A Review of Emerging Issues on Urban Land Management Policy in Nigeria

Abstract

Urban expansion has created a structural and ecological modification of the urban fabric, thus leading to 
complex interactions between land change and land cover. Land is essential for peace and human survival. 
However, various challenges must be addressed to ensure effective land management in urban areas. Several 
policies have been formulated to mitigate the effects of unplanned urban settlements in order to boost economic 
activities. This paper reviewed all the land-related policies in the past three decades and extricated the inherent 
environmental, agricultural, and economic implications of the policies in cities of Nigeria. Urban land 
management was conceptualised, while the systemic review was adopted as a methodology. Remarkably, the 
study revealed that: there are challenges to the documentation of rights to property on land-related disputes; 
unauthorised land development and inadequate access to developable land for housing led to slum formation 
and land use conflict; frequent flooding contributed to environmental degradation while rising land insecurity is 
limiting the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDG 1.3, 2.3, 5.6, and 10). The paper concluded 
that urban land management policies could not be effective without the comprehensive and interactive processes 
involving policy makers, urban planners, real estate developers, farmers; land-holding families; land 
speculators, decision-makers, and researchers while adaptation of modern technologies in land management, 
sustainable land use control policies on documentation of property rights, access to developable land for 
housing and open-grazing, mitigation policies on carbon emissions, physical environment, water and air quality 
were recommended.