REVIEW OF THE FORMS AND PATTERNS OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE SIX GEOPOLITICAL ZONES OF NIGERIA

A REVIEW OF THE FORMS AND PATTERNS OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE SIX GEOPOLITICAL ZONES OF NIGERIA
BY
POPOOLA, OLUWAFEMI OLATUNJI
(URP/2011/046)

RURAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
URP 307

OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, IFE
FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT
DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING

SUBMITTED TO
DR A.A. ABEGUNDE

OCTOBER 2014 INTRODUCTION
Nigeria is located in West Africa, roughly between Latitude 4°N and 14°N and Longitudes 4°E and I5°E. The country's most southerly point is near Brass in the Niger Delta, which is roughly north of the Equator. The country's northern boundary is approximately at 14°N. Her westerly boundary runs roughly along Longitudes 3°E. Her easterly boundary runs from a point to the south west of the estuary of the Cross River to northwards almost to Longitude 15°E, South of Lake Chad. Figure 2.1shows the location of Nigeria.
Nigeria has a total land area of 923,768 square kilometres. This is four times the area of Ghana and about thirteen times the area of Sierra Leone. It is four times the area of the United Kingdom Nigeria covers about one seventh of the productive area of West Africa Nigeria is divided into six geo-political zones for effective administration and political relevance, the zones are:
1. North West, comprising of Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kano, Zamfara and Jigawa states.
2. North Central comprising of Kwara, Kogi, Plateau, Nassarawa, Benue and Niger states.
3. North East comprising Taraba, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Bauchi and Gomb states.
4. South west comprising of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states.
5. South South comprising of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers Cross Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.
6. South East comprising of Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi and Abia states.
Each of these geopolitical zones has its unique style of settlements and ways of doing things. RURAL SETTLEMENT IN NIGERIA
Rural settlements have been described variously by different authors at different points in time. An area is rural in Nigeria if one or more of the following conditions are satisfied;
1. If the population is less than 20,000 inhabitants.
2. The inhabitants are mostly engaged in primary production activities (farming, fishing, tie and die, etc).
3. If the settlement is not a Local Government headaquaters.
4.
TYPES OF RURAL SETTLEMENT
Since time immemorial, man has always sought to stay together with other people of like minds and similar interest; this has led to the formation and establishment of various settlements with different patterns and form. Some of the identified classes of rural settlement include;
1. Farmstead: this is a settlement located right inside the plantation, usually comprising of about two to four houses. Farmers usually stay there when they are working on the plantation and they do not want to return home after each day’s work. A farmstead is usually made up of a farmhouse and the buildings near it such as barns and chicken houses. Such a housing unit is usually the abode of a man, his wife or wives and his children. It is a temporary shelter.
2. Camps: this is a rural settlement with less than ten buildings usually in ribbon form; it may be a temporary settlement. It can be described as
3. Huts: these are settlements with less than 50 buildings. This is a more permanent settlement.
4. Hamlets: A hamlet is made up of a few housing units located in one place. It contains two or more farmers and their households
5. Semitown (Villages): A village consists of a larger number of housing units which may be arranged in a variety of ways in one place. They may be dispersed, in which case a housing unit is separated from its neighbours by large, open spaces, bush or farmland. They may be nucleated in which case the housing units are clustered together. They may be linear as when they are strung along a road or river. A village may have a population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand.
Right from time immemorial, man has always sought to stay together with fellow men; people of like minds. They have formed and development settlements at different times and according to their needs. These settlements include huts, farmstead, camps, villages, cities, metropolis megalopolis etc. these settlements can be further classified according to location, the facilities they possess and the functions they perform. We have the rural settlements and the urban settlements. The rural settlements include huts, camps, farmsteads, villages (semitowns) etc while the cities, metropolis, megalopolis, are classified as urban.
People live in farmsteads, hamlets, villages, towns and cities. These various places where people live are called settlements. A farmstead is usually made up of a farmhouse and the buildings near it such as barns and chicken houses. Such a housing unit is usually the abode of a man, his wife or wives and his children.

NORTHWEST GEOPOLITICAL ZONE
Continual tribal warfare before the British occupation of Northern Nigeria determined the present pattern of densely occupied walled settlements in areas of unoccupied savannah land. Apart from major cities such as Kano and Zaria which are the administrative centres of the Emirates, there are also many smaller walled settlements ringed by bush hamlets. Before the British occupation of Hausaland, the Hausa states had a well-developed, pre-capitalistic economy, a complicated administration, and a varied technology which included many crafts. Despite being heavily populated and the appearance visually of having a definite urban character, the cities were, and still are, essentially, large, walled rural centres. Within the walls of the city, the built-up area is only about half of the total acreage; the remainder being agricultural land.
Two styles of architecture have been identified in the area of housing in the traditional setting. The first is the Hausa homestead, which is the dominant and more stable architecture. The second is the Fulani nomadic shelter, which at best can be referred to astents. They are often constructed of impermanent materials like reeds, leafages and elephant grasses in very simple techniques due to frequency of mobility with change in seasons (Hussaini, 1999). The housing form has been influenced by climatic, religious and sociocultural factors of the environment.

1. Farmstead: Farmsteads are common in this region because their primary activity is farming and animal husbandry. There are a lot of plantations (sugar cane, beans etc), the inhabitants stay in these farmsteads during the planting season.
2. Camps: the nomadic nature of the Hausas means they need to set up camps wherever they go with their herds of cattle. They usually move down south during the dry season in search of green pastures for their animals and livestock. 3. Huts: these are settlements with less than 50 buildings. This is a more permanent settlement 4. Hamlets: A hamlet is made up of a few housing units located in one place. It contains two or more farmers and their households.
5. Semitown (Villages): villages are the mainstay of rural settlements in the North. Culture and religion play a very important role in the formation and form of their villages. Northerners cherish their villages that they adopt the village’s name as their name. NORTH-CENTRAL GEOPOLITICAL ZONE
1. Farmstead: Farmsteads are common in this region because their primary activity is farming and animal husbandry. There are a lot of plantations (sugar cane, beans etc), the inhabitants stay in these farmsteads during the planting season.
2. Camps: the nomadic nature of the Hausas means they need to set up camps wherever they go with their herds of cattle. They usually move down south during the dry season in search of green pastures for their animals and livestock. 3. Huts: these are settlements with less than 50 buildings. This is a more permanent settlement
4. Hamlets: A hamlet is made up of a few housing units located in one place. It contains two or more farmers and their households.
5. Semitown (Villages): villages are the mainstay of rural settlements in the North. Culture and religion play a very important role in the formation and form of their villages. Northerners cherish their villages that they adopt the village’s name as their name NORTHEAST GEOPOLITICAL ZONE
1. Farmstead: Farmsteads are common in this region because their primary activity is farming and animal husbandry. There are a lot of plantations (sugar cane, beans etc), the inhabitants stay in these farmsteads during the planting season.
2. Camps: the nomadic nature of the Hausas means they need to set up camps wherever they go with their herds of cattle. They usually move down south during the dry season in search of green pastures for their animals and livestock. 3. Huts: these are settlements with less than 50 buildings. This is a more permanent settlement
4. Hamlets: A hamlet is made up of a few housing units located in one place. It contains two or more farmers and their households.
5. Semitown (Villages): villages are the mainstay of rural settlements in the North. Culture and religion play a very important role in the formation and form of their villages. Northerners cherish their villages that they adopt the village’s name as their name.

SOUTHWEST The forms in western Nigeria comprise the architecture of the Yoruba and Benin traditional buildings. According to Awotona (1986), the Yoruba and the Benin housing forms have a lot in common; the construction materials, courtyard, impluvia and so on. The noticeable housing in this region is rectilinear which incorporates courtyards for every family set up. Friedrich (1986) observed that most Yoruba traditional compounds can be grouped into two categories: First is the compound built around a central hall or corridor to accommodate a plurality of polygamous families linked together by agnatic relations of senior male members. Every compound tended to show an identical basic form and framework being based set of adult males whose common agnatic decent furnished their inner organization and moral unity.
Farmsteads
Farmsteads are hamlets settlements in the highly urbanised area of Yoruba land. This is where the cocoa belt is to be found. Because of the high level of urbanisation, farmlands and especially farmlands for cocoa is available only at considerable distances from the towns where most farmers have their permanent homes. In order to reduce the time spent in and the cost of moving between town and farm, farmers have established farmsteads on or near the farms. Most of the time while working on their farms, they live in these farmsteads. They visit the town where they have their permanent houses from time to time but invariably during national or local festivals. They spend more time on their farms when farm prices are high.
Camps
Camps are not really a common sight in Yorubaland; camps are usually found where a new settlement is to be found. In other words, most rural settlements in Yoruba land stated from camps. A man and his household settle in a plain land and then set up camps. As more people join the camp, it expands and forms a village.
Huts
These are settlements with less than 50 buildings. This is a more permanent settlement
Hamlets

A hamlet is made up of a few housing units located in one place. It contains two or more farmers and their households.
Semitown (Villages)
Traditional Yoruba villages are formed in similar patterns. A man and his family moves into an empty area, he is later joined by other people who will later make him king over them. The morphology of Yoruba settlements is also similar; they are concentric in form that is having a central CBD (using around the kings’ palace), beside the palace are the traditional market, a church a shrine and a mosque. Yoruba villages are quite developed, having some modern infrastructure.

SOUTH-EASTERN NIGERIA
In the eastern part of Nigeria where the Igbos are dominant tribe, only a few architectural features can be accepted as typical for the entire Igbo land: The rectangular plan of dwellings, which are without windows, the verandah in front of the houses and universal use of the forked posts to carry the roofs (Dmochowski, 1990). Apart from dwelling, other common features of Igbo architecture as observed by Dmochowski (1990) were: Massive compound gates, meeting houses, shrines and two or three storey semi-defensive buildings called Obuna Enu. Each compound is fenced with only one entrance and exit. There are roofs made with such exquisite skill that their texture of palm ribs and grasses serves by itself as an architectural adornment. Various rooms, stores and a kitchen normally surround the impluvium. Normally, the men’s section is separated from the women and children section is grouped together. The materials for construction used in Igbo land are mud, hardwood timber, palm leaves and midribs, bush twines and pawpaw trunks for constructing a drain for the impluvium.

Farmsteads
Farmsteads are hamlets settlements in the highly urbanised area of Yoruba land. This is where the cocoa belt is to be found. Because of the high level of urbanisation, farmlands and especially farmlands for cocoa is available only at considerable distances from the towns where most farmers have their permanent homes. In order to reduce the time spent in and the cost of moving between town and farm, farmers have established farmsteads on or near the farms. Most of the time while working on their farms, they live in these farmsteads.
They visit the town where they have their permanent houses from time to time but invariably during national or local festivals. They spend more time on their farms when farm prices are high.
Camps
Camps are not really a common sight in Ibo land; camps are usually found where a new settlement is to be found. In other words, most rural settlements in ibo land stated from camps. A man and his household settle in a plain land and then set up camps. As more people join the camp, it expands and forms a village.
Huts
These are settlements with less than 50 buildings. This is a more permanent settlement
Hamlets
A hamlet is made up of a few housing units located in one place. It contains two or more farmers and their households.
Semitown (Villages) Form of a typical ibo palace

Traditional Igbo villages are formed in similar patterns. A man and his family moves into an empty area, he is later joined by other people who will later make him king over them. The morphology of Ibo settlements is also similar; they are concentric in form that is having a central CBD (using around the kings’ palace), beside the palace are the traditional market, a church a shrine and a mosque. Ibo villages are quite developed, having some modern infrastructure.

SOUTH-SOUTHERN NIGERIA