Analysis of urban households’ preference for informal access to residential land in Minna, Nigeria

Shien S. Kuma

doi:10.4314/gjds.v13i2.5

Abstract

Over the years, the urban land markets in Nigeria have been grappling with conflicts between the formal and informal institutions who have remained the dominant players. Despite the provision of the Land Use Act of 1978, which vested in the states, the power to hold and administer all lands within their territorial boundaries, interests are still being transferred informally. These transactions continue defying all risks associated with insecure tenure. The purpose of this study therefore, is to investigate the factors responsible for the choice of households’ access to land through informal channels. Data was obtained through questionnaire from 362 land owners and analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis techniques. The results revealed that, households’ preferences for informal access to residential land are influenced by socio-economic factors with 37.9% variance, inefficiency in the urban land administration with 21.2% and planning and development control issues with 17.7% variations respectively. Thus, the main conclusion of the study is that the predominant influence of these factors on the urban land market will continue to sustain the informality of land access in Minna. The study recommends the decentralisation of land administrative system and reduction in the planning standards to enhanced formal land access.Keywords: Urban Households, Informal Access, Residential Land, Insecure Tenure Factors

Highlights

Informal land markets have remained popular and expanding rapidly throughout developing countries of the world
The emergence and sustenance of informal land markets has seemingly become a characteristic of the general urban morphology and the imbalance created by the socio-economic inhibitions of the urban dwellers
Adding to the supply constraints is the demand type itself which is basically a derived one, and often ineffective in view of the level of economic inhibitions faced by majority of the urban households

Summary

Introduction

Informal land markets have remained popular and expanding rapidly throughout developing countries of the world. This phenomenon to certain extent has not spared some of the developed cities as it has smeared their urban landscape shaping their peri-urban development contours. The emergence and sustenance of informal land markets has seemingly become a characteristic of the general urban morphology and the imbalance created by the socio-economic inhibitions of the urban dwellers. The global trend in urban population growth among the developing countries has resulted in a significant response to the demand for urban residential land by households with supply constraints. Even when there is an ample supply of residential layouts by the government, access is often marred by challenges ranging from institutional (administrative), socio-economic to ethno-religious impasse as revealed by Avav (2002) and Bello (2007)

Methods

Results

Conclusion