AN APPRAISAL OF URBAN GOVERNANCE PRACTICES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN ZARIA

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Department of Environmental Design

ABSTRACT
This research considered how the practices of selected institutions of urban governance in Zaria, affect the development of informal economic activities in the study area. Literature on the informal economy, and urban governance were studied to elaborate on concepts, characteristics, arguments and explanations. Policy responses on the informal economy in Nigeria and other country case studies were also considered. Five (5) institutions of urban governance which have bearing on informal economic activities were selected for the study. Also, two hundred (200) informal enterprise operators from the three main subsectors of informal economic activities, were selected from a stratified sample frame using systematic random sampling. This sample was used to gain insight into the characteristics of enterprises, and their opinions and perceptions on the practices of governance institutions. The survey covered the five main urban quarters in Zaria. The general spatial and structural characteristics of informal economic activities were examined, and the study also attempted an assessment of institutions of urban governance, using indicators of Good Urban Governance adapted from the Global Development Research Centre (GDRC). The spatial characteristics of the three subsectors of informal economic activities in Zaria was also looked into and it was found that retailing was the predominant activity in the study area. It was also found that a higher percentage of operators were utilizing public space without formal authorization. The proliferation of these economic activities in public space also did not promote environmental aesthetics. The governance assessment process of the institutions under appraisal revealed a very low average score of 25.13%, this implied that the governance structure and process in the study area was very poor and required urgent intervention if the climate for healthy enterprise development is to be achieved. Other problems identified in the course of the study include, poor information dissemination, lack of micro-credit facility, inadequate business space, inadequate skills development outlets, poor infrastructural provision, poor interaction between institutions that have bearing on informal enterprises and so on. Recommendations were made at the end covering the following areas; the need for cooperation and collaboration between urban governance institutions, encouragement of town hall meetings, capacity building for officials of governance institutions, facilitation of micro-credit for informal enterprise development and provision of more serviced business space. It is hoped that the institutions of governance in the study area will consider the findings of this study and evolve the will to implement the recommendations.