An Appraisal of Urbanization Problems in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

The level of urbanization in developing countries of the world indicates that more people live in cities than before. This pattern induces pressure on traffic flow and makes living in urban area difficult. The situation, described above, has started to manifest in Ado-Ekiti, medium urban centre in Nigeria. Urbanization can be described as a process by which urban population increases in absolute number in proportion either through the natural increase in procreation of the existing population of our cities or through the growth of new town. This paper is to examine the problems facing urban centre, such as traffic congestion, crime rate, pressure on infrastructure, flooding, high standard of living among others, the research methodology adopted for the study is systematic sampling method through the administration of questionnaires; however, the information gathered from the questionnaires was statistically analyzed and graphically represented. Some of the findings revealed that, the movement of people into Ado-Ekiti is due to the fact of many benefits readily available in the area being the state capital. Also, facilities that has been the pull factor of the migrants to Ado-Ekiti can no longer cope with the population that depends on it for survival. Hence, there is need to create employment opportunities, provision of more infrastructure and development of the rural areas across the state to reduce urbanization problems in Ado-Ekiti.