Appraisal of Informal Access to Land for Housing Delivery in Karu Urban Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Failure of formal land management system to provide planned land for orderly developmenthas given rise to alternative ways to ensure access to affordable urban land, which is informalland management. This study is aimed at appraising informal access to land for housingdelivery in Karu urban area of Nasarawa State in Nigeria. To achieve this, the study identifiedprocedures for informal land acquisition; identified determinants of access to land throughinformal channels; evaluated the effect of informal land to housing delivery; and examine therelationship between informal access to land and housing delivery. A total of 375questionnaires were administered in five neighbourhoods of Karu, targeted at landholdinghouseholds’ head. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for the researchanalysis. The findings revealed that there was contribution from the access to informal land tohousing delivery, with a calculated value of 206.164 greater than the chi-square critical valueof 9.488. The study also revealed that informal land which is 78.7% and affordability of landregistration with 64.1% were the best strategies of making informal land process more efficientin the study area. Hence, the study recommends land regularization, improvement of tenuresecurity and transparent systems in transferring land right by the government.