APPRAISAL OF THE URBAN MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE OF INFORMAL LAND DELIVERY

ABSTRACT

Difficulty of access to land through the formal land supply system has necessitated the shift to other options for accessing land in our cities. These are considered as Informal Land Delivery System (ILDS).  Since land is the pedestal upon which the fabric of the city exists and operates, it is pivotal to an efficient and effective urban management. The research set out to: appraise the nature and existing characteristics of ILDS in Karu Urban Area (KUA), identify the urban management problems and prospects of ILDS in KUA, identify the strategies of coping with it, and make recommendations of intervention in the land delivery system for improvement of the urban management of KUA. Data collected and analyzed includes; land provided by the informal land delivery system in KUA, the roles of the actors in the system such as: number of plots sold by landholding households per year, average income generated per year, preference of the system by corporate developers, payment of taxes and levies, etc. The study revealed that approximately 6,396 Ha (63,960 plots of land, using standard measurement of 1000m²) were delivered through the ILDS. The landholding families supplied 74% of the plots of land. This has been accompanied with many challenges for the management of KUA. These include town planning, services and infrastructure provision constraints, etc. Conclusively, there is need to mitigate the challenges as KUA grows into a metropolis with complex uncoordinated systems. Recommendations were made for integrating the land supply systems towards effective urban management and sustainable KUA.

CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.0 Introduction  

Land is the foundation of all forms of human activity. From it we obtain the food, shelter and the space to work and relax. Land is amongst man’s most valuable resources. It is a means of life on which our continued existence and progress depends.

The way and manner through which people acquire land for use vary from one country to another. In Nigeria, before 1978 each region of the country operated different forms of land tenure. The Land use Decree of 1978 became an instrument of the formal process of access to land by vesting the control of all land with the government.

In many third world cities, urban land can either be obtained formally or informally and the informal sector provides much more land to seekers than the formal sector. Yet the workings of the informal land sector are usually ignored, and are hardly understood or documented.

The rapid growth of urban areas increases demand for land. Statutory methods of land allocation have not adequately met the demand for land for all the income groups. Other informal methods of acquiring land gradually grew into prominence to meet the demand. Several actors participate in this process; including state and local governments, traditional rulers, land agents, landholding households, etc. The response of the informal sector to the ever increasing demand for land, largely for commercial and residential use, has been associated with the sale and subdivision of farm plots, resulting into a complex land management system. Appraisal of this situation has been widely suggested as necessary for improvement as has been attempted in many countries.

1.1 Statement of Research Problem

In Nasarawa State of Nigeria, the Government declared a group of adjoining settlements namely; Mararaba, New-Karu, New-Nyanya and Masaka as Karu Urban Area (KUA) through a law passed by the State House of Assembly in March, 2001. Karu Urban Area is about six (6) kilometres from Abuja city. The KUA has many indications of constrained land access, being one of the closest settlements. It has become home for workers and subsequently an informal sector business hub. The result of the rapid growth is a sharp increase in the demand for land largely for housing, commercial and light industrial uses.

It takes an average of two to seven years for applicants who intend to acquire urban land through the formal process to be allocated land. Available records with the Bureau for Lands, Survey and Town Planning Lafia and Karu indicate that less than 20% of urban land had been issued to developers through the formal process Yari (2002). These are limited to the sites and services schemes by the government and the resettlements program in New Karu.

Bello (2010) observed that though the Landuse Allocation Committee (LUAC) was constituted during the 2004-2007 land reforms in the FCT, it had not met once for recommending allocation of land. Karu being the closest urban area outside the FCT becomes the readily available market.

From the Republic of Chad, Djeroh (2005) states that “in the inability of coherent formal access to land and housing supply, informal settlements in N‟Djamena are the solutions to housing problems of the urban poor. Rakodi (2007) studied five medium sized cities in

Anglophone Africa; Eldoret in Kenya, Kampala in Uganda, Maseru in Lesotho, Gaborone in

Botswana and Enugu in Nigeria. Rakodi observed that “Informal systems for land delivery, still account for over half the land supplied for housing in African cities and are a particularly important channel for the poor”.

Informal land delivery has been viewed as mere problem of land management by several researches without consideration that its impact is beyond such limit. Challenges of access to land in itself is not just one amongst the causes of urban management challenges in cities, but clearly an urban management challenge itself. Land is the pedestal upon which the fabric of the city exists and operates, it is a determinant in the provision of public goods and services, it is pivotal to the operation of the urban economy and most likely the core of the urban management challenges face by the KUA. It is however arguable to predict that where informal land delivery channels supplies most of the land for urban development, as it is visible in KUA, it could be the pivot point of the city‟s management challenge. It therefore becomes paramount that the urban management challenges of informal land delivery are investigated and documented.

The research examines the urban management challenge of informal land delivery in KUA. The assumption is that the informal land delivery system is a critical urban management challenge and other challenges might indeed be traceable to it. It is therefore, expedient that the elements of this challenge such as; Physical, Economic and Social implication be investigated.

The study therefore attempts to answer the question:

1. How does the informal land delivery activity in KUA constitute an urban management challenge?
2. What are the roles of various stakeholders in the ILDS?
3. What are the appropriate interventions for improving the informal land delivery for effective urban management of KUA?

1.2 Aim and Objectives

1.2.1 Aim

To appraise the informal land delivery in Karu as an urban management issue. This is with a view to making appropriate recommendations to improve it for effective and efficient urban management.

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