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Introduction Slums the places where poor people struggle to make aliving and bring up their families, and the places where about one third of the world's urban population live. (The challenge of slums: global report on human settlements, 2003) The importance of maintaining a healthy and sustainable environment cannot be overemphasized.The UN-HABITAT (2012), defines slum as any specific place, whether a whole city or a neighborhood, more than half of all households lack improved water, improved sanitation, sufficient living area, durable housing, secure tenure or combinations of two. Recently as maintained by Cities Alliance Action Plan (1999), slums are neglected parts of cities where housing and living conditions are appallingly poor. The case study conducted in Chengdu; China defined slums as "shanties in low-lying areas". Slums are home to the poorest of urban populations in Africa. The houses inhabited by slum dwellers are mostly decrepit, overcrowded, in neighborhoods that are prone to flooding &beset with poor sanitation & shortage of portage water (Emma-Ochu, et al., 2016).They are areas which little government attention in terms of provision or maintenance of public facilities and infrastructure is being felt. These are high-density squalid central city tenements to spontaneous squatter settlement without legal recognition which sprawl at the edge of cities. Currently, about 1 billion people live in slums, with most slum dwellers located in less developed countries, which accounts for about 30% of their urban population. The number of slum dwellers is projected to increase to 2 billion by 2030 and to 3 billion by 2050 if current trends persist (UN-Habitat, 2010; United Nations, 2015a), as cited by Mahabir,et al.,(2016).Available data reveal that the population of Nigeria has been increasing at an alarming rate. Our towns and cities are growing rapidly. The current urbanization rate of Nigeria is 5.5 percent per annum and the urban population was put at 50 percent in 2012 (Pepple, 2012a) as cited by Mallo, et al., (2015).The slum situation in Nigeria is already frightening for the reason that the proportion of people affected by slum conditions is such a significant element in sub-Sahara Africa. In 2012, the estimated population of 47 sub-Sahara African countries was 910.4million and of this, 167million were Nigerians. Of the 167million people in Nigeria, 61.1 percent were said to reside in slums (

Information on the distribution of various forms of iron in soils are valuable in the study of soil genesis. The objective of this study was to to evaluate the pedogenic forms of iron in soils developed over basement complex and basaltic parent materials of the study area. Geologic units considered in the basement complex area were granite gneiss, biotite granite and migmatite. Stratified random sampling formed the basis for field work. Soil sampling was carried out by digging at least two soil profile pits in each geologic unit. Organically bound, amourphous and total iron oxides were estimated using 0.1 M sodium pyrophosphate, acidified (pH 3) ammonium oxalate, and dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate method, respectively. The total Fe in the soil samples were determined after a mixed acid digestion. In general, total iron fractions were statistically similar among the soils of basement complex geologic units but significantly lower than those of soils derived from basaltic rocks. However, the distribution of iron oxide fractions was similar among the basement and basaltic geologic units. Furthermore, there were significant differences in the distribution of iron oxides in the B horizons of basement complex derived soils. Consequently, the quantity of iron oxides in the B horizon was in the order migmatite > biotite granite > granite gneiss. About 70% of total iron oxides in the soils over granite gneiss, biotite granite and basaltic rocks was amorphous in nature. Furthermore, total iron oxides constitute less than 20% of total clay both in the basement complex and basaltic soils.

Information on the chemical characteristics of soils is required in the sustainable the management of soil fertility and productivity. The objective of this study was to determine chemical characteristics of basement complex derived soils of the Jos Plateau. Soil study followed the approach in the Soil Survey manual and began by identification of three geologic units: granite gneiss, biotite granite and migmatite. Furthermore, eighteen soil profile pits were dug in each geologic units and eighty-four samples were taken from genetic horizons. Standard laboratory procedures were used to analyze soil samples for pH, organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus.  Results showed that organic matter contents in the soils were generally low and seemed to influence the distribution of nitrogen in the soils. Consequently, contents of total nitrogen were low. Mean contents of pH in the A horizon were 5.15, 4.64 and 5.58 respectively for soils derived from granite gneiss, biotite granite and migmatite. Low pH levels are linked to the basic cations draining out of the profile and the acidic character of the basement complex rocks from which the soils were formed. Soil reaction in most cases indicated that soils had a net negative charge. Available P contents in the magmatic soils was significantly higher than those of other geologic units. Effects of granite gneiss, biotite granite and migmatite parent materials on variation in soil chemical properties were more noticeable for soil reaction and available P contents.

The objectives of this research were to investigate the nature of pH buffer capacity and evaluate its association selected soil characteristics the study area.  Soil samples from ten profile pits from within the study area were collected from genetic horizons. Soil samples were tested in the laboratory for electrical conductivity and pH buffer capacity using standard procedures. Soil data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. One-way analysis of variance and correlation analysis were applied to determine effects and relationships of selected soil properties with soil pH buffer capacity. The selected soil properties included particle size distribution, electrical conductivity, organic matter, cation exchange capacity and soil pH. Analysis of variance indicated that there were no significant effect of soil depth or drainage condition on distribution of pH buffer capacity in the study area. Correlation analysis indicated a non-significant weak relationship between pH buffer capacity and selected soil properties of the study area. This suggest that multiple interrelated factors could be responsible for the distribution of pH buffer capacity in the study area.