Urbanisation impact on recreational development in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria

Abstract

As cities urbanised, more people seek ways to relax (recreate) at the end of the day's activities and during holiday. In fact, the increasing population growth of Nigerian cities of which Ado Ekiti is not exceptional has no doubt led to increase in quest for recreational facilities by the urban dwellers and travellers, in spite of demand of more land spaces for other land uses development. In order to ascertain the level of desirability of recreational development, the study involved collection of primary data through observation, oral interview and questionnaire to identify the various existing recreational facilities. The collected data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics analysis. The result reveals a tremendous increase in the numbers of recreational facilities over time and high relationship between urban growth and recreational development. As a recommendation, government is advised to come out with policy guidelines for recreation leisure and tourism in the country.