Geospatial Analysis of Landuse/Landcover Changes in Wudil Town of Kano State (IJSRES-15-19)

Wudil is an ancient town in the savannah of northwestern Nigeria that is now growing. The growth of the town has set in landuse/landcover change in the area. In order to understand the pattern of the change, Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System techniques were used to examine the current trend in the landuse/landcover change in the area, while questionnaire survey was used to investigate the factors responsible for the change. Landsat images of the town for 2000 and 2014 were processed and classified using maximum likelihood classifier. Results showed that the built-up area expanded from 15% in 2000 to about 21% in 2014, while open fields increased tremendously from 0.2% in 2000 to 14% in 2014. Conversely, cultivated lands decreased by over 20% and vegetation decreased by just 2% over the period of study. But the water body increased by 1.3% resulting from the expansion of the shoreline due to erosion induced by seasonal flooding in the area. Other factors of landuse/landcover changes in the area are deforestation and housing construction. Although, it is generally believed by the residents of Wudil that the town is growing, there is no consensus among the residents on the factors responsible for the growth of the town. About 75% of the people attributed the growth of the town to the location of Kano University of Science and Technology in the town, while about 25% of them linked the growth of Wudil to the nodal characteristics of the town. In a growing town like Wudil, an integrated masterplan is required to guide future development in the town.