Nocturnal Developments in the Jos Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine the series of development that takes within the Jos metropolis, Nigeria without proper consultation and with permission following the acceptable planning standard. By examining the time of development and examining the process followed to put the development in the location either uphill or low land. The instruments employed were face-to-face interviews and reviews of archived documents on the implementation of master plans and other options to control haphazard development over the past 20 years. The data obtained through the face-to-face interviews and the archive documents were analysed using the thematic and content analyses. The results obtained revealed that the developments have been carried out haphazardly, which was affected by unproved legislation, the plethora of planning authorities covering the planning region. Hence the consideration of the strategies to employ for the implementation of plans concluded with the recommendations to help practitioners, policy makers and academia.

1. Introduction

Rapid urbanisation in recent times indicates accelerated urban growth and significantly influenced urban form in very profound ways, especially in most exploding uncontrolled cities of less developing countries. Hence, such urbanisation has been characterised by poor housing, poor transportation, inadequate social services, poor environmental quality, extreme poverty and physical dereliction of basic infrastructure amongst others leading to high levels of urban poverty as argued by Wapwera and Dung-Gwom and Bashir [1, 2]. The urban poors are usually unable to obtain land and housing through the formal channels as such have been forced to seek shelter in marginal lands and sometimes even built on lands without following the regular protocol of obtaining permission making them obtained shelter with high environmental and ecological risks [2, 3].

This action has culminated into unprecedented share scale and pace of contemporary urban growth, the most rapid changes in urban form, pattern and structure are taking place where historical roots are weakest and are observed in some settlements with specific peculiarities. Most buildings are constructed in a quake way, casting doubts on their foundation and lacking capacity to withstand harsh weather and environmental conditions any time it comes. This situation shows that the buildings are usually built with substandard materials, boards and zinc sheeting, as well as recycled and mixed materials, which make the houses very vulnerable as argued in Ref. [4].

These buildings are manifesting varying defaults that are very dangerous to life and properties. Recent researchers have shown that these developments have taken place usually at night and at less active hours and times of the day where visibility is not readily available. Based on this observation, it means that some buildings are done at night rather than day time. They could be termed nocturnal buildings or developments.

Nocturnality could be considered as a condition of being active or taking place during the night or the active behaviour of an animal or plant during the night (and then inactive during the day), as observed in this case, having developments of building and structures within some specific areas of the urban metropolis.

Hence, nocturnality refers to the condition of being active or happening during the night and not during the daytime. Worthy of note at this juncture is the fact that nocturnality could be more attributed to behaviour and it could be influenced by environmental factors, which in this instance have forced the people to build at odd hours thereby getting wrong and arbitrary results.

Developments are activities that modified the physical environment; these include mining, minerals or waste disposal matters, excavation, and erection of both temporary and permanent structures as shelter where man works, plays and lives. These activities are expected to be controlled and dealt with by government of county councils in cities and metropolitan areas as argued by Ratcliffe et al. [5]. And if these developments take place without control, it becomes haphazard and hence needs to be checked. Nocturnal development has attracted increased attention in recent years as a result of the default observed from the houses, structures, nature and patterns that have emerged. Hence, a careful assessment of the nocturnal development on household livelihood and income is very low compared to those within planned and organised spaces. Development control (DC), otherwise known as planning control, is a management component of the United Kingdom‘s planning system for the town and country planning, through which local government regulates land use and new building control. It relies on a ‘plan-led system’ whereby urban and regional development plans are formed and the public is consulted.

Ratcliffe et al. [5] Observed that any development requires planning permission, which is granted or refused by reference to the development plans as a material consideration. The term ‘development control’ is often abbreviated to DC. Previous studies have shown that there are 421 local planning authorities (LPAs) in the United Kingdom while in Nigeria there are 774 local government areas (PAs) and yet they do not have planning departments or sections. Hence, the results obtained are manifested in a chaotic, uncoordinated physical environment lacking in every basic facility.

The efforts put in place to meet one of the goals of the sustainable development Goals [6] especially those that which concerns the Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. It is expected that by 2030, people will have access all too adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgraded slums. This would be achieved by reducing the proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing. Recent studies have shown that there is dearth of need as it relates to physical planning to address the issues relating to slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing. Studies by Dung-Gwom and Bashir [2] on planning, housing and environmental challenges of Hilltop Settlements in Zinariya and Azurfa Areas of Jos, Nigeria, [7], characteristics and Planning Challenges of Hilltops Settlements in Jos Metropolis, Nigeria and [8], Nature of peri-urban development in Jos, Nigeria show that developments emerge at locations where the provision of basic infrastructure are not readily available and hence the need for the provision by government through their planning authorities.

The physical planning strategies in Jos metropolis, Nigeria are geared towards identifying and targeting such developments, by conserving the available priorities, risks, opportunities and gaps in the urban and regional areas. It is not a static blueprint plan, but an attempt to understand the social, economic and environmental resources within each jurisdiction, linkages within and between urban and regional areas and upgrade of infrastructure. Based on this system of physical planning these developments were observed. It’s incumbent upon the government, planning authorities and the communities affected to take proactive measures towards addressing the growing menace.

A strong planning system relies on up-to-date plans, enhanced with current information to address the wicked and dangerous problems that are dynamic in nature. Most African countries lack such systems as these physical planning problems are evident, hence affecting cities and most urban areas as managing them is an uphill task needing the attention of planners and allied experts as well as technocrats in the built environment. Hence, sprawling conditions characterised by fast slums occurring make the problem grow rather than diminish [9]. A plan that identifies and brings forth adequate quantities of land for development into safe and accessible locations is most appreciated as argued by many in recent times.

The era and legacy of failed master plans that are rigid and fixed have left cities, urban areas, residents and the surrounding environment poorly equipped to cope with the exploding urbanisation levels [10]. These cities are important to Africa and Nigeria in particular but are characterized by poor growth and haphazard developments. But due to poor provision of the needed infrastructure such as sophisticated management and effective leadership, it has been robbed of standard and effective plan-led modernisation and growth [11, 12, 13].

The choice of the study problem nocturnal developments is based on the fact that areas originally earmarked as buffer zones within a planned environment suddenly are occupied by buildings and settlements emerging without control. Secondly, attempts were made to plan the Zinariya and other areas into a low-density area, after the de-gazetting of the Naraguta Forest Reserve in 1985. The green areas were encroached upon and also sold and ‘illegally’ occupied by low-income earners, who were unable to go through the cumbersome and unending process of land processing and documentation in the numerous planning authorities as argued by Dung-Gwom and Bashir [2].

Furthermore, there has been no review of the master plan of Jos to incorporate these changes and to ensure proper integration of these areas into the city system. Rough terrain and steep slopes pose great challenges to housing development with inadequate provision of infrastructures, no road designed and its consequent construction amongst others. Due to the high level of poverty and the fact that these areas are mostly inhabited by low-income earners, the residents are unable to provide these facilities, utilities and services on their own. Hence, the quality of housing development is generally poor, lacking in design, inadequate spacing, poor orientation and ventilation exhibiting the weak or non-existence of the presence of development control in the settlements observed to have emerged.

The underlying theories in this chapter are the theory of institutional deficiency and the theory of planning practice which are confirmed by the elements of the non-implementation of the Greater Jos Urban Master Plan due to the following; inadequate man-power, high level of corruption, Bureaucratic Bottleneck and Red Tape, Delay and negligence of responsibility amongst others as argued by Mahalingam and Levitt [14]. The theory of planning practice is also made manifest in all the planning authorities, a good organisation for industrial experience for planners and other professionals within the built environment at various levels, having gone a long way to enriching the town planning courses in tertiary institutions where training takes place and where the planning authorities send employees for industrial experience for different durations.

Also, constraints have been identified with the absence of an appropriate framework to analyse the current institutional framework within which the planning authorities exist in Jos Metropolis, Nigeria and how the constraints have affected the functionality of the framework towards the implementation of the Ref. [15] and other related plans within the Jos metropolis, Nigeria.

Furthermore, the government needs to ensure participation by all and sundry, by working with the less privileged and marginalised groups. A conscious involvement of the public sector by placing much emphasis on traditions, legislation and methods of urban and regional planning, and bringing about the reduction in the dichotomy of the distribution of resources across regions. Good governance brings about good planning because it is vital to the design and implementation of any plan because the market forces usually are too overwhelming. Hence, the solution is always ineffective public sector action, as the government plays a vibrant role in stabilising the economy by providing the needed infrastructure. A good planning approach has a great tendency to contribute to Nigeria’s development because it possesses the technical capacity to deliver planning at both the local, state and national levels to bring about sustainable development in Jos Metropolis, Nigeria.

it is against this background that this chapter seeks to examine the series of nocturnal development that takes within the Jos metropolis, Nigeria without proper consultation and permission as well as following the acceptable planning standard. This would be achieved by examining the time of development and the process followed to put the developments in the settlements that have emerged either on uphill or low land with a view to making recommendations to address the physical planning problem.

2. Literature review

The review of literature will be considered under two parts vis; the time of development and the process of development followed to put the development in the locations.

2.1 Time of development

The consideration of the concepts of development and nocturnality has become very pertinent at this juncture to provide vital information as it relates to the development of the urban environment, which has become the major issue at stake as it relates to physical development of the said areas [16].

Development is not purely an economic phenomenon but rather a multi-dimensional process involving reorganisation and reorientation of an entire economic and social system. In related studies such as those by RTPI and Rydin [17, 18] observed that development is a process of improving the quality of all human lives with three equally important aspects vis;

1. Raising peoples’ living levels, that is, incomes and consumption, levels of food, medical services and education through relevant growth processes,

2. Creating conditions conducive to the growth of people’s self-esteem through the establishment of social, political and economic systems and institutions, which promote human dignity and respect.

3. Increasing people’s freedom to choose by enlarging the range of their choice variables, for example, varieties of goods and services.

Development is defined to include mining, minerals or waste disposal matters, excavation, and erection of both temporary and permanent which is dealt with by county councils in non-metropolitan areas [5]. It was further considered under Section 55(1) of the 1990 TCPA defined development as: ‘The carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land or making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land’.

From the above definition, two major elements are evident (operation) and material change of use (activity).

2.2 Nocturnal developments

Nocturnality is the act or condition of being active or taking place during the night or the active behaviour of an animal or plant during the night (and then inactive during the day). Hence, nocturnal developments could rightly refer to the condition of being active or happening during the night and not during the day time and for the purpose of this study for building of structures for human habitation. These are developments that occur without obtaining any permission from any regulatory agency making it possible for developments to take place without control showing haphazard developments (building and structures), which needs to be checked. The implication is that these developments occur negating the following development control regulations such as: permitted land uses, set-backs, building heights, plot coverage for different density zones (low, high and medium), permitted fence heights, number of entrances permitted to a plot and available parking spaces amongst others [19].

The aforementioned Nocturnal developments are organised by governments and institutions with intension of improving night-time safety on public transport (Infrastructure) in urban areas, to encourage women and children to travel at night. Even though two-thirds (2/3) of women are afraid to travel on public transport at night and have safety concerns over using car parks after dark [20].

Most planning policies consider bringing activities into city centres at night for safety reasons, hence introducing safety measures, such as better street lighting, improvements to car park design and many other things. The provision of open parking areas is seen as safer for women than multi-storey car parks. Other things considered are improved public transport including evening hail and ride bus services; shorter train carriages to increase occupancy and a well-lit station entrance. Furthermore, another hopeful sign for the future is the development of light rail systems, which may bring safer travel into inner urban areas [19].

Nocturnal developments are developments usually characterised by lack of basic infrastructural facilities such as water, drainage system, sanitation facilities, inaccessibility and lack of sufficient space amongst others as argued by Wapwera et al. [21]. They are also commonly seen as breeding grounds for social vices and problems such as crime and high rates of psychological maladjustments. The developments generally lack infrastructural facilities, such as good water, electricity, drainages and roads usually caused by the low-income levels of the inhabitants. Governments are not aware of their conditions because they do not contact government for adequate planning regulations and advice. Hence, these nocturnal developments are often faced with the brunt of natural and man-made disasters such as fire outbreaks, flooding, disease outbreaks and the likes [19].

2.3 The process of development

The section seeks to consider the concept of development control, evolution of development control, legacies of development control in Nigeria, philosophy of development control and development control mechanism.

2.4 The concept of development control

Urban areas accommodate more than half of the global population [13]. They are thus centres of high economic and commercial activities. In Africa, urbanisation is surging so fast that the continent is envisaged to account for 21% of the global urban population by the year 2050 [22].

The Nigeria Urban and Regional Planning Degree number 88 of 1992 describes development as “the carrying out of any building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on: over or under any land, or the making of any environmentally significant change in the use of any land or demolition of building including the felling of frees and placing of frees-standing erection used for display or advertisements on the land of the expression “develop” with its grammatical variations shall be constructed accordingly. Meanwhile, control means the process of exercising power over one’s area of jurisdiction to check development as argued by Ogundele et al. [23].

Hence, development control is the regulation power exercised by planning agencies to either approve or reject a development application [23]. It is a system by which the use of land and buildings on the land are regulated so that misuses or above of use and nonconforming uses are prevented or checked.

Development control is the cornerstone, the biting tooth of physical planning. Without it, physical planning becomes inactive and impractical. It is the medium through which formulated policy proposals are implemented. Development control in all ramifications is simply put as the way and manner in which land use or spatial development of land is regulated [24]. Dung-Gwom [25] sees it as a cardinal means through which government implement their land policies. The definition of what constitutes development control and its objectives differ from person to person over the years.

Dung-Gwom [25] outline four (4) broad strands to the meaning given to the term ‘development control’ as means of implementing development plan, facilitating development, ensuring good quality environment and protecting a property owner’s immediate environment. In developed countries, development control has been used as a means of involving the people in the development of their environment (public participation) since development control is a tool for plan implementation as used by town planners. Dung-Gwom [25] sees it as a means of facilitating development through the mutual contributions of the private and public sectors. But most developers see development control as an aberration or impediment to achieving their development goals and objectives as it is too rigid or negative to their interest [17, 18].

Hence, Aluko [26] defined Development Control as the power to say “Yes” or “No” to a very wide range of private and (certainly public) proposals”.

Development control could be divided into the following:

1. Macro and micro

2. Normative and monitoring dimension [26]

3. Negative and Positive instruments of control.

Development control stands at the heart of urban development. It is a technical tool for ensuring that all users of urban land exercise some discipline in land development in conformity with planning rules and regulations. For the purpose of this chapter, development is the ‘procedure and substantive rules through which physical modification of the environment is decided upon by planning authorities’ hence, whatever the planning authorities decide as the procedures and substantive rules through which development is decided should be done in consultation with developers so they are carried along to improve on the level of awareness and compliances. Consequently, development plan set out the land use policy for an area on which development control is based. It guides the granting and refusal of permission to carry out development. Development plans are considered “as the fulcrum upon which development control oscillates as argued in [13].

2.5 Evolution of development control

The concept of development control started in the early nineteenth century, with its protagonist as Todor, Start and Georgian. It evolved as a result of the massive industrialisation of the 19th and 20th centuries, which led to large-scale production and population growth, congestion and overcrowding.

This increase led to alteration in the physical appearance of industrial towns and brought with it its own set of problems. Further studies by several scholars noted that the form and location of development have become haphazard, creating a bewildering mixture of functions and qualities of the environment as argued by Datonjo et al. [27].

The outcome, therefore, was an unacceptable urban environment with disorganised layout, social and economic deprivation and general public health risks, leading to the spread of diseases such as cholera, malaria, typhoid and spinal meningitis amongst others within the period 1830s–1840s [26].

These identified problems necessitated the desire for an ideal environment. Hence, it was from this desire that the concept of a planned and ordered environment emerged [28]. These strategies were adopted for the ordering and control of land use and the implementation of these strategies was legalised by certain statutes. For instance, the first piece of Land use control regulation in Britain was the housing, Town planning (Act of 1909) and the local authorities with powers to prepare schemes to control the development of new housing estates.

Presently the practice of development control takes various forms. The system is either centralised as in Britain or decentralised as in the Scandinavia. It is either reactive or proactive and regulatory or discretionary in some countries. For instance, American and British land use control methods represent opposite extreme approaches. The American system depends on the establishment of formal and consistent standards and the avoidance of discretionary power in the hands of planning authorities, while the British system involves discretionary development control powers [17, 18].

The variation in development control approaches is influenced by legal and constitutional structures, administration and professional cultures or history. The social and economic ideologies in a country also influence the system. There are, however, countries that have similar planning systems, such as Nigeria and Britain, as the Nigerian town and country planning Acts ordinance 1946 was an offshoot of the 1933 town and country planning Act of the United Kingdom [17, 18]

2.6 Legacies of development control in Nigeria

The rapid rate of population growth in Nigeria and the attendant problems associated with such rapid growth calls for development control measures to avoid environmental, social and economic decay and protect the overall interest of the public [26].

The following development control legacies will be considered in this section see Table 1:

Year	Name of legislation	Description of the main features of the legislatives effort made
1863	Township Improvement Ordinance	It represents the first ever legislation on urban planning in Nigeria. It was published in Lagos for the Lagos colony by the colonial government. Its main objectives were to control development and sanitation in Lagos. The enforcement of this ordinance rested with the health Department of the defunct Lagos city council. Because, the focus of the ordinance was on urban sanitation, many planners regard it as a health regulation, rather than an urban and regional planning legislation.
1904	Cantonment Declaration	It was the first real planning legislation in Nigeria. It was derived from attempt to protect Europeans from health hazards so prevalent in the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries. Thus in 1904, the governor in southern Nigeria was empowered to declare any area a European Reservation within its own Local Health Board. Its main aim was to improve and preserve the health of Europeans in the reservation. The Lagos Municipal Health Board was established in 1908 to administer this ordinance.; The regulations were to be administered by a magistrate. It was concerned with Land use and the need to improve health conditions within the cantonment. An interesting part of the provision was that large cities were divided into wards (Ungwa) and the chief of each ward was responsible for its sanitation. The proclamation also introduced the use of incinerators, latrines pits and cemeteries.
1917	The Township Ordinance	Unarguably the first statute on town and country planning in Nigeria was the Town Planning Ordinance, No. 29 of 1917. Its main objective was to establish the broad principles of municipal responsibility, graduated according to the importance of the community and measure of its ability to accept and discharge satisfactorily independent and quasi-independent powers and responsibilities. The ordinance not only served as a legal basis for development of towns for most part of the colonial administration, but also gave guidelines for construction of buildings, control of development and finance of land in the urban areas.; It classified cities into three categories: first, second and third class townships (policy of segregation on the basis of enclave for European (reservation), southern Nigerians in the north (Sabon gari) and northern Nigerians in the south (Sabo) (Mabogunje, 1985). Streets in European reservation were to be broad and paralleled. It provided detailed compound size, depth of plot coverage, etc, for development in the reservations. In a way, the ordinance introduced zoning and sub-division regulations into planning practice in Nigeria for the first time. The segregative nature of the ordinance marked the origin of development of slums in Nigerian cities.
1928	Town Planning Ordinance	The creation of Lagos Executive Board. It made provision for Slum clearance, Land reclamation, residential and industrial estates and its undertook comprehensive land use planning and development in Lagos. It was in place for 18 years and served as the basis for the framework of the 1946 planning law.
1946	Town and Country Planning Ordinance	Cap 155 of the 1946 edition of the Laws of Nigeria.; It was adopted by all the regions in Nigeria under various codes. It covered a wide range of planning operations such as planning schemes, planning authorities, preparation and approval of schemes, execution of schemes, acquisition and disposal of land for scheme preparation, compensation and betterment, the legal procedures for the operations of schemes and financial matters for successful implementation of schemes. Hence, a summary of the functions of planning authorities under the 1946 ordinance as follows: They were autonomous statutory organization as established by the planning laws of the state. Prepare town planning schemes and implement them in stages. Approve layouts and building plans after scrutiny within the framework of building bye-laws, sub-division and zoning regulation. Ensure that owner of landed properties adhere to the building bye-laws and other regulations as contained in the planning scheme. Enforce strict compliance with requirements of town and country planning laws of the state. Accepts any rates, money, property or other assistance for the purpose of executing the scheme (S.59) or raise revenue for planning purposes through imposition of levy and collection of rates. They were required to control and manage their own finances and may even buy, sell, or let, hire, lease, exchange or otherwise dispose of any property, movable or immovable.

Table 1.

Development control legacies.

Source: Compiled by author from various sources

2.7 Philosophy of development control

The models (ideas) of development control vary from one society to another. But three models are considered here as outlined by Hassane Cisse et al. [29], as follows:

1. The free market model (traditional/natural model)

2. The public intervention model (modern model)

3. The cooperation community model (The emerging model and originated from the western world) [26].

2.8 Development control mechanism

In order to control development, several techniques have been used, see Table 2:

SN	Mechanism	Description of the mechanism
1	Land Use Zoning	It was developed at the beginning of the 20^th century in the United States of America as a means of controlling nuisance and protecting landed property values through the regulation of land use activities. The idea of Zoning district arises from the notion that segregation of certain uses from the notion that segregation of certain uses from others reduce the effects of negative externalities which some uses have over others. But it has been severely argued that zoning is not an effective tool for development control as rapid urbanization has rendered it ineffective unlike at the beginning and middle of 20^th century when the rate was low. Planners have therefore devised ways of situating different land uses within a district Reps (1964) is of the view that zoning is an unnecessarily prolong land use device. He further stated that the powers of zoning and other development control techniques are grossly inadequate when measured against different development patterns. Zoning is a powerful tool and with recent proliferation of zoning innovations, it is now designed to make it more flexible and responsible to the needs of Land use implementation process.
2	Planning Standards	Planning standards are regulatory mechanisms put in place to ensure that development is conducted in accordance with certain predetermined minimum standards. But planning standards of compatibility and incompatibility are objective, scientific and as a practical matter enforceable.; Incompatibility of uses can be measured by factors such as danger to morals, aesthetics, psychological factors, etc. The techniques of using standards for different land use zones, ensures that uses which will adversely affect harmony of the area are not allowed.; Some of the relevant planning standard (legislations which serve as guidelines for development control include:-; Building regulations (bye-laws) Control of advertisement regulations Listed classes order Use classes order. Building bye-laws beside others regulates the construction, alteration, maintenance, repair and demolition of building and structures.; The bye-laws are implemented through the following:-; Density and height Setting in accordance with –stipulated floor ratio Standard in regards to minimum space requirement. It is to mainly focus on the degree of compliance and the impacts of theses standard and regulations on the physical environment.

Table 2.

Development control mechanisms.

Source: Compiled by author from various sources

3. Methodology

The Jos metropolis, Nigeria was carved out of two local government areas namely; Jos North and Jos South LGAs. The survey instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire doctored on the Samsung Galaxy tab N225T. This was to help in obtaining a direct geo-reference and subsequently Geotag and pictures the buildings amongst others. The Survey 123 App with other support applications, such as the Arc GIS Explorer and Measure Height, where satellite images and aerial photographs were used to observe developments within the study area (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Area within Jos-Bukuru metropolis, Nigeria.

The second instrument used is the face-to-face interviews where purposive sampling techniques were used. Two heads of planning authorities saddled with the responsibility of development control, three community heads ‘mai anguwas’ and five house owners (developers) were interviewed, giving a total of 10 (ten) interviews coming from non-streets nomenclature as observed from the figure above. The face-to-face interview questions were structured according to the main questions asked at the inception of the study.

The third instrument used was the review of archived documents on the implementation of master plans and other options used to control development. In addition, there was an observation of buildings, streets, access roads, drainages, utilisation options of electricity, water and some community facilities within the study area to observe non-compliance to building and development regulations to drive home the assertion of nocturnal developments observed in the study area.

The data obtained through the satellite images were analysed using spatial analytic methods to observe the development within the study areas over time. The face-to-face interviews and the archive documents were analysed using the thematic and content analyses.

The next section considers the results obtained from the extensive research activities carried out to meet the aim of the study.

4. Findings and discussion

4.1 Nocturnal development

This section considers land law and planning, land and planning administrative structure in Jos metropolis, Nigeria. The implementation of the development control within the Jos metropolis, Nigeria.

4.1.1 The land law and the planning law adopted in the Jos metropolis, Nigeria

For any development to emerge, there are two basic laws that are directly linked to land operations and the development of buildings and related development are the land and planning laws. These two are statutory control of land use in Nigeria. The 1978 Land use Act is the operative land law in each state under the governor.

He is empowered by the act to grant statutory rights of occupancy to developers conferring on the legal rights over land (Section 5 of the land use Act, [30]).

The right of occupancy is a tool for development control, which requires an individual and corporate organisation to obtain prior consent from the government before they could “Occupy and use: Land.”

It has been in the statute books since 1910. The importance of the statutory R of O is that it ensures ‘Planned development and zoning programming’ as grants are made consistent with planning schemes and policies.

The aim of this chapter is to examine the emerging phenomenon of nocturnal building developments that is developments that are seen springing through the hours of the night only to be seen completed by morning. These ‘unplanned developments’ are a deviation from the norm. The usage of these laws ‘land and planning laws’ for physical land use planning in Nigeria is within the competence of state governments, through the planning authorities. These were adopted by the regional governments at various times under different captions. It is the Law in operation within Plateau State until the Nigerian Urban and regional Planning Law No. 88 of March 1992 [31] was promulgated.

The 1992 URP law replaced the planning authorities with planning boards at the state level. Each board is expected to establish a development control department, which grants building permits for all forms of development. In Plateau state, however, there is a planning board with zonal offices, but how effective they are in controlling developments it is against this backdrop that the data collected and analysed to see how developments have presented themselves and how we have the developments also known as nocturnal.

The main aim of the 1978 Land Use Act (Land law) was to ensure that everyone had equal access to land in urban areas for the purpose of house building. But the Government is unable to address the problems that arise, clear land and reform the inherent tenure system that has been prevalent in the country and that has left problems unresolved, even in the face of pressure to acquire or gain access to land for development. The community system vested power of title of land on the families, communities and the village headman/mai ungwa amongst others.

Each regime of government tends to favour its loyal supporters and is usually highly politicised, causing delays in the processing of land titles; certificates of ownership and right of occupancy (C of O and R of O) as argued by Wapwera [1].

This situation has not helped the system making new developers of the settlements in the study, hence the serious development and construction of buildings and structures in the odd hours of the day due to non-permission to build. For further details see Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 2.

Zinaria Settlement with Haphazard Developments within a difficult Topography.

Figure 3.

Kabong Settlement with Haphazard Developments within a difficult Topography.

The face-to-face interviews conducted with the developers lead to the revelation that their houses are built without any planning permission; hence, their communities are developing and growing in a completely unplanned manner. This is because they find it difficult to obtain any title documents or a law guiding the development of their houses. Over 80% of the developers agreed that they do not have approved building plans from the relevant planning authority (Jos Metropolitan Development Board) and the land titles documents from (Ministry of Lands Survey and Town Planning) stating the appropriate land used designed for the areas under discussion are not known to them.

4.2 The land and planning administrative structure in Jos Metropolis, Nigeria

The planning administrative structure in Jos Metropolis, Nigeria shows the linkages that help in the execution of the plan and the statutory plan of the given area. This administrative setup is vital in achieving the aim of a well-planned environment. For the purpose of this paper, two physical planning agencies saddled with the responsibility of regulating the activities were identified. The responsibility of granting statutory rights of occupancy (R of O) to private and corporate developers is the function of the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Town Planning (MLSTP). For further details see Box 1.

Box 1.

Processes of obtaining the R of O. Source: MLS & TP Jos (2022).

1. application by developer

2. registration

3. survey report

4. land report

5. planning report

6. land use allocation committee deliberation/recommendation

7. governor’s approval (or otherwise)

8. issuance of r of o

The procedures do not vary whether for private or corporate developers and whether on isolated sites or within a government scheme (layout). The three technical reports from survey, lands and planning have to be recommended for the granting of an R of O. If any of the reports are negative, the application is refused or rejected and the applicant is duly informed.

The survey report “charts” the application to ensure that the land is not within a railway or major road reservation (i.e., within a town plan, etc). The land report checks that the land is not required for public purpose (Section 50 of the 1978 (Land Use Act)). The nature of existing land use service available, setbacks from streets, access, and conformity with the master plan amongst others are the primary concern of the planning report. Other requirements include tax clearance certification and evidence of ownership (for isolated cases).

For private companies, they need to make available a certification of incorporation. The main procedures for processing applications for building permits as obtained from Ref. [32] are as Seen in Box 2.

Box 2.

Processes of obtaining a permit. Source: Authors Field work and extract from MLS&TP, (2022) and JMDB (2019).

1. Application by developer

2. Registration

3. Joint site inspection

4. Planning recommendation

5. Health recommendation

6. Engineering recommendation, if over two floors or a large development.

7. Approval (or otherwise) of plan by Chief Town Planning Officer.

8. Granting of building permit.

Considerations during the building permit stage are on site-specific with details of density, bulk, setbacks, structural soundness, drainage and ventilation amongst others. A detailed examination of procedures for obtaining R of O and building permit shows that the process is cumbersome and un-ending classified by huge bureaucratic bottleneck and red-tapes from one directorate/division/section to the other.

Our face-to-face interviews with the developers led to the revelation that their areas are developing and growing in a completely unplanned and haphazard manner because they find it difficult to describe the location of their houses. However, several of their visitors have observed that locating their houses have always been difficult due to the unplanned nature of their settlement. A total of 80% of the developers agreed that they do not have approved building plans from the relevant planning authority’s such as the (Jos Metropolitan Development Board) and the land titles documents from the Ministry of Lands Survey and Town Planning stating the appropriate land used designed for the areas under discussion are not known to them.

This creates a lot of problems for development and land administration and management in Jos metropolis, Nigeria over the years. It is due to the seriousness of this problem that almost every new administration in the state always set a committee to proffer solutions to the cumbersome and unending land administrative processes and subsequent control in most urban areas; 70% of the respondents acknowledged this and look forward to obtaining a positive result. Has that been achieved?

The problem has manifested in the numerous forms of developments with fanciful names with an effort to explain its natural occurring state, for instance, Hilltop developments, road-site developments, urban sprawl developments and leap frog developments among the current studies on nocturnal developments.

In time past committees such as the Lot’s Report of 1985 and victor Pam’s Report on JMDB in 1999, researches from experts in the built environment and related disciplines have yielded some results and are documents as major findings, including the reports from boards of enquiries see Box 3.

Box 3.

Major findings. Source: Authors field work, 2022.

1. Both private and public developers face numerous problems in their efforts to acquire land for development.

2. There was a huge backlog of applications unattended to by the departments of Lands and survey.

3. The governor was pre-occupied with other state matters or to sign certificates of occupancy.

4. There was a serious drain of technical staff to private sector and other public organizations.

5. Haphazard developments abound in the rural, sub-urban and urban areas of the state.

6. Cumbersome procedures and delays in the processing of and granting of statutory R of O

7. Jurisdiction conflict between JMDB, LGAs within the metropolis and MLS & TP in the insurance of certificates of occupancy and development control matters.

8. Duplication of functions by the present structure of having town planning division in JMDB and MLS & T.P as well as the LGAs.

9. Compensation remains the greatest hindrance to urban planning and development not only in Plateau state, but in the country as a whole.

10. Vacant (undeveloped) plots are common features in Jos metropolis. This may not be unconnected with the difficulty of obtaining development permits.

11. Large parcel of land acquired by public bodies remained fallow for long periods of time without being developed.

12. Large chunks of land in the GRA, green belts, government layouts, public open spaces has been excised by past governments and allocated to top government officials and their relations.

13. Record keeping in the M.L.S & T.P was (and still so) chaotic and insufficient.

14. Basic planning and land management equipment such as priority maps are in shreds and outdated.

15. Revenue allocation was totally dismal.

16. The LUAC has not been functioning since 1996(especially in Plateau) and so could not perform its statutory function assigned to it by the Land Use Act of 1978.

No magic can be expected from public land management characterized by these alarming flaws.

From the findings indicated in Box 4, it is characterised by inadequate manpower, bureaucratic bottleneck, and inadequate materials such as maps, plans, current laws and poor bookkeeping. It demonstrated the theory of institutional deficiency which explains the state of planning and the manifested nocturnal developments which pose a danger to people in the urban areas and specifically to the areas under scrutiny.

Box 4.

legal, administrative and cultural constraints. Source: Authors Field work, 2022.

1. Too much power in concentrated on the state governor under the Land Use Act, which has been heavily misused by him.

2. Lack of based maps for survey, development control and monitoring and evaluation.

3. The shortage of technical staff in the MLS & T.P and JMDB.

4. Lack of funds amidst wanton corruption by government officials

5. Conflict and lack of cooperation between the numerous planning agencies in the state.

6. Corruption by public officials and lack of commitment

7. Delay in the processing and granting of land titles and building permits which are unaffordable to the poor.

8. Lack of political commitment.

9. Land Use Act Committee (LUAC) not functioning

10. No payment of compensation for Public Land Acquisition.

11. Lack of public participation in the administration of land and formation of policies.

12. Existence of customary land tenure. The land Use Act has not been able to do away with the existence of customary land tenure as was initially intended (as over 90% of vacant urban land is under customary tenure)

13. Campaign against sale of customary lands

4.3 Implementation of the development control within the Jos Metropolis, Nigeria

The process of implementation is facilitated by the usage of Legal tools, administrative and political will to ensure well-planned developments within and outside Jos Metropolis. The process of development control implementation in Nigeria involves two things: These are granting of planning permits (building permits) and the enforcement of development. Here, there are other forms of control such as control of advertisement, wasteland, land deferment and building of architectural (aesthetic) or historical interest.

The implementation includes the following stages, see Table 3.

	Stages	Development control processes and
1	Procedures of obtaining planning Permission	Planning permission is synonymous to development permit. It refers to the permission granted by planning authorities to develop a piece of land or building [31].; A relevant development is expected to be approved before commencement of work. An application for a building permit must be followed by information such as plans, designs and righty of occupancy (R of O). The planning authority considers the application with regards to the development plan of the area before recommending approval, refusal or approval; with conditions. The following are reasons why a permit is rejected; The development is not in accordance with an approved plan. The development is likely to have a major (negative) impact on the environment, facilities or inhabitants of the community. Also, according to the law, in addition to the application, a developer must submit a detailed Environment Impact statement (EIS) while applying for: A residential land in excess of 2ha. A factory or an office building in excess of four floors or 500 square metres of lettable space. Permission for a major recreational development. An approved planning permission is expected to remain valid for two years.; In a situation where a developer is not satisfied with the decision of the planning authority, he is allowed to make an appeal.
2	Enforcement of development control	Basically, there are three stages in the process of enforcing development control measures. Building Inspectors are charged with the responsibility of investigating cases of contravention in the town and reporting same to the higher town planning officer who may serve contravention notices if need be. A development carried out with or without planning permission or in breach of the condition to an approved planning (building) permit is usually served with stop work notice.; The notice specifies: The alleged bridge of planning control The steps to be taken to remedy the bridge. The period (21dyas) within which the steps are to be taken [31]. A developer who fails to comply with the stop-work order is to be served with enforcement order/notice within 21 days.; In the case of where a developer fails to comply with the terms of an enforcement notice or disregard a stop-work notice issued, he is guilty of an offence liable to a fine of N50,000 for a corporate body and a fine of N10,000 for an individual [31]. Alternatively, the Control department is empowered to undertake any requisite work (demolition) themselves at the expense of the property owner.; It is one of the cardinal objectives of this research to explore the procedures for obtaining planning (building) permission specifically for the construction of shopping malls and the methods of development control enforcement in regards to such development in Jos Metropolis.

Table 3.

Stages of implementation of development control.

Sources: Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Development Report, [31]

Furthermore, some of the legal, administrative and cultural constraints affecting urban land management in Jos metropolis, Nigeria see Box 4.

From Box 4, it is evident that the control of development by the planning authorities is not effective, leading to recent nocturnal developments coming up in these areas such as Zinari, Azurfa along the Bauchi road along the earmarked slopes, hilltops and river valleys mainly by the urban poor. These settlements face various and serious challenges, such as rugged topography that imposes high cost for the provision of infrastructure, lack of planning and development control, substandard housing, poor access, poor waste disposal systems and poor linkages with other parts of the city. The unique physical and ecological characteristics of the settlements desire environmentally sensitive planning and special intervention by the relevant planning authorities and the government to make them sustainable.

These are some reasons that led to the nocturnal developments observed in most settlements due to high demand for housing land. The general spatial evolvement of developments within the last two decades has expanded rapidly in all directions, see locations such as Jenta Adamu, Mangoro, Kabong, Azurfa and Zinaria along Bauchi Road, Jos North LGA.

From the Azurfa and Zinaria settlements along Bauchi Road in Jos North LGA. The Greater Jos Urban Master (1975-2000) prepared by Doxiades had designated hilly areas as country parks and green areas as well as Buffer Zones to cool off the inner core of the city of Jos, but due to rural–urban migration and the natural increase from the inhabitants of the neighbouring settlements, the area has taken over by developments which are substandard.

However, due to the pressure from rural–urban migration, natural increase as well as the consistent crisis in Jos and its environs that has created isolated segregation of inhabitants across religious differences has given rise to developments of residential housing and anaemic urban planning and inadequate development control strategy, uncontrolled slums, hilltops development and now the nocturnal development. The Jos crises, which started in 2001, further exacerbated the process of sporadic developments in areas with their original land uses around Jenta, Kabong, Azurfa and Zinariya areas. These results are further affirmed by the works of Dung-Gwom and Bashir [2].

The latter two areas being close to the University of Jos have sprung up to provide affordable housing to the rapidly growing staff and students population of the University and spill over population from the nearby high-density areas of Anguwan Rogo and Anguwa Rimi.

Furthermore, recent studies by the World Bank in conjunction with some ministries in the Built Environment on the issue of housing-property enumeration indicated that most of the developments have emerged overnight as could be seen manifested and making further enquiries shows no corresponding information or details in the areas, permit to develop properties, non-possession of C of O and R of O as well as poor planning standard within the study area.

From the foregoing, the non-availability of information about developed properties within and outside the metropolis indicates that there is a pending danger to both individuals and the government, as infrastructure would be provided based on the available people within each area as data and information for such areas are not available for proper planning leading to sustainability. For details of the developments under discussion see the photo gallery obtained from various locations in Jos Metropolis, Nigeria and the subsequent findings obtained from the studies. These are presented as Figures 4–9 (horizontally presented).

Figure 4.

Nocturnal development along difficult topography. Source: Authors fieldwork, 2022.

Figure 5.

Nocturnal development lacking in accessibility, absences of drainage. Source: Authors fieldwork, 2022.

Figure 6.

Nocturnal development along various locations within the metropolis.

Figure 7.

Nocturnal without sewage disposal and draining.

Figure 8.

Nocturnal without sewage disposal & Children’s’ Playground.

Figure 9.

Nocturnal developments without basic infrastructure i.e without sewage disposal, drainages & Children Play ground.

Nocturnal development along difficult topography, that is, rocky/rugged areas Rukuba Road in Jos North LGA, Jos Metropolis, Nigeria, making the houses to be operating without basic amenities.

These developments also show that the location is also a difficult one, lacking in accessibility, absences of drainage and houses are always work in progress.

See the photo gallery showing the physical planning characteristics of the nocturnal developments within the Jos metropolis, Nigeria.

The general characteristic of the areas with nocturnal developments as observed from this study shows the following:

• More around areas with difficult terrains, that is, bad topography that is generally rocky and rugged,

• No playgrounds for children and social facilities within such communities,

• Difficulty in making basic infrastructure available, that is, roads, pipe born water, gas and electricity amongst others,

• Buildings are erected along with telecommunication masks of either MTN, AIRTEL and GLO amongst others, which is risky as a result of vibration and emissions of waves,

• Absence of proper drainages for easy sewage disposal, hence the streets are littered with effluence from houses making the dirty and unkempt,

• Housing developments are generally in the state of work in progress,

• No provision for waste dumping facilities, hence heaps of waste are dumped on the streets and

• All the photographs, aerial and skirts do not depict a single plan as the developments all over are done haphazardly.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

At the onset of this chapter, it sought to examine nocturnal developments that emerged within the Jos metropolis, Nigeria without any permission and planning standard with a view to make recommendations towards addressing the problem of building without permission. To achieve the aim, a review of related literature and the usage of appropriate methods and design for data collection and subsequent analysis were employed to examine the time of development and the process followed to put the development in the locations within the study area. The result revealed that the developments have been carried out haphazardly, which was affected by unproved legislations and the plethora of planning authorities covering the planning region.

The findings revealed that these areas are developing and growing in a completely unplanned and haphazard manner. A total of 80% of the developers agreed that they do not have approved building plans from the relevant planning authority (Jos Metropolitan Development Board) and the land titles documents from the Ministry of Lands Survey and Town Planning stating the appropriate land used designed for the areas under discussion. With all these inadequacies and the pressure of increase in the population of the areas and urban, metropolis also has forced them to build their houses and raise structures and when the planning authorities come to the site cannot destroy such structures considering the fact that it is an investment which usually cost a fortune.

Based on these results and findings from the study the following sets of recommendations were made:

• The time of development for most of the buildings and related structures is usually overnight which goes to say they do not sleep, over gathering and assembling their building materials, hence planning scouts and watchmen or even vigilantes should be engaged to keep watch over most planned and designated areas. Moreover, cameras could be planted all over the place for easy monitoring of any activities. Satellites could also be deployed for monitoring areas with a high tendency to develop overnight.

• The process followed to put the developments has been frustrated by the processing of documents in the planning authorities over the years as it is cumbersome and un-ending, making it difficult to obtain a land document. The minimum duration to obtain a land document of either R of O or C of O in these organisations is usually ten (10) years, due to long or chain of steps involved in the processing of the document and subsequent approval and granting of development permits. The process could be shortened to enhance and facilitate people to register faster and obtained the documents.

From this chapter, nocturnal developments are encouraged by a number of factors that goes from the behaviour of the developers and the planning authorities saddled with the responsibility of development control within the areas. It shows a gross inadequacy in the development and management of the urban metropolis, even though it was unable to bring about controlled urban development and management.

Furthermore, in-depth research is required to compare different methods of organisational-based models of urban development and its management in different countries that would facilitate knowledge transfer amongst developing countries.

Finally, confirmation of the theory of Institutional deficiency and the theory of planning practice, this is confirmed in the elements of the institutional deficiency theory are evident and bringing about the non-implementation of the Greater Jos Urban Master Plan due to the following: inadequate man-power, high level of corruption, Bureaucratic Bottleneck and Red Tape, delay and negligence of responsibility amongst others. The theory of planning practice is also made manifest in all the planning authorities within the built environment, as the areas have continued to grow and develop haphazardly without any form of development control.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to sincerely thank the physical planning authorities saddled with the responsibility of urban development and its management in Jos metropolis, Nigeria for allowing them access to their employees’ views and opinions during the questionnaire administration. Thank you very much. The authors take total responsibility for any typographical errors observed in this article.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.