Impact of Poor Land Utilization on Sustainable Human Development in Ado-Odo/Ota of Ogun State, Nigeria

This research focuses on exploring the impact of poor utilization of land on sustainable human development. Poor land utilization is a serious global problem with diverse implications for socioeconomic and sustainability of human development, particularly in the contemporary Nigerian societies. This study essentially seeks to understand the extent of involvement of local actors in utilization of land resources and connection between poor land utilization and incidence of poverty in Nigeria. The study engaged both Marxism and Vicious cycle of Poverty theories in advancing understanding on the subject matter. The research work engages cross-sectional research approach, which combines questionnaires, in-depth interview and focus group discussion in sourcing for useful information from selected communities in Ado-odo/Ota local government, Ogun state. Stratified sampling technique was engaged in selecting respondents for the administration of questionnaire while purposive sampling was engaged in selecting interviewees and discussants for interviews sessions. Data were analyzed using descriptive and content analysis.Finding from this study unearth how the socio-economic well-being of the country could be enabled courtesy of appropriate usage of its land resources. Original Research Article Fajobi and Adeniran; ARJASS, 1(1): 1-11, 2016; Article no.ARJASS.26998 2


INTRODUCTION
Today, it could seem herculean estimating the extent of problem being posed by unwholesome utilization of land resources and there is no doubt in the fact that people around the world are suffering from its impacts. According to Rosenberg [1] posited that, a staggering 70% of all dry lands (or non-tropical regions) is already classified as degraded across the globe which represents 14% of the entire earth's land surface area and 73% of its agricultural dry lands were currently estimated as poorly utilized with Africa remained the most affected continent globally. The number of people affected is vast, because more than about 70% of Africans depend directly on land for their livelihoods [1]. In many developing countries, especially Nigeria, natural and human resources constitute the principal economic assets for development and reduction of poverty. Unlike in advanced and industrialized countries, the function of land as a production resource is still very crucial. The economic fortune of most developing countries, including Nigeria, however, revolves, largely around the exploitation and use of land resources especially in the primary industry such as, agriculture [2].
Similarly, it has been shown that Nigeria is one of the highest in the world with the top 20% of the population controlling 65% of national assets. Although there has been significant growth in recent years with per capita income crossing the $1,000 mark in 2006, there is still prevalence of extreme poverty, with agriculture, the driver of growth accounting for about 7 out of 10 poor [3]. In spite of the economic growth recorded in recent years, progress in human development has been quite unimpressive in Nigeria considering various indicators such as poverty incidence, inequality and access to basic social services. As earlier noted, poverty incidence is still very high. The manifestation of disparities includes inequality in asset distribution such that 20 per cent of the population own 65 per cent of national assets. Additionally, there is unequal access to basic needs and social infrastructure by sector (urban and rural) and within sector (urban poor versus urban non-poor, and rural poor versus non poor) [4].
Essentially, in many developing countries, especially Nigeria, natural and human resources constitute the principal economic assets for development and reduction of poverty. Unlike in advanced and industrialized countries, the function of land as a production resource is still very crucial. The economic fortune of most developing countries, including Nigeria, however, revolves, largely around the exploitation and use of land resources especially in the primary industry such as, agriculture. Consequently, land and land use policy are important in economic and human development [2]. The loss of productive land obviously affects farming and rural communities. As the land degrades, more fertilizer, machinery and supplementary feeds are needed and the cost of production increases. Small-scale, subsistence farmers are often unable to meet extra costs and even large-scale, commercial farmers can find that farming becomes impossible. As a result, farm workers and others may be forced to move to towns and cities, only to face unemployment and poverty. Hence, land degradation equally distorts the process of urbanization in Nigeria, wherein unexplained settlements emerge with attendant implication for rising food costs, increasing level of criminality, over-stretching of social infrastructures and so forth. As noted by Rosenberg [1] water also becomes more expensive as soil erosion makes rivers muddy and causes dams to fill up with silt, adding to the costs of water purification and storage.
Nonetheless, every year large hectares of land is mismanaged for other purposes and uses such as urban expansion which affect human development in Ogun State. Also, some individuals or groups are in the habit of excavating, mining and packing of land surface in order to generate income and left the explored land surface bare, thereby exposing the land to unwholesome utilization which enhances creation of poverty and decline in quality of life. At this rate, in number of years to come, there will be no more than few productive hectares of land per person available to produce food in Ogun state, Nigeria. Studies have shown that due to the absence of any functional regulation to discourage destructive usage of land resources, Nigeria has remained one of the countries with most dreadful records for land mismanagement in Africa. This has posed a serious threat to food security, quality of life and quality of environment in Ado-Odo/Ota of Ogun State, Nigeria. This study essentially seeks to understand the extent of involvement of local actors in utilization of land resources and connection between degradation of land and incidence of poverty in Nigeria.
However, in order to sustainably reduce poverty, there is an apt need to grasp the implications of utilization of land resources for larger human developmental drive in Nigeria.

Human Development in Nigeria
Nigeria, which was one of the richest 50 countries in the early 1970s, has retrogressed to become one of the 25 poorest countries at the threshold of the twenty first century. It is ironic that Nigeria is the sixth largest exporter of oil and at the same time host the third largest number of poor people after China and India [5]. Recent years have seen a surge in calls for more Official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries including Nigeria, in order to eliminate poverty.
The overall goal of economic development is improvement in human well-being. Nigeria possesses a stark dichotomy of wealth and poverty. Although the country is rich in natural resources, its economy cannot yet meet the basic needs of the people. Such disparity between the growth of the GDP and the increasing poverty is indicative of a skewed distribution of Nigeria's wealth. Given the nation's history of wide income disparity, which has manifested in large-scale poverty, unemployment and poor access to healthcare, the disconnect between the country's economic growth and human development has to be addressed to increase the well-being of its people [6].
According to United Nations Development Programme report [7] revealed that life expectancy in Nigeria is placed at 52 years old while other health indicators reveal that only 1.9 per cent of the nation's budget is expended on health. 68.0 per cent of Nigerians are considered to be living below $1.25 daily while adult illiteracy rate for adult (both sexes) is 61.3 per cent. The report comes despite the reported growth in the Nigerian economy, with the country recording a GDP growth rate of 6.99 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012. The country's economy has been described as robust and resilient [7].

Activities of Local Actors in Utilization of Landed Resources
Akinola [8] found that the impact of oil extraction, brewery and cement industries, gold mining, road construction and steel plant have direct negative impact on the welfare of citizens. There was absence of community participation as an important planning input into decision-making on resources within the environment where citizens are placed by providence. Where Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports were prepared, the welfare of community residents was not considered a priority in project design and implementation. The impact of these projects on the local people can be summed up as deprivation and poverty. Oil drilling, gold mining and blasting of limestone and iron ore result in displacement, dislocation and other attendant consequences. In addition, these projects led to loss of employment opportunities, air and water pollution, deforestation, decrease in soil fertility and ill-health. Lack of compensation and/or inadequate compensation to the affected people cut across all the cases. Where properties of local people were negatively affected in the course of mining and industrial development, the real values of property were hardly determined, not to talk of appropriate compensation to the victims. For instance, the impact of International Brewery, Ilesha, led to a reduction of 54.5% in the yield of farm products (both food and cash crops) [9,10,8]. It varies among the development projects: Steel plant, 10.0%; and road construction, 33.0% for rural areas and 57.6% for urban areas [11].
Similarly, According to Akinola and Simon [12], it was discovered that excavated sites during the constructions of Lagos-Abeokuta and Ota-Idiroko international highways have left some injurious foot prints of pockets of dug sites with the consequence of breeding mosquitoes and being derelict in those communities. The bare surface areas are currently degraded by massive excavation and digging in Ado-Odo/Ota community. These sites are a long, deep cut of derelict land. At a glance, this presents a picture of rough impact of digging and confirms the extent of the environmental degradation caused by sand-digging. The common impact includes a series of environmental problems: soil erosion, loss of cropland, deforestation, ecosystem destruction, and extinction of species and varieties.
However study conducted by Akinola and Awotona [11] revealed that during the construction of Ife-Ibadan road, damages done to existing road led to several accidents, which claimed more than 20 lives It was clear that all the selected development projects constituted, directly or indirectly, a causative factor of poverty on innocent citizens who supposed to have benefited from the projects. In Osun State, 53.0% of the victims were compensated and those compensated complained of inadequate compensation. The amount of compensation in relation to the worth of crops destroyed and houses demolished in rural area was 34.0% and 31.0% respectively, while the comparable figure for the affected urban-based property was 57.6% [11].

Climate Change and Human Underdevelopment
The global concerns for environmental protection, poverty alleviation and sustainable development stem out of the fact of the disparity or incongruence between population growth (at geometric rate) and resources development (at arithmetic rate). The magnitude and tempo of degradation of the earth"s surface has intensified due to increase in the drives for technological advancement, civilisation and economic development that legitimately demand the mining and burning of fossil fuels, the destruction of forests and agricultural land for highways and industries, and the release of effluents from industrial and agricultural processes [13]. However, uncontrolled and unregulated drives to fulfil these developmental agenda result in the release of large quantities of "greenhouse" gas into the atmosphere. Invariably, environmental degradation is intricately linked with poverty as industrial impacts represent socio-economic sponges that soak the welfare of people at local level [14][15][16][17].
According to the latest estimates by Satterthwaite [18] the entire African continent was responsible for only 3.7% of the world's annual CO2 emissions, compared to China with 21.5%, the United States with 20%, and the European Union with 14%. This is in spite of the fact that African forests take in 20% of carbon absorbed by trees across the world [19]. From 1980 to 2005, sub-Saharan Africa had 18.5 per cent of the world's population growth but its share in the growth of CO2 emissions was just 2.5 per cent. The United States and Canada had 4 per cent of the world's population growth but its share in the growth of CO2 emissions was 13.9 per cent. China had 15.3 per cent of the world's population growth and 44.5 per cent of the growth in CO2 emissions. And this actually understates the contributions of high-income nations. The use of air conditioner implies additional demand on electricity supply which invariably means increasing the capacity of hydro-power and thermal stations by constructing new types and expanding existing ones. Increasing the capacity of electricity supply has degradation potentials in the sense that the construction of dam for hydro-electricity leads to deforestation and global warming [13].

Land Degradation and Incidences of Poverty
Titilola and Jeje [2] expatiated that land use coupled with the effort of small farmers is the key instruments for achieving sustainable increases in yield and productivity. However, insecurity of tenure, especially among small-scale farmers, has been known to act as a disincentive to the conservation of resources, including reforestation and soil conservation projects. This is so because farmers are not willing to make necessary investments for which they may be unable to reap future benefits. Of all social reforms, land distribution is perhaps one of the most difficult to initiate and see through but without it, resource conservation and hence food security and poverty elimination will not be met and sustained.
In Nigeria, the linkage of the threat of continued soil erosion to productivity, income generation, and poverty alleviation and more importantly to the future generation resulting from the consequences of mis-use or inadequate land management practices is alarming. With approximately 98 million hectares, Nigeria is liberally endowed. However, soil erosion constitutes a major threat to land resources in several parts of the country. This limits utility of land that adversely affects food supply and food security at national and household level. The severity of the effects of soil degradation is perhaps better appreciated when cognisance is taken of the fact that some communities in Nigeria have had over 10% of their land mass wasted by gully erosion and other types of erosion [20]. The linkage between land degradation and rural poverty has been stressed in recent times. Mellor [21] discussed the links between environmental problems and poverty. The assault on the environment in developing countries is perpetuated by poverty. In Nigeria, 80 to 90 per cent of the poor live outside cities.
Half of these rural poor live on resources with the potential to increase production and income in environmentally friendly ways. Increasingly, however, as development raises incomes in the more productive region of these countries rural poverty tends to concentrate in environmentally fragile areas.
Leitmann [22] posited that in the developing countries, the rural poor migrated to cities and accelerated urban population growth that usually led to the chaotic and repulsive urban atmosphere. Sub-Saharan Africa has long been one of the least developed and least urbanized regions of the world with most sub-Saharan African economies still heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture. Nevertheless, the region has absorbed relatively high rates of urban growth over the past 50 years. In 1950, only 15% of the Africa population was living in towns or cities, while 39.9% lived in urban areas in 2000 [23,24]. By 2030, about 53% of Africa"s population is expected to be living in urban areas [25].  [29] concluded that decrease in rural development causes the crop yield per hectare of land to decline faster; as the higher population pressure creates higher farming intensity and therefore quicker loss of soil fertility.
However, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification [30] revealed that the most significant factor in the poverty and hunger of the Haitian farmers is the extremely poor soil quality and the lack of knowledge that the farmers have in sustainable farming techniques. The farming practices used are primitive and have changed very little since the island was first inhabited by the Spanish. Use of modern farm equipment has not been possible on the small, hilly farms so shovels, digging sticks and machetes are still the norm. The average farm is extremely limited in the production of food for the family and rarely has food remaining to sell for a supplemental income. The situation in Haiti is slowly worsening as more soil continues to erode and the land is deforested. On average Haiti loses 37065 acres of soil annually. There are insufficient funds going toward agricultural development in the country. The Ministry of Agriculture is allotted a very small budget relative to the proportion of the population dependent on agricultural livelihoods. The family's situation varies with the seasons; but their condition is perpetually worsening with the constant erosion of the soil. The family is malnourished with half of the needed calories for growth and maintenance of their bodies. The income of the family is around half of what they need for basic necessities.

Theoretical Explanation
Marxism theory posited that once the bourgeoisie monopolized the economic machinery, they use it to acquire power, ideas and the conception of morality in society. While the proletariat attempts to change the system, bourgeoisie's major occupation is to galvanize efforts to sustain the status quo that benefits them. The theory reveals that every land in the societies belongs to the government, but distribution of the land is made to various investors after collecting their taxes, kickbacks and commission from the investors with no measures put in place to check their activities on the land. Vicious cycle poverty postulate posited that poverty transforms the lives of people and is imposed on people by others as if they are not legitimate. Worst is that children get socialized into this culture and it continues in a vicious cycle. Vicious cycle poverty revealed that poor rural households have only land and unskilled labour as their major assets, and thus few human or financial capabilities. The poor feel compelled to do what they often recognize is harmful to their own survival interest yet they feel they have no alternative by virtue of their poverty situation.

Theoretical Synthesis
While Marxist's theory had emphasized lack of ownership of land as the bane of holistic human development, the vicious cycle of poverty had been categorical in affirming that, even in certain situations where individuals have had direct access to land, it could still be wrongly utilized due to subsisting rotational nature of lack.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was carried out in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area (LGA) in Ogun State, South western Nigeria with latitude 6°40'59.99"N and longitude 3°40'59.99" E. The study employed mixed-method research design. Primary sources of data collection were engaged. Primary data were collected through the administration of questionnaire, and conduct of in-depth interview (IDI) and focus group discussion (FGD) sessions. Ota III, Atan and Ado-Odo were purposively selected from the existing 11 wards with traditional obaship institutions in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area (LGA) because of their history of persistent poor land utilization. Due to absence of a sampling frame, 100 respondents were selected using stratified random sampling from each of the three wards (Ota III, Atan and Ado-Odo II) within the LGA based on their occupations (farming, trading, building contractors and government officials), for equal representation, making a total of 300 respondents. For the in-depth interview sessions, two community leaders in-charge of land matters (Baale and Olori-Ebi) were selected using purposive sampling technique based on their knowledge and experience of the communities, giving a total number of six interviewees. For the three Focus Group Discussion sessions, participants that are involved in land usage (that is, farmers, timbers dealers and sand excavators) were selected using purposive sampling technique. Data collected were analysed using frequencies tables, simple percentages and content analysis.

Involvement of Local Actors in Utilization of Land Resources in the Study Area
In the Table 1, the extent of involvement of local actors in the utilization of land resources showed that poor land usage varies from small to large scale actors and occurs daily. It was also deduced from the respondents that, sand excavation, industrial activities and deforestation are the major causes of poor land utilization in their community. Impliedly, the involvement of local actors has encouraged mismanagement of land resources usage, which has severely impacted on the wellbeing of the inhabitants within the host community. In supporting the frequency summation and deducing from the interviews conducted in the study location, it was revealed by the majority of the interviewees and discussants that the major local actors in land usage in Ado-Odo/Ota are sand excavators, farmers, timber cutters, herdsmen and even governments officials. This is in agreement with Adetula (2001), that the rate at which the forest reserves was being destroyed by the encroachers is alarming; young and premature and economic trees are being destroyed on daily basis. By implication, their involvement in land usage was not beneficial to a great extent to human development in the host community (see Plate 1). For instance, some of those interviewed explained thus: …I believed the influx of people from Lagos to have their residential buildings. Also, activities of industries, whereas this area is the largest area with industries in southwest with over 45 industries, the activities like their trucks carrying loads of goods from one place to another in the local area degraded the land……In addition, construction of roads, there were trees on the roads before, but it was fell down also, the industries waste disposal also constitute to the degrading of the land (IDI, male, Baale, landowner, 46 years, Ota, Ado-odo/Ota LGA).

Plate 1. Sand excavators and excavated land in Atan community which threaten quality of life
Corroborating with the previous comment, another participant has this to say: Aside from those believed to have engaged in the usage of land, it was also revealed that herdsmen also contributed to poor usage of land in the host community through their activities which cause untold hardship to farmers that depend on land for their means of livelihood .For instance, as explained by the participants in the study location thus: ….Those people who mismanaged land here, are the herdsmen because the activities of their cows on our farm make it difficult to plant crops that will produce quality yields….It affects the farmers the most because when their cows walked through the farm and we plough such land with no fertilizer to sustain the land, it will affect the farm output in a bad way (FGD, female, farmer, Ado-odo, Ado-odo/Ota LGA).
Corroborating with the previous comment, another participant has this to say:

Association between Land Degradation and Incidence of Poverty in the Study Area
As shown from the Table 2, it was affirmed that 43.3% of the respondents indicated average monthly income of people in the study area ranged between #10, 000 to #30, 000; 65% of the respondents reported that standard of living of people in relation to management of land resources in their community is not improving while 71 percent, reported that the standard of living of people in their community was poor. This is in line with Titilola et al. [19] that soil erosion constitutes a major threat to land resources in several parts of the country which limits utility of land that adversely affects food supply and food security at national and household level. They stated further that the severity of the effects of soil degradation is perhaps better appreciated when cognisance is taken of the fact that some communities in Nigeria have had over 10% of their land mass wasted by gully erosion and other types of erosion. Moreover, from the Table 2, it was discovered that income generated by the people in the study area was not selfsustaining while majority of the respondents argued that standard of living of people in relation to management of land resources in their community was not improving in their locality but higher percentages of the respondents revealed that there existed decline standard of living in their community which encourage poverty in their locality. Nevertheless, it could be affirmed from the submission of the interviews that poor land utilization constitutes a major drive force for poverty situation in the host community. In tandem with the frequency explanation, the results showed that land degradation had contributed to decline standard of living in the study area which has resulted in a lack of job opportunities and an increase in crime rate among the youths. The participant makes clarification on this, that: ….degradation of land has severe effect on standard of living of people because the farm will no more be yielding as it is supposed to be yielding….the farmers will be losing and there will not be sufficient crops or foods for the consumers because where someone is expecting certain metric tons, is getting lower of it and eventually the cost of food will be high and income will be low (IDI, male, Baale, landowner, Ado-Odo, Adoodo/Ota LGA). Moreover, sand excavators activities on land for profit motives in the host community spurred the incidence of poverty with resultant effect on the standard of living of people. Some of the interviewees and discussants revealed that lack of adequate paid job to sustain individual in the host community encouraged poor utilization of land resource in the host community thereby causing hardship on people lifestyle (see Plate 2). The Participant expatiated further, that: ….Ah!..it is not easy at all. The money we make here is mostly used to pay different taxes from local government to state government in order for us to excavate the sand and also to give the official some money so as not to disturb us....Well the standard of living here is so poor because the activities of the industries here is not even helping matter at all...They exploit the indigene that work for them and they also degraded the land which also make people like us to resolve into sand excavation so as to get means of livelihood (FGD, male, sand tipper driver, Atan, Ado-Odo/Ota LGA).

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLU-SION
Inferring from the entire study, it has been pertinent that the effective response to mitigating land resources mismanagement call for a proper understanding of the problems, especially at the local level. This study affirms that the resultant implication of poor land utilization in the host community has encourages decline in quality of life, quality of environment, quality of food production and price increase in the commodity which has a causal effect on the standard of living of people in the study area. Essentially, this study acknowledges that the main economic impact of land degradation was on agricultural productivity which affected sustainability of human development in the host community.
In order to combat the challenges of poor land utilization in Nigeria, so as to achieve some of the developmental agendas engaged upon around the world, such as the need to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and ensure environmental sustainability, there is need for the following recommendation: Management of land use or control of poor land use can only succeed if land users have control and commitment to maintain the quality of the resources. Sand excavators, trees fellers and farmers should be made accountable for their involvement in land resources utilization in order to reduce the problem of poor land utilization in the host community. Land resources protection should be implemented to alleviate poverty in the host community since the poor are the hardest hit of the challenges of poor land usage when it occurs.
Self-sustaining job should be provided by government and through partnership with investors in harnessing the opportunities available in the agricultural sectors thereby reducing poor usage of land and increasing food security in the country.
Essentially, appropriate management for land resources can be used sustainably in productive way of increasing people's livelihood options through the development of agricultural sector in generating income for individuals, thereby reducing loss in human resource needed leading to enhanced food production.