Assessing the Spatio-Temporal Rates and Extent of Land Use Changes in the Fringes of North Central Nigeria

The study analyzed spatial and temporal land use /land cover change in parts of north central Nigeria. This was carried out with the use of land sat images from 1974-2011. A hypothesis was put forward that there is no significant difference in the rate and extent of land use change among the cities under study from 1974 to 2011.The result shows that there is a significant difference in the rate of land use change in the fringes of the three cities under study, between 1974 and 2011,(F=1.481, p=0.025, p<0.05). This significant change in land use is obvious from the result, since the F probability ratio is greater than the threshold value at 0.05 significant level. Thus, the change among the three towns in terms of their land use varied significantly. This has serious implication to planning. Keywords: GIS, land use change; urban dynamics; land use pattern