Geospatial Analysis of the Spatio -Temporal Growth of Kwali Area Council, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja

This study analyzed the spatio-temporal growth of Kwali Area Council in Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Nigeria from 1998 to 2017. The study used Landsat Thematic (TM) of 1997, Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) of 2007 and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) of 2017 all with a spatial resolution of 30 meters. Those data sets were accessed from United States Geological Survey (USGS) website Supervised Classification-Maximum Likelihood Algorithm was used to establish the land use-land cover situations for 1997, 2007 and 2017; subsequently the extent and rate of the urban growth of the study area between 1998 and 2017 were determined. The findings revealed that urban landuse covered 265.9 hectares in 1998, 304 hectares in 2007 and 1100.3 hectares in 2017. The urban landuse increased by 38.2 hectares from 1998-2007 which represent 14.3% growth in 9 years and corresponds with 4.24 hectares increase per year. The aforementioned growth rate was the lowest recorded in the period (1998-2017) of study as 2007-2017 showed that the urban landuse increased by 796.1 hectares which represent 261.8% growth in 10 years, this gives a corresponding growth rate of 79.61 hectares per year. The study recommends that there is the need for ecosystems restoration for areas that have suffered terrible degradation especially bare lands and local ingenuity, indigenous technology and know-how, and local community-centered efforts should be made and supported to restore the environment. That Government should as a matter of urgency embark on landuse /land cover mapping in the region in order to facilitate accurate base map production of Kwali Area Council as well as digitize and update all analogue maps of the area of study for effective planning for all physical developments. Land use is a term indicating the use to which a portion of land is put. Land is used for all of man‟s economic activities, and so the use of a portion of land determines the economic productivity of the land. Therefore, it is necessary to regulate and coordinate land use for optimum productivity and benefit of all people whose livelihood depends on the land.