Socio-economic Factors Affecting Residential Land Accessibility in Akure Nigeria: A Gender Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11113/ijbes.v4.n3.209Abstract
Land defines the social, economic and political relations in the society and is the most crucial factor of production. Access to land promotes the economic power of individuals and their contribution to the economy of the nation at large. It is both a resource and a focal point of social identity and solidarity. This paper is aimed at revealing the sources of gaining access to residential land in Akure by both male and female home owners with a view to engendering appropriate policy response towards female housing ownership. The sample size was determined from the 2006 population census figure of the Akure South Local Government Area. A total of three hundred and eighty one (381) questionnaires were administered to home-owners using systematic and stratified random sampling techniques and were found useful for analysis. The means of gaining access to residential land in the selected towns in the study area include purchase, inheritance, government allocation and gift. Discriminant Function Analysis was used to determine which socio-economic variables were the best predictors of how access to land can be gained. Occupation, income and education emerged as the best predictors out of all the socio-economic variables used. The paper recommends the provision of enabling environment to boost informal employment which is predominant in the study area as this will increase the income level of the citizens. There is also the need for public enlightenment on how to access land through government allocation which was very low in the study area.
References
Ajayi, M.O. (2000). Appraising gender participation in housing production and management. Effective Housing in 21st century Nigeria, 215-219, Ibadan: AKT. Ventures Ltd.
Akpan, P.A. (1996). Gender imbalance in access to education: implications for development in south eastern Nigeria. In Y. Oruwari (Ed.), Women Development and the Nigerian Environment. 171-180, Ibadan: Vantage Pubishers Ltd.
Aluko, B.T. & Amidu, A. (2006). Women and land right reforms in Nigeria, paper presented at the 5th FIG regional conference, Ghana.
Anker, R. & Hein, C. (1986).Sex inequalities in urban employment in the third world. London: Macmillan Press Ltd
Baruah, B. (2004).Challenges and opportunities in land ownership for women in the informal sector in urban contemporary India. Ethics of Development-Induced Displacement (EDID) Project Working Paper Series 3, Centre for Refugee Studies, York Lanes, York University, Toronto, Ontario
Bello, M.O. (2007). Accessibility of land as a tool for empowering the low-income earner of the informal sector in Nigeria. Paper presented at FIG working week, Hong Kong.
Bello, M.O. (2009). Squatter Settlement, accessibility of land and the urban poor FIG Working Week ,Eilat, Israel.
Corbett, T. J. (2007). "Poverty."Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2007.
Davison, J. (1988). Who owns what? Land registration and tensions in gender relations of production in Kenya. In J. Davison (Ed.), Agriculture, women and land: the African experience, 157-176, Boulder: Westview Press.
Federal Republic of Nigeria.(2007). Legal notice on publication of the details of the breakdown of the national and state provisional totals 2006 census. Federal Government Printer: Lagos, Nigeria.
Food and Agriculture Organisation.(2002). Gender and access to land. FAO Land Tenure Studies 4, Rome: FAO.
Greenhalgh, S. (1991). Women in informal enterprise: empowerment or exploitation? Working Paper 33, The Population Council, New York,
Grundfest, S.B. (1985). The ‘wild,' the ‘lazy' and the ‘matriarchal': nutrition and cultural survival in the Zairian Copperbelt. Working Paper 96, Office of Women in International Development, Michigan State University.
Guyer, J. (1986). Berti widow inheritance and marriage law: a social history. In P. S. Betty (Ed.), Widows in African societies: choices and constraints (pp193-219). Stanford C.A: Stanford University Press.
Hirshmann, D. & Vaughan, M. (1984). Women farmers of Malawi: food production. Zomba District Research Series No 58, Institute of International Studies.
Jazairy,I., Alamgir, M. and Panuccio, T. (1992). The State of World Rural Poverty: An Inquiry into its Causes and Consequences. New York: New York University Press for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Keller, B.E., Chola, P. &Milimo, M. (1990).Women and agricultural development. In A. Wood, (Ed.) The dynamics of agricultural policy and reform (pp 241-262), Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press.
Kevane, M. & Gray, L. (1996). Land tenure status of African women. Background Paper for Project on Gender and Property Rights in Africa.The World Bank.
Kironde, L. (2006). Good governance as a fundamental framework to deal with problems of access to land, land delivery and land conflicts in Africa. Paper presented at Africa Region CASLE Conference on Promoting Sustainable Land Management in Africa, Bagamoyo, Tanzania, 14-16, March.
Komjathy K. & Nichols S.E (2001). Principles of equitable gender inclusion in land administration: background report and guidelines. Women access to Land-FIG guideline, FIG publication 24. International Federation of Surveyors (FIG)
Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology, methods and techniques. New Delhi: New Age International Publishers.
Longway, S. (1999).Tanzania: legal land reforms against gender discrimination development in sub-Saharan Africa. 16-19, UK: Sunningdale.
Mamman, M. (1996). Gender bias: roadblock to sustainable development. In Y. Oruwari (Ed.), Women development and the Nigerian environment, 17-23,Ibadan: Vantage Pubishers Ltd.
Marjolein, B. (2004). Women in human settlement and development: challenges and opportunities. Retrieved on July 9, 2008 from
http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/1556_72513_CSDWomen.pdf
Olawore, A. (2008). Gender issues in access to housing finance in Nigeria. Paper presented at Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Seminar of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Ondo State Branch.
Omirin, M.M. (2002). Issues in Land Accessibility in Nigeria. Proceedings of a National Workshop on Land Management and Property Tax Reform in Nigeria, Department of Estate Management, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria
Opoko, A.P. (1997). In search of adequate housing: a gender-aware approach. Proceedings from The House in Nigeria. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Oruwari, Y. (2004). The formal and informal land markets in Southern Nigeria.
EGDI and UNU-WIDER Conference Unlocking Human Potential: Linking the Informal and Formal Sectors 17-18 September 2004, Helsinki, Finland
Shipton, P. & Goheen, M. (1992).Understanding African land holding: power, wealth and meaning. Africa 62(3), 307-325.
Starns, W. (1974).Land tenure among the rural Hausa. Wisconsin: Land Tenure Centre Publications.
Toulmin, C. & Quan, J. (Eds.), (2000). Evolving land rights, policy and tenure in Africa. London: DFID/IIED/NRI
Toulmin, C. (2006). Securing land and property rights in sub-Saharan Africa: the role of local institutions. Global Competitiveness Report '05-'06.Switzerland: World Economic Forum.
Van Donge, J. K. (1993). Legal insecurity and land conflicts in Mgeta, Ulugurumountains, Tanzania. Africa 63 (2), 192- 218.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright of articles that appear in International Journal of Built Environment and Sustainability belongs exclusively to Penerbit Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Penerbit UTM Press). This copyright covers the rights to reproduce the article, including reprints, electronic reproductions or any other reproductions of similar nature.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- This Journal applies Creative Commons Licenses of CC-BY-NC-SA
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
