba people were one of these. From their original homeland they moved south to settle at Abeokuta in 1830. They were later to be joined by other displaced peoples including the Ijaiye and the Owu, thus making Abeokuta a federation of sorts. The initial decades of settlement at Abeokuta were devoted to the consolidation of the new settlement against the attacks of the stronger and older kingdoms of Ijebu and Dahomey, to continued participation in the ongoing civil wars, and to the challenges of domestic political and economic reorganization. From 1839 liberated slaves from Sierra Leone began to settle in Abeokuta, soon to be followed by European missionaries.

For a long time, cities have been regarded as the main source of economic growth and development. However, increased size and density of cities have generated high land costs, rent and transport cost, congestion and pollution, and increased social disorganization. The condition is even worse in developing countries – urban migration, over-utilization of housing and infrastructure, persistent slums, and squatter settlements. This books represents a comparative study between the USA and Nigeria related to characteristics of the cities in both countries. This book tries to address the question “How has the United States of America and Nigeria have been able to address the problems of ‘swollen’ cities and metropolitan growth?”. Outcome of several planned new communities and cities in both countries is of paramount importance to the contribution of knowledge on physical planning approaches globally. The most significant discussion are shown in the final chapter, by giving examples of policy implications and comments on new cities in national and regional development as well as urban and regional development and planning strategy in the global context.

Land and associated resources are crucial factors of agricultural production; hence, continuous petroleum exploitation activities cause an imbalance in the ecosystem and subsequently on agriculture. Against this background, this study examines the effects of petroleum exploitation on spatial pattern of agricultural production in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. The primary source is a sample of 320 farmers chosen at random from two settlements selected from and outside Abura (OML 65) oil producing field. The questionnaire covered social and demographic characteristics of farmers and effects of petroleum exploitation on distance to farms, number, sizes of farms and output. Descriptive statistics and the pair-wise Student‟s t-test were used to analysed data collected for the study. The study reveals that petroleum exploitation resulted in increased distance to farms, reduced farm number and sizes and decreased agricultural output. There were significant differences in distance to farms (t= 1.000, df=9, p<0.05), farm sizes (t =1.000, df=9; p<0.05) and agricultural output (t=0.578, df=9, p<0.05) of the two settlements selected from and outside oil producing field. Impact evaluation of petroleum exploitation activities is recommended for sustainable development of agriculture in the study area.

This study examined the level of water scarcity across Kazaure town, Jigawa State and the strategies employed by public and private agencies to increase their resilience toward access to affordable and safe clean water supply. Water scarcity is one of the major challenges affecting the livelihood of people in Kazaure town. The aim of the study was to examine water scarcity at micro level, in Kazaure town. A total of 1520 samples were selected which constituted 0.4% of the total population. The respondents were selected using availability sampling at water collection points of which only 1500 questionnaires were successfully returned and 20 were not. The data was analysed using simple descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) single factor. Results revealed that 20% of the sampled population has resorted to land leasing near water sources for their farming activities, 53% has stopped dry season farming in the area of fishing, 45% of the sample respondents have stopped fishing while 56.5% indicated that they have resorted to providing their water needs by themselves. The study revealed that there are only 60 hand pump boreholes in the whole of Kazaure. The ANOVA test also indicated that there were no significant differences in terms of water sources between the settlements at 0.05 level (P 0.067) and there were significant differences in terms of water facility types between the settlements at 0.05 level of significance (P 0.046). It was established from the study that water scarcity has negatively affected livelihood activities in the study area. The paper recommends that private sectors should be encouraged to pool resources together to provide and improve water supply projects and state and local government should provide more mechanical powered bore holes in the areas for effective water supply.
 
 

Forced eviction remains a contributory factor to urban poverty, loss of accommodation, and displacement among urban poor. By extension, these forcible displacement experiences result in a downward shift in their standard of living; thus, contributing to urban poverty within the urban space. This study examines forced Eviction in the Badia East community of Lagos State, Nigeria, from a human right angle. The study adopted a mixed-method approach. Primary data was obtained from quantitative (structured questionnaire), geospatial analysis, and qualitative data sources (interview), which was conducted with evictees and the Lagos State Physical Planning and Development Agency (LASPPDA) (evictor). The research outcome revealed that the evictees exhibited a nomadic lifestyle, which has, over the years, developed into resilience. The study identified the need for increased public access, location, and provision of some social amenities such as public toilets, bathrooms, and water points to ease the shock of eviction which indirectly translates into environmental degradation. It was concluded that the current and projected pace of urbanization necessitates new approaches to land governance, especially the regulation of informal settlements and forced evictions.

Forest degradation has become a major concern in many countries around the world as it has become one of the most debilitating land use crisis in tropical ecosystems. Hence, this study assessed the forest degradation indices in Mokwa forest reserve. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and field reconnaissance survey. Five settlements were selected in and around the forest reserve namely Mokwa, Jangi, Epa, Kpataki and Tswanle. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that farming (41.7%) was the main occupation of the people, artisan works (18.8%) and studentship had the least (4.2%). Briquetting of charcoal (20.8%) was the highest causes of forest degradation; commercial farming (18.8%), overgrazing (16.7%) and population increase was the least (4.2%).Global warming (22.9%) was the major effect ofdegradation in the study area, soil erosion (20.8%) and the least was low rainfall (9.4%). Agroforestry practices (27.1%) were recorded as the main mitigation measure for reducing degradation in the area. This was followed by Afforestation and enrichment planting (22.9%), tree planting campaign (18.8%) and the least was forest conservation and management (6.3%). The stepwise multiple regression analysis of the causes with other variables showed that briquetting of charcoal had the highest R2 (0.88), followed by commercial farming R2 (0.84), while population increase had the least R2 (0.57). Nevertheless, sustainable empowerment programs are recommended to boost the livelihood of the rural populace and to reduce the overdependence of the people on the forest reserve.
 Keywords: forest degradation, enrichment planting, livelihood, briquetting.

Abstract Forest Reserves in Southwestern Nigeria have been threatened by urbanization and anthropogenic activities and the rate of deforestation is not known. This study examined the vegetation characteristics of Akure Forest Reserve using optical remote sensing data. It also assessed the changing pattern in the forest reserve between 1986 and 2017. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver was used to capture the location of the prominent settlements that surrounded the Forest Reserve in order to evaluate their effects on the forest. Landsat TM 1986, Landsat ETM+ 2002 and Landsat OLI_TIRS 2017 with 30m resolution were classified to assess the spatio-temporal changing pattern of the forest reserve. The results showed different composition of vegetation, which include undisturbed forest, secondary regrowth and farmlands. The study further revealed that in 1986, 2002 and 2017, undisturbed forest constituted 63.3%, 32.4% and 32.1% of the entire land area respectively, while secondary regrowth occupied 8.3% in 1986, 9.5% in 2002 and 15.6% in 2017. The farmlands had erratic growth between 1986 and 2017. It was 16.9% in 1986, 22.1% in 2002 and 17.5% in 2017. The bare ground exhibited inconsistency in the coverage. In 1986 the areal extent was 11.5%, when it increased to 36% in 2002 and decreased to 31.9% in 2017. In conclusion, the study revealed the extent of forest depletion at Akure Forest Reserve and it is therefore important that the residents, the government and the researchers show major concern about some of the critical factors to human beings that are responsible for forest depletion.

The age-group composition of populations varies considerably across the world, and obtaining accurate, spatially detailed estimates of numbers of children under 5 years is important in designing vaccination strategies, educational planning or maternal healthcare delivery. Traditionally, such estimates are derived from population censuses, but these can often be unreliable, outdated and of coarse resolution for resource-poor settings. Focusing on Nigeria, we use nationally representative household surveys and their cluster locations to predict the proportion of the under-five population in 1 × 1 km using a Bayesian hierarchical spatio-temporal model. Results showed that land cover, travel time to major settlements, night-time lights and vegetation index were good predictors and that accounting for fine-scale variation, rather than assuming a uniform proportion of under 5 year olds can result in significant differences in health metrics. The largest gaps in estimated bednet and vaccination coverage were in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa. Geolocated household surveys are a valuable resource for providing detailed, contemporary and regularly updated population age-structure data in the absence of recent census data. By combining these with covariate layers, age-structure maps of unprecedented detail can be produced to guide the targeting of interventions in resource-poor settings.

Perennial flooding is a known environmental hazard in many parts of the Niger Delta. Concern about flooding increases when places of importance to man, such as farmlands and settlements, and food supply systems are affected. This study assessed the effect of Seasonal Characteristics of Kolo Creek flooding on farm-plot sizes and crop production during the flood and non – flood seasons. A direct contact survey methodology was employed to measure farm-plot sizes and their extent of inundation during flood and non – flood seasons, and 400 randomly selected farmers along the Kolo Creek, Central Niger Delta were interviewed with a semi – structured questionnaire. Results from the study showed a mean farm-plot size of 0.51±0.00 (Ha) during the non-flood period and 0.10±0.00 (Ha) during the flood period. The results obtained from the study also indicated that only 20.93% of the farm-plots available during the non – flood period was available for farming during the flood period; more than half of the farmlands of about 88.50% of the farmers was seasonally inundated by flood and only 1.75% of the farmers had less than half of the farmlands under the floodwaters. Although farmers adapted by owning many – but – small farm-plots, they cultivated only a few varieties of crops, most of which were not flood tolerant. The study concluded that Kolo Creek flooding greatly reduced farm-plot sizes and therefore recommended the planting of more flood-tolerant crops to maximize use of land and improve crop productivity in the area.
 Keywords: Seasonal flooding, farm-plot sizes, Kolo Creek, Niger Delta

River Chanchaga is the major source of drinking water in Minna, Nigeria. This river has been a medium to an increasing pollution loads from contaminated runoff from different land uses degrading aquatic ecosystem and water quality in the river.This paper investigates the threat of anthropogenic influence on river environment and aquatic ecosystem distortion of River Chanchaga, Minna, Nigeria. Field work which include interview and observation methods were used to collect data on effect of anthropogenic and eutrophication along the study area. A total of Two Hundred and Fifty (250) people accounting for 0.5% of the total population were interviewed, making it eight per each community in thirty settlements along the study area. Physical observation of deforestation around sample sites spatially distributed along River Chanchaga depicted in Figure 2 was carried out to study mining activities, farming practice, crop types, and fallow duration to generate the mean and percentages of different anthropogenic activities along the study area. The findings revealed that deforestation is links to high demand for fire wood, lumbering, irrigation farming bank-side mining for sand and gold as depicted in Plat 1 and 2. Eutrophication at the upper course of river is links to high inflow of agricultural wastes and seasonal nature of the river from site A to C evident from Table 4 and constant flow from site C to K as a result of released water from Tagwai Dam that keeps (site C, the confluence of River Chanchaga and River Numui) middle and lower courses of River Chanchaga with sustainable moving water. The result further indicated that continue increase of pollution has a direct relationship to an increasing level of human activities like deforestation, mining activities and agricultural practices along the study area. The result also shows that there is decline in fallow duration as indicated in Table 1 and increase environmental related issues such as soil erosion, water floor (depth) reduction and distortion of river morphology of the study area. It is therefore recommended that the identified anthropogenic activities that lead to pollution and eutrophication such as river-side deforestation, irrigation farming, mining and other related environmental problems should be regulated and discourages to avoid further increase of pollution and distortion of river environment of the study area.

Rapid urbanization rates impact significantly on the nature of Land Cover patterns of the environment, which has been evident in the depletion of vegetal reserves and in general modifying the human climatic systems (Henderson, et al., 2017; Kumar, Masago, Mishra, & Fukushi, 2018; Luo and Lau, 2017). This study explores remote sensing classification technique and other auxiliary data to determine LULCC for a period of 50 years (1967-2016). The LULCC types identified were quantitatively evaluated using the change detection approach from results of maximum likelihood classification algorithm in GIS. Accuracy assessment results were evaluated and found to be between 56 to 98 percent of the LULC classification. The change detection analysis revealed change in the LULC types in Minna from 1976 to 2016. Built-up area increases from 74.82ha in 1976 to 116.58ha in 2016. Farmlands increased from 2.23 ha to 46.45ha and bared surface increases from 120.00ha to 161.31ha between 1976 to 2016 resulting to decline in vegetation, water body, and wetlands. The Decade of rapid urbanization was found to coincide with the period of increased Public Private Partnership Agreement (PPPA). Increase in farmlands was due to the adoption of urban agriculture which has influence on food security and the environmental sustainability. The observed increase in built up areas, farmlands and bare surfaces has substantially led to reduction in vegetation and water bodies. The oscillatory nature of water bodies LULCC which was not particularly consistent with the rates of urbanization also suggests that beyond the urbanization process, other factors may influence the LULCC of water bodies in urban settlements.
 Keywords: Minna, Niger State, Remote Sensing, Land Surface Characteristics
 
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This study aim to attempt mapping out the Land Use or Land Cover (LULC) status of Regional Project Coordination Committee (RPCC) between 2009-2019 with a view of detecting the land consumption rate and the changes that has taken place using RS and GIS techniques; serving as a precursor to the further study on urban induced variations or change in weather pattern of the cityn Rangpur City Corporation(RCC) is the main administrative functional area for both of Rangpur City and Rangpur division and experiencing a rapid changes in the field of urban sprawl, cultural and physical landscape,city growth. These agents of Land use or Land cover (LULC) varieties are responsible for multi-dimensional problems such as traffic congestion, waterlogging, and solid waste disposal, loss of agricultural land. In this regard, this study fulfills LULC changes by using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) as well as field survey was conducted for the measurement of change detection. The sources of data were Landsat 7 ETM and landsat 8 OLI/TIRS of both C1 level 1. Then after correcting the data, geometrically and radiometrically change detection and combined classification (supervised & unsupervised) were used. The study finds LULC changes built-up area, water source, agricultural land, bare soil in a change of percentage is 17.23, 2.58, -9.94, -10.19 respectively between 2009 and 2019. Among these changes, bare soil is changed to a great extent, which indicates the expansion of urban areas is utilizing the land to a proper extent.
 Keywords: Urban expansion; land use; land cover; remote sensing; geographic information system (GIS); Rangpur City Corporation(RCC).
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This study assessed the Impact of Urbanization on Agricultural Land in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. The data collected were population figures and land use for three Epoch (1997, 2007 and 2017). The satellite images were sourced from the National Center for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, Jos. In the analysis, cross change detection analysis and overlay analysis using ArcGIS 9.0 was performed to detect where land-use change has occurred and which type of land use agricultural land has transformed too. The GIS analysis revealed that there is an increase in settlement and a decrease in Agricultural land from 1997 – 2017. It also revealed that 99.51ha of agricultural land use has been converted to settlement between 1997 and 2017. The results reveal that urbanization has significant effects on Agricultural Land in the study area and these effects include; decreasing agricultural land, decreasing agricultural activities and decrease in farm size. If the growth in the population of Makurdi LGA continues unchecked, agricultural land will be significantly depleted in the future. The study recommended that there should be effective law and policy to control population growth sustainably to minimize the negative impact of urbanization in the study area. Also, urban agriculture should be encouraged to sustain the food supply in urban areas.

This study evaluated the impact of artisanal and small-scale mining on land use land cover as it applies to sustainable mining environment in Niger State, Nigeria. Thus, thirteen different mining locations covering the three geo-political locations were geo-referenced. The satellite imagery of Landsat TM and EMT+ from Global Land Cover Facilities (GLCF) and Earth Explorer (EE) for tri-images (1994, 2004 and 2014) at 30m resolution was obtained to establish the changes that occurred over the study years. Landsat imageries were analyzed with the aid of computer-based GIS ILWIS 3.3. The imageries were classified into degraded land, settlement, vegetation and water body. Results showed that in 1994, 33.4% of the land use was degraded due to mining, settlement accounted for 3.7% and vegetation covered 59.2%. In 2004, 21.1% of the land was degraded, vegetation decreased from 59.2% in 1994 to 30.9% in 2004. In 2014, land degraded to 47.36%, settlement expanded to 16.06%, vegetation covered 24.22% and water body occupied 12.37% of the mining sites. Within the study period, mining sites increased from 30,000km2 (33%) to 48,000km2 (45%) indicating the severity of mining impact. Therefore, the government should develop strategic mining policy framework targeting a sustainable mining operation in Niger State. Keywords: Mining Effects, Artisanal mining, Environment, Land degradation, Niger State.

Healthy housing is a function of provision of adequate physical, social and mental conditions for healthy environment. It is a function of both intrinsic and extrinsic attributes of housing that can influence human health. Environment and human activities are omen to development. The effects are manifested in generating land use problems such as congestion, sprawl development, incompatible land uses, building alterations and change of uses, the menace of temporary structures, alteration of land use functions, conversion of open and future spaces, and land degradation. Alagbede village is one of the areas that require such development drive. The study is required to facilitate this need. This research effort is to examine the environmental effect of squatter settlements in Alagbede village, Ikeja, Lagos State Nigeria. The paper examined housing conditions in terms of privacy, adequate space, physical accessibility, adequate security, security of tenure, structural stability and durability, adequate lighting, and ventilation, and basic infrastructure (such as water supply, sanitation, and waste management facilities including suitable environmental quality and health related factors and its influence on the residents of Alagbede area, Ikeja Lagos State. Approach includes the development of database and choice of appropriate data source (primary and secondary data sources). From the methodology, there were questionnaire administration, direct interview of respondents, collection and updating of the base maps, and the use of necessary field instrument for the study. The data gathered were analysed using descriptive method. The end result has revealed a number of environmental problems due to the existence of these settlements (Alagbede village). These problems are poor drainage system, noise pollution, illegal refuse dump sites, slum situations etc. Appropriate recommendations in form of short time and long term solutions were suggested to conclude the research work.

Soil quality in an agroecosytem is considerably influenced by land use and management practices. Twenty two potential soil quality indicators were used to assess the effects of five different land use types (arable land, plantation, agroforestry, marginal land and native forest) on soil quality in Akufo and Atan farm settlements in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. A total of sixty-two fields were selected from which soil samples were taken at a depth of 0-15 cm and subjected to laboratory analysis. Majority of the evaluated physicochemical properties varied significantly among the land uses and whereas native land performed relatively better for most of the observed attributes, arable and marginal lands performed worse. Due to the moderate to strong significant correlation among the potential indicators, they were subjected to principal component analysis and only seven indicators were selected to compute the soil quality index (SQI). In both Akufo and Atan, native land had the highest SQI (0.8250 and 0.860 respectively) which was significantly different (P = .05) from all the agricultural land uses, except plantation (0.739 and 0.750 respectively). Whereas marginal field in Atan was most degraded (SQI = 0.455), it was closely followed by arable fields in both locations. This study indicates that the current agricultural land use and soil management practices in Akufo and Atan farm settlements have negatively impacted soil quality; however, the degree of degradation was strongly influenced by the concentration of soil organic carbon in the understudied land use systems. It also emphasizes the need to promote the use of sustainable management practices among agricultural land users, so as to increase soil organic carbon stock, and improve soil quality and land productivity.