LAND ACQUISITION PROCESS AND URBAN EXPANSION IN THE LAGOS METROPOLIS, NIGERIA, 1984 - 2016

Abstract

Globally, urban expansion is a common phenomenon. However, its inadequate coordination has resulted in slums, sprawl, paucity of infrastructure and competition for land. Previous studies on urban expansion have identified demographic characteristics, employment opportunities and availability of infrastructure as the major drivers of urban expansion, while limited attention has been focused on land acquisition processes. This study, therefore, was designed to examine the influence of land acquisition process on urban expansion in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria, 1984-2016.

The concept of Urban Land Governance was used, while the survey design was adopted. Ojo, Alimosho, Kosofe and Eti-Osa Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly chosen from the 16 metropolitan LGAs in Lagos State, while 22 fringe localities from the selected LGAs, where urban expansion was most rapid were purposively selected. A total of 6,041 residential buildings were identified. Using Krejcie and Morgan’s sampling method, 1225 residential buildings were randomly selected [Alimosho (221); Eti-Osa (235); Kosofe (480) and Ojo (289)]. A structured questionnaire which focused on socio-economic characteristics (age, sex, marital status, education, income), sources and procedures of land acquisition was administered on household-heads. Landsat imageries (1984, 2000 and 2016) were obtained from the Global Land Cover Facility to map land use/land cover types using Maximum Likelihood method of supervised classification. Population data from the National Population Commission were used to compare population growth and urban expansion ratios. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, Logistic regression, and Analysis of variance at p≤0.05.

Respondents’ age was 37±12.65 years; 51.5% were female; 47.5% were married; 10.4% had no formal education, while 14.7% earned more than N100,000 per month. Developed parcels of land were acquired from customary landowners (47.1%), inheritance (22.9%), estate agents (16.1%), statutory allocation (10.3%) and gifts (3.5%). Land acquisition process entailed informal two-stage (identify and purchase) process, through the customary landowners. This was followed by a formal process involving purchase and submission of application forms, issuance of Letter of Offer, payments for allocation, issuance of Confirmation Letter with land identity, signing and registration of Certificate of Occupancy and release to the beneficiary through statutory allocation. About half of the respondents described land acquisition through the statutory allocation as cumbersome, while 28.6% had been duped by customary landowners and estate agents. Relationships existed between sources of land acquisition and compliance to development regulations ꭓ2(18)=1507.80. Urban expansion was negatively influenced by the process of land acquisition (β=-17.9). Built-up area in the metropolitan fringe increased by 199.0% and vegetation cover decreased by 42.9% between 1984 and 2016. Population growth to urban expansion ratios were 2.57 (1984-2000); 0.93 (2000-2016) and 1.88 (1984-2016). These varied across the LGAs (F(3,8)=4.93).

Land acquisition process contributed to uncoordinated urban expansion in Lagos metropolis, 1984-2016. The process should be overhauled to accommodate inclusive urban land governance system.