Land Accessibility Characteristics Among Migrants in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Asian Research Journal of Arts & Social Sciences 2(1): 1-12, 2017; Article no.ARJASS.30086 SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org Land Accessibility Characteristics among Migrants in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria Gbenga John Oladehinde 1* , Kehinde Popoola 1, Afolabi Fatusin 2 and Gideon Adeyeni 1 1Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State Nigeria. 2Department of Geography and Planning Sciences, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out collaboratively by all authors. Author GJO designed the study and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors KP and AF supervised the preparation of the first draft of the manuscript and managed the literature searches while author GA led and managed the data analyses. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/ARJASS/2017/30086 Editor(s): (1) Raffaela Giovagnoli, Pontifical Lateran University, Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano 4, Rome, Italy. (2) Sheying Chen, Social Policy and Administration, Pace University, New York, USA. Reviewers: (1) F. Famuyiwa, University of Lagos, Nigeria. (2) Lusugga Kironde, Ardhi University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sciencedomain.org/review-history/17570 Received 16 th October 2016 Accepted 14 th January 2017 Original Research Article st Published 21 January 2017 ABSTRACT Aim: The study investigated challenges of land accessibility among migrants in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Methodology: Data were obtained through questionnaire administration on a Migrant household head. Multistage sampling technique was used for selection of 161 respondents for the study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics while stepwise regression analysis was used to investigate the research hypothesis. The study established that the most important challenges of land accessibility among migrants in Yewa North Local Government Area were in the following descending order: High cost of land (15.5%), insecure tenure (11.9%), difficulty in land transaction (3.2%) and inability to transfer land among migrants (2.8%). Thus, non- _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]; Oladehinde et al.; ARJASS, 2(1): 1-12, 2017; Article no.ARJASS.30086 availability of land and inability to use land was not a challenge for migrants. The study therefore recommended that sensitization programme should be conducted on land distribution and land management in the study area. Also Government should revisit the Land Use Act 1978 by putting migrants into consideration. This will facilitate land accessibility among migrants. Keywords: Land; accessibility; migrants; informal; Ogun; Nigeria. 1. BACKGROUND The rights of these groups tend to be secondary, rarely extending beyond use rights; moreover, Land is an economic resource and an important these rights are often unprotected and weak, factor in the formation of individual and collective especially for migrants. Similarly, access to land identity, and in the day-to-day organization of through customary land tenure was considered social, cultural and religious life [1] Land is not to be less adequate for migrants for obvious only important for people in the rural shortcomings such as: Insecurity of tenure, communities who have their livelihood base in incessant rancour and litigation, fraudulent land agriculture, but also a basis of wealth and power sales, marginalization of non-land holding family [2]. It is therefore very important to note that members, among others. accessibility to land is a tool which can mitigate the problems of homelessness, unsafe living and Land accessibility in Ogun State as in other parts play a vital role in poverty reduction and of Nigeria is governed by the Land Use Act 1978 development. and 1999 constitution. The land law according to Bello [9] guaranteed equal access to land for all Land accessibility, according to Cotula et al. cited Nigerians irrespective of the tribe, religion, by Oladehinde [3], is the process by which occupation, level of education, political affinity people individually or collectively gain rights and and gender. However, in practice, accessibility to opportunities to occupy and utilise land primarily land is not only determined by law but also by the for productive purposes and other economic and socio-economic characteristics of the applicant. social purposes, whether on a temporary or Also, this law (Land Use Act 1978 and the 1999 permanent basis. However, access to land constitution) does not make provision for especially in Nigeria is often based on custom, ownership of land by persons who are migrants. ranging from purchase, donations, leasing, In this wise, this paper sets to focus on migrants sharecropping, inheritance, and squatting who are one of the vulnerable groups in the illegally on land [4]. It also depends on land study area. tenure system and the extent of competition by According to Habitat [10], access to land and non-agricultural land uses [5]. Moreover, security of tenure are strategic prerequisites for accessibility to land comprises availability the progressive integration of the rural poor and of vacant lands, affordability of such lands, the development of human settlements. ease of transaction with the lands and security of Increased land access will help to reverse three the owner’s right [6]. This implies that there must types of phenomena: gender discrimination; be unusable lands (which can accommodate all social exclusion of vulnerable groups (especially the activities of migrants, i.e. shelter, commerce, migrants); and wider social and economic farming, work area, etc.) that migrants can inequalities linked to inequitable and insecure acquire when they are needed but it is not rights to land. always so in Nigeria. Mushamba et al. [7] argued that in some cases, land is either not In Ogun State, the activities of migrants involve available, or when available, it may not be small scale enterprise which is self-help in accessible, and when accessible it may not nature. The activities include settlements, retail be usable (based on land tenure) for a trading, farming, among others. The activities are particular use. Access to land is a major generally land dependent, and land is obviously problem as it generates rift between land outside the reach of the migrants. The available owners and migrants. Migrants in a foreign land is not affordable; the affordable ones are not lands are less privileged and often face easily accessible while the accessible ones are discrimination and limited access to rural land not secured. This has a greater influence on the because of the inherent and supposed natural size of land, method of access and duration of dominance of indigenes who control right to land usage of land by migrants [3]. Migrants, who are [8]. one of the poorest, most marginalized and 2 Oladehinde et al.; ARJASS, 2(1): 1-12, 2017; Article no.ARJASS.30086 vulnerable groups due to the insecure tenure 1.2 Hypothesis right, are voiceless and lack the confidence to express their right because land law does not The hypothesis that there is no significant favour them (Agwu et al. 2010). Hence lack of difference in the different challenges to land access to land is a major threat to shelter, food accessibility among migrants in the study area security, employment and income [11,12]. The will be tested in this study. nature of land right by migrants in the country is seen as grossly responsible for the inaccessibility 1.3 The Study Area to land. It is against this background that the The study was carried out in Yewa North Local paper examines land accessibility characteristics Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. The of migrants in informal sector of Yewa North area was formally called Egbado North Local Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Government Area (LGA). The LGA has its headquarters in Ayetoro located on latitude 1.1 Statement of Problem 7°15 ’N and longitude 3°3’E in the deciduous derived savannah zone of Ogun State [14]. Previous research efforts on land accessibility in Yewa North Local Government is one of the developing countries have been concentrated on twenty local government areas in Ogun State urban centre [6,13]. Studies on migrants and and of these, it has the largest expanse of land land accessibility especially in rural settlements with a size of 2,043.60 square hectares [15]. It of Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun has a population of 181,826 (2006 census) and State, Nigeria has not been empirically is bounded in the west by Republic of Benin, in documented and verified. Also, there is no formal the south by Yewa South Local Government way of accessing land in the study area by Area and in the north by Imeko/Afon Local migrants. There is therefore the need to Government Area. Yewa North LGA is one of the recognise the activities of migrants in the study LGAs that have made Ogun State to be called area in order to formulate policy development ‘gateway’ to Nigeria from other coastal West which can be useful in rural land use planning. It African countries like Benin, Togo Republic, will also be useful in the land administration Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Residents in process by incorporating the socio-economic this local government area are called Yewas characteristics of migrants in the study area. (after the name of Yewa River) and Ketus, a clan of the Yoruba people, which inhabited the In the light of the foregoing, the study will provide eastern area of Ogun West Senatorial District, answer to the following questions: Ogun State. One of the peculiarities of the local government is the ability to attract migrants from i. Who are the migrants in the study area? West Africa and people from other Nigerian ii. What are the prevailing land tenure ethnic groups who find it conducive to live and systems in the study area? invest in the study area.