An Analysis of the Pattern of Land Development and Management in Niger State (1976-2006)

Abstract

Recent land policy reforms in sub-Saharan Africa provided for the inclusion of customary tenure in land administration to improve tenure security for the poor and encourage land development. The failure of formal systems of land delivery to cope with the demands of rapidly growing urban populations has led to households in the urban areas of the developing world living in informal settlements characterised by extreme poverty and limited state capacity. This study analyses the pattern of land development and management in Minna in order to suggest ways to improve the administration and management of land in Niger State. The data for the study were collected from various sources. The design layouts of the built-up area of Minna town for the period between 1976 to 2006 were utilised. An extensive fieldwork was carried out to update information on the plots in the layouts to reflect the extent of development using four (4) classifications: Developed plots, Not developed plots, plots under construction, and plots with cases of prescribed landuse conversion. The extent of development(built-up area) in Minna was computed from the multi-dated layouts. 104 implemented layouts consist of 7,893 total plots implemented, 4,349(55.06%)plots were fully developed, while 2,599(32.93%) of the plots were not developed,672(8.51%)plots were still development or construction, and 273(3.46%) plots were encroached upon or claimed by the natives by reasons of non-payment or inadequate compensation. To mitigate the problems emanating from this, it is suggested that processing fees and other related charges be reduced and consideration given to the masses in the design and allocations, while the undeveloped allocated plots of land should be revoked and re-allocated to those who are ready for development.