Growth And Expansion Of Unplanned Settlements In Nigeria Using Environmental Geomatics: Case Study Of Abuja Phase 4 And 5

Abstract

Unplanned settlements are uncoordinated settlements on land without reference to any predetermined planning standards. The uncontrollable pattern of urban migration and rapid population growth in urban centers, typically leads to slum generation and haphazard distributions of unplanned settlements in most urban centers of developing Countries.  Nigeria has a growing number of unplanned settlements within and at the periphery of the cities /urban centers such as Lagos, Kaduna Jos-Plateau and Abuja FCT among others. The creation of Abuja Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria in 1992 has led to population migration from other parts of the Country to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. The high cost of housing/ accommodation in Abuja has led to the distributions of unplanned settlements across the land mass. The unplanned settlements are illegal settlement which provides affordable accommodations but to some extent, it has a severe impact on safety, sanity and the physical development of the Federal Capital Territory. The study of Abuja FCT as the case study revealed the rates of built-up expansions /the annual built-up expansion index of the unplanned settlements of Abuja Phase 4 and 5. The Research methodology adopted for the study includes the use of basic survey methods, together with GIS tools and Applications as part of the essential components used in the data collection and analysis. The outcome of the study revealed a total of 41 unplanned settlements distributed in the 44 Districts of Abuja Phase 4a, 4b and 5. The unplanned settlements varying in cluster sizes with the total settlement’s built-up coverage in hectares which increased from 935.31 Ha to 2,610.05 Ha, for the year 2010 and 2022 respectively. Land disputes due to built-up encroachments among others are the major phenomenon and the land ownership in some parts of the Districts is tied to ancestral claims. Therefore, the built-up expansions of the unplanned settlements is increasing annually, occupying hectares of land and obstructing public/ private development projects. The measures to relocate the occupants in the future will cause crisis in the Federal Capital Territory and it calls for a sustainable intervention.