SOCO-ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES OF EMERGENT NIGER DELTA UNIVERSITY’S ‘BEANS-UP’ SETTLEMENT
Emergent settlements results from scarcity of houses, presence of virgin lands and borderlines outside the officialdom. The study examined the social and economic activities of Beans-Up settlement at the Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. One hundred questionnaires were administered to residents of the settlement, and eighty-six were retrieved correctly completed. The demographic variables were analyzed with cross-tabulation wile substantial variables were analyzed with the arithmetical mean on a four-point scale. The stored was anchored on the Human Ecology theory. The study found that majority of the residents was students. The main settlement houses were one-sitter, tenement, lodges and shanties. There exist high squatting and cohabitation among residents. The major business of the settlement is providing catering services and housing provision. The University and the settlement seem cooperatively in various ways without official documentation. The settlement has location and security advantage and largely affected by the university’s academic activities. The student recommended the acquisition of the settlement and part of the university’s staff housing estate. The spring-up of the settlement represent the enterprising nature of the people and the need for survival.
Keywords: NDU’s Beans-Up Settlement
