Abstract

This study examines the effects of unregulated urbanization on wetland-riparian ecosystem of Yenagoa metropolis, Urbanization in Africa started later than any other part of the globe and at an extraordinary rate of roughly 40%. Africa is the continent that is urbanizing the quickest in the globe right now. A mixed research design was adopted. A 3-staged stratified sampling technique was utilized. At first, Yenagoa metropolis was purposively selected, secondly, 16 communities within the metropolis were purposively selected and thirdly, 400 copies of structured questionnaires were randomly administered to household heads in the selected communities.  The result of Pearson Chi-Square value of 84.729 at p-value of 0.001 indicates that unregulated urbanization affects wetland loss.  The effects of unregulated urbanization include infrastructure gap, proliferation of squatter settlements, contamination of ground water, uncontrolled mining of sand, which negates the idea of sustainable development. Spreading development to lower order settlements entail conscious socio-economic and sustainable environmental planning, and the integration of professionals in planning of sustainable wetland and riparian coastal cities.

Keywords: Unregulated, Urbanization, Wetland loss, stratified sampling, Sustainable planning, Yenagoa Metropolis