CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
There is bound to be conflict over land use. The demands for
arable land, grazing, forestry, wildlife, tourism and property
development are greater than the land resources available (Ratcliff,
1999). In the developing countries including Nigeria, these demands
become more pressing every year. The population dependent on the land
for food, fuel and employment will double within the next 25 to 50
years. Even where land is still plentiful, many people may have
inadequate access to land or to the benefits from its use especially
for property development. Land must change to meet new demands yet
change brings new conflicts between competing uses of the land and
between the interests of individual land users and the common good.
Land is a private property, its ownership and use
is protected by the constitution (Farmer and Gibb, 1979). It is the
free gift of nature to mankind. Every activity of man as of necessity
takes place on land and as a result of increased activities there arose
conflicts in different land uses. One land use tends to succeed
another, where this is no control of such succession and use. Ratcliff
(1999) states that succession of land use for its own sake is hardly
desirable and change in advance of the appropriate time will only
contribute to the inefficiency of the urban structure. He also argued
that there are times when succession appear to lag behind the needs of
the community, when actually, the fundamental factors that call for a
readjustment of land uses are not present. Thus, the need for spatial
ordering of land use with a view to creating functionally efficient and
aesthetically pleasing environment for living, circulation and
recreation, becomes imperative.
The creation of a balanced land use system (urban equilibrium),
that is, the provision of adequate land for the various land uses,
consistent with the creation of functionally efficient physical
environment, is the objective of the land use allocation. Land use
allocation is to ensure the best utilization of land in the national
interest, and to prevent individual land owners from using that land to
the detriment of body politic (Lawal, 2000). There has been several
concern in the recent times as to the procedure involves in the
allocation of land for property development. It ranges from the high
cost to the fraudulent activities attached to land for property
development.
This is inspite of their common law right to
develop their land, as they like, provided they do not cause any
nuisance or interfere with the rights of others. Land use allocation
necessarily has to do with the siting of buildings and communication
routes with objectives of achieving equilibrium between convenience,
beauty and cost. According to Nwanekezie (2009), land use allocation
determines where residential buildings and even new industries should
be located, how raw materials can be transported to them, and their
products distributed to market, where the employees should live, how
they would get to work, where schools and other institutions should be
situated.
The basic principle of allocation is that adequate
land should be set aside for each uses at the onset in appropriate
locations pending the time they will be needed and or funds will be
available for their provision or development. This is because it takes
at least ten to twenty years to fully develop a residential
neighborhood for instance, and it is not possible to provide at the
initial stage of development all the facilities and services proposed
in a layout plan even if money is not a constraint. Their provision of
development is normally spread over time to keep peace with the
development states of the neighbourhood.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Most cities in Nigeria and other developing countries were not
planned (Nwanekezie, 2009). They started as villages or trade centres
before increasing in size to a big city today. Such process of city
growth has been marked with haphazard development, poor planning, urban
sprawl and environmental degradation. Business districts often spill
over into the surrounding residential and industrial areas. The variety
of growth and changing pattern of land use found in different cities
complicate the process of identifying simple principles that govern the
allocation of land uses.
Barlower (1978) states that urban land use allocation has been
designed to promote the orderly development of the nations land
resources, minimize certain problems and conflict associated with
private use, foster the optimum development of the land resource base
and maximize the public welfare. However, the major concern in this
study is to assess the land use and allocation procedure for property
development in Uyo Local Government Area.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
- To assess the procedure of land use allocation for property development in Uyo local government area.
- To determine the effectiveness of the procedure of land use allocation in Uyo local government area.
- To identify the factors militating against land use allocation procedure in Uyo local government area
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- What is the procedure involved in land use allocation for property development in Uyo local government area?
- What is the effectiveness of the procedure of land use allocation in Uyo local government area?
- What are the factors militating against land use allocation procedure in Uyo local government area?
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the significance of this study:
- The outcome of this study will educate the general public on
the essence of land use allocation and as well enlighten them on the
effectiveness of the procedure to facilitate convenient property
development process.
- This research will be a contribution to the body of literature
in the area of the effect of personality trait on student’s academic
performance, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future
research in the subject area.
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study will cover the procedure of land use allocation for property development in Uyo local government area.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to
impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant
materials, literature or information and in the process of data
collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will
simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This
consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
REFERENCES
Barlowe, R. (1978). Land resources economic: The economics of real estate. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Farmer, W.P. and Gibb J.A. (1979). Land use planning in Cataness. New York: McGraw - Hill Inc.
Lawal, M.I. (2000). Estate development practice in Nigeria. Lagos: ILCO Books & Publishers.
Nwanekezie, O.F. (2009). Achieving urban equilibrium
using efficient urban land use allocation. Unpublished manuscript. Abia
State University, Uturu.
Ratcliff, J. (1999). Urban land economics. Londong: Macmillan Press.