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 June 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 theland 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
employeesshould 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:
1. To
assess the procedure of land use allocation for property development in Uyo
local government area.
2. To
determine the effectiveness of the procedure of land use allocation in Uyo
local government area.
3. To
identify the factors militating against land use allocation procedure in Uyo
local government area
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What
is the procedure involved in land use allocation for property development in
Uyo local government area?
2. What
is the effectiveness of the procedure of land use allocation in Uyo local
government area?
3. 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:
1. 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.
2. 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.