Evaluation of Locational and Environmental Effects of Religious Centres on Adjoining Development in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assesses locational and environmental effects of religious centres on adjourning development in Ibadan South-East Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria. Primary and secondary data were utilized. Geographic coordinates of religious centres were collected using GPS for a location-based mapping and nearest neighbour analysis in ArcGIS 10.3. A Multi-stage sampling technique was employed and systematic sampling procedure was used to administered 210 copies of questionnaires to respondents. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics which were frequency distribution and absolute mean in SPSS. Results showed that the nearest neighbour index (Rn) is 0.01 with critical value of <-2.58, p-value is 0.704138 and the nearest neighbour ratio equals 0.61799. Most religious centres were located without planning development permits and therefore are restricted by law to operate in the residential areas they were sited. Other key findings were based on three indices that were developed which are Proliferation Influencing Index (PII), Environmental Impact Index (EII) and Precaution Measures Index (PMI). The highest PII of 3.82 indicated that the proliferation of religious centres is majorly caused by “beliefs and practices”. An EII of 4.03 showed that environmental impact is highly due to “non-compliance with conditions of existing consents already in place” while “payment of fine by defaulters” with the highest PMI of 3.85 is the most used control measure. This study concludes that religious centres have been encouraged in residential areas by use of fines as against the enforcement of planning regulations as contained appropriately in urban and planning regional law.