Urban Space Administration in Nigeria: Looking into Tomorrow from Yesterday

Urban space administration is a branch of public administration designated for ordering, re-ordering, regulating and controlling urban systems and urban land uses for the purpose of human comfort, convenience, urban aesthetic or city’s branding and economic and environmental sustainability. Urban space administration is not new in Nigeria; it dated back to precolonial periods when city management was vested in kings and a team of advisers including the local priests. The advent of colonial government introduced paper-assisted urban administration which continued after independence. The 1976 local government reforms and the subsequent fragmentations of states to many local government resulted in multiplicity of admirations and agencies governing urban areas in Nigeria. The results are manifested in blighted condition and pockets of slums in all Nigeria cities. The paper examined trends in urban administration in Nigeria and advanced two approaches to solving multifarious urban problems in Nigeria. The approaches include devolution of urban administration powers to local authorities and deployment of geospatial technology tools for urban system administrators ( Knaap et al 1998). The paper further suggested recommendations for bridging the digital shortfall in the applications of modern technologies to city administration in Nigeria.