Nigerian town planners warn estate boom is swallowing farmlands and ancestral land
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Town planners say Nigeria's rush to build housing estates on the edges of major cities is converting farmland and family land faster than planning controls can keep up, threatening food production.
Town planners in Nigeria are pressing for stricter development control, effective zoning and proper approval processes as housing estates, commercial developments and other property projects increasingly take over farmlands, family holdings and ancestral settlements on the fringes of major cities.
The warning comes amid rapid urban expansion, with developers and land speculators moving into peri-urban communities in search of cheaper land. Planners say uncoordinated estate development produces sprawling settlements without adequate roads, drainage, water supply, waste management and public facilities, while eroding ancestral lands and community identity.
A 2025 satellite-based study of Lagos Metropolis found that urban farmland declined significantly between 1984 and 2024, falling by 13.03 per cent between 1984 and 2013 and by a further 21.79 per cent between 2013 and 2024. Farmland covered about 20,103 hectares in 1984, shrinking to roughly 13,674 hectares by 2024. Research published in Frontiers in Sustainable Cities found agricultural land in its study area declined by 32.65 per cent between 1984 and 2016, while built-up land increased from about 1,819 hectares to more than 14,580 hectares.
In the Greater Port Harcourt watershed, a land-use study found that agriculture was the principal source of land converted to urban development between 1986 and 2003. About 422 square kilometres of agricultural land were converted to urban uses in that period, representing roughly 93.3 per cent of all land converted to urban development.
Dr Moses Ogunleye, former president of the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria, attributed the trend to the interplay of the market forces of demand and supply. He warned that poorly coordinated developments could produce blighted neighbourhoods or slums within a decade and hinder food production, urging states to prepare city master plans and regional plans with clear zoning for agricultural uses, plantations and reserves.
Barnabas Atiyaye, managing director of Envicons Team Limited, called for Strategic Agricultural Protection Areas to be identified around rapidly growing cities and built into master and regional development plans, with conversion requiring compelling justification and formal approval. He also backed GIS land-use databases, satellite imagery and an annual Agricultural Land and Urban Expansion Report. Dr Edmund Nwokaeze, first assistant national secretary of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, called for full implementation of planning laws, stronger enforcement of development controls and clear-cut urban growth boundaries to curtail urban sprawl.