Establishing Sanitation Profile of Settlements in Minna Urban Divide, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines poverty in our urban areas and its effects on the environment particularly the provision of adequate sanitation. Data collected through the use of structured questionnaires and administered using stratified random sampling, highlighted the state of the environment of Minna metropolis at both the central and peripheral parts of the state capital. Residents’ socio-economic activities as well as activities relating to the observance of environmental sanitation were analyzed. Through this analysis, field findings shows that residents at the city fringes; although with less secured tenure and land value, are more conscious of their surroundings than their counterparts at the city core where; apart from having high density of structures and human activities, land value is also high. These unexpected trends at the urban centres especially the over 75 percent residents’ disposal of refuse in open drains, have resultant effects on the general environment and might be among the factors if not the major one, contributing to urban peripheral land degradation. A remedy to this situation suggests a change of attitude of city dwellers and a refocus of policies by urban managers and professionals on the built environment.