A new Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development has just been established in Ondo State, Nigeria. The development was expected to herald efficient and sustainable physical planning. To maximize the opportunities offered by this innovative development, some conditions are desirable. This paper therefore examined the problems confronting physical planning in the State and proffer appropriate solutions to unravel them with the intention of optimizing the gains arising from this innovation. The study involved a survey of physical planning mechanisms and agencies of governments responsible for physical planning in Ondo State. It investigated the evolution of physical planning in the state. Other variables examined include: human and financial capacity available for physical planning, development control process, master planning, inventory of project vehicles and equipment among others. The problems that were identified include lack of urban development policy, ineffective development control, inadequate/absence of capacity in appropriate discipline, dearth of spatial information and data and absence of master plan to guide the development of settlements in the State. The paper therefore canvassed for immediate evolvement of urban development policy coupled with series of legislations and regulations that would facilitate development control. Other recommendations include capacity building in relevant discipline, recruitment of staff with contemporary knowledge in urban planning, acquisition of spatial information and data for planning purposes and the immediate development of master plans for major settlements in the State.

Housing cooperatives are the organizations among others, which have played important roles in meeting the housing needs of people. In Nigeria, housing finance is through the formal and informal institutions; and personal residences accounted between 75 and 90 per cent of household wealth, that represents between 3 and 6 times their annual income. Finance is an important determinant of success and failure of housing ownership. It, therefore, becomes very necessary to identify viable sources of funding that can promote house-ownership. This paper examined the activities of Cooperative Societies in the provision of funds for house ownership in Nigeria with a focus on Akure. In the conduct of the social survey for the study; two sets of questionnaire were used. The first set of the questionnaire focused on House-owners and 683 sampled houses-owners were administered with the questionnaire in Akure. The second set of questionnaire was administered on the government officers' incharge of the administration of the cooperative societies in Akure. The answers to the questions in the questionnaire were adequately supplied. The data were subjected to statistical analysis. The findings revealed among others that the main sources of funding house buildings were through personal savings and Cooperative Societies among others. It recommended that prospective house-owners should be encouraged to form and patronise Cooperative Societies as a reliable source for the housing loan.

Housing finance in Nigeria is facing a lot of problems among which are inadequate mortgage finance, inaccessibility to other form of formal loans from other financial institutions due to stringent conditions attached to its access; urbanization brought about by ever increasing human population; and the economic recession being experienced in Nigeria. Housing development financing and shelter provision among the low and medium income groups become more critical because of lack of access to credit; and these groups constitute the vast majority of the urban households in Nigeria. There are no robust and pragmatic housing finance systems on ground. The reality on ground led to evolution of informal housing finance system of which thrift and credit cooperative is one. Against this background the paper examine the role played by the Federal University of Technology, Akure cooperative multi-purpose society in the provision of housing finance to its members, Secondary data were collected for this study through the use of structured questionnaire from 29.5% of its members. Secondary data were equally obtained from archival data of the society and analysed. The study revealed that majority of their members relied on collection of loans from the cooperative society for their housing development finance. The preferences for this form of finance were given as: ease of processing loan application; low interest rate charge on loan; and ease of amortization. The paper posits that government should intervene in housing finance through methods such as site and service scheme, provision of low interest loans with longer moratorium periods, and special political consideration and leverage be given to the housing need of low and medium income earners to ameliorate poverty among this group.

Markets are economic institutions serving as social entities. Diverse people based on ethnic groups, racial backgrounds and cultural traits are linked by a market. Socio-cultural, religious and political activities equally take place in the markets. This study was carried out in Okitipupa the regional headquarter of Ikale people of Ondo State. The sample size of 120 was selected by the purposive sampling technique, taking cognizance that they were fully representative of the populations of the study area. The questionnaires retrieved, were coded and analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) Version 16 computer programs and the Excel spreadsheet software. The findings of the study reveal that infrastructure such as road, water, electricity, and waste management facilities were in a deplorable state. This in effect created a problem for market women and a discomfort to patrons of the market. It is recommended that the community should embark on self-help development of the market, create market management committee, seek for the intervention from the government and provide sustainable redevelopment programs for quick improvement of the market.

Water is essential for life, while sanitation is for dignity. Worldwide, Nigeria is second to India in term of open defecation, with an estimated population of 109 million open defecators. The rural areas currently lagged behind the urban areas in term of water and sanitation. A survey of two villages in the Ifedore Local Government of Ondo State, Nigeria was conducted, using 88 respondents selected through purposive sampling technique from Ikota and Aaye village cluster. Findings from the study revealed that sources of water are boreholes, wells and streams. On the other hand, most of the indigenes still practice open defecation, though some of them use water closet, pour flush toilet and variances of pit latrine as toilet. Most of them still expect the government to install and maintain facilities provided. It is suggested that demand driven and the bottom-top approach where the people first believe that water and sanitation prevent diseases and provide longevity be explored. It is believed that reinventing the services of sanitary officers (Wole Wole), will help in disseminating and enforcing proper hygienic practices.