CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Studies such as Agbola (2017), has shown that poor planning policies and practice has an adverse effect on the development of Abraka town. In recent time, Abraka as an urban center has been faced with poor physical planning and infrastructural development. Planning policies in Abraka has been very poor due to none implementation of urban land use act and master plan. This is because the government of Delta State has neglected Abraka town in its planning processes. It was not until recently that the Okowa administration began developing the region in terms of road construction and rehabilitation (Fred, 2017).

The administration of physical planning has been the responsibility of all the tiers of government in Nigeria over the years (Agbola and Agbola, 2017). The extent of involvement of each level of government is dictated by the operatives of the various town and planning legislation as well as the nation’s constitution, (Nwobodo, 2011). Towns like Port Harcourt, Aba, Minna, Jos and Kaduna and Enugu have experienced extensive physical and infrastructural developments. These developments have been under the application of early town and country planning ordinance No. 29 of 1917, the 1959 town and country planning ordinance, and the 1992 urban and Regional Planning law. The applicability of these laws plus a reasonable increase in the number of town planning authorities in metropolis and towns were all meant to re-enforce the control of physical development in Nigerian cities and towns.

Planning policies and urban planning are mostly used interchangeably. Urban planning is a technical and political process concerned with the development and use of land, protection and use of the environment, public welfare, and the design of the urban environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks (Kristen, 2015)

As cities become the center piece of contemporary development and as land become more scarce and inaccessible for requisite developmental purposes, the quest to ration supply and control or regulate its use, become more compelling. This is the rationale for the involvement and enactment of various land use control laws and regulations designed to safeguard, conserve, disburse and regulate the use of land in the interest of the overall public interest (Agbola, 2017). Such laws include; zoning regulations, building bye-laws; density control, land acquisition laws; effluent discharge laws etc. the functions of evolving and enforcing land use regulations development control, good/proper building practices and resolving conflicting land interest ultimate goal is to achieve a healthy, conducive , satisfying and pleasing environment in which to pursue different kinds of human activities.

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