IMPROVING URBAN LAND USE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA: THE CASE OF AKURE

This paper examines urban land use planning and management practices in Akure, Nigeria with the aim of identifying how to improve it and achieve sustainable city development in the country. It highlights land use planning and management policies and regulations in the city. It further discusses the implications of uncoordinated land use management in context of developing world cities and suggests how to improve the present inefficient practices. The paper draws on a systematic survey of land use mechanisms and activities, departments and agencies of government responsible for land use planning and management as well as individuals involved in land use activities including land owners in the study area. The paper revealed that land use management in the city has been wholly concerned with the granting of statutory right of occupancy and approval of plans to use land for different purposes, without adequate monitoring of its outcomes. It also shows that land management and control tools are either not available or weakly implemented and disjointed and uncoordinated since several organizations and agencies are involved without a coordinating agency or an overall land use plan within which effective land use management can be undertaken. It suggests a reorganization of urban land use planning and management machinery in the area and institutionalization of Local Planning Authority as indispensable to achieving sustainable land use planning and management in the city.