In recent periods urban development has been vigorous and unsustainable in Nigeria. By using a combination of analytical and evaluative techniques this study investigated the reason for this phenomenon and made suggestions on ways of making Nigerian cities more livable. The study discovered that despite several policies and programmes of the successive governments in Nigeria on urban development such as the promulgation of planning laws like the Town and Country Planning ordinance of 1946, Land Use Act to control issuance of permits for housing construction, The Urban and Regional Planning Act to streamline the responsibilities of each level of government on physical planning and preparation of Physical Development plans such as Master plans, Layout plans and Land Use plans, Urban Renewal plans, Zoning of land use, and other Development control principles, which can be classified as policy issues, urban degeneration has continued to increase. The study attributes this to massive population increase in the urban areas, For example the residents of urban centers in Nigeria in 1950 were less that 15% of the population and by 1975, and this proportion rose to 23.4% and in year 2000 was 43.3%. Nigerian urban population growth rate of 4.8% annually was markedly higher than growth rate of 1.2% in Developed countries. This has created several problems some of which are expansion of squatter settlements, increased poverty and a widening gap between the rich and poor, growing insecurity and rising crime rates, inadequate and deteriorating building stock, services and infrastructure. The study therefore recommends that Rural-urban drift will continue to increase in Nigeria, in the absence of any clear cut policy on rural - urban migration. Moreover there should be appropriate implementation and monitoring of master plans for major towns where they exist and the preparation and implementation of new ones where they are non-existent or out of date.

One of the major flaws of the Nigerian industrialization is the over emphasis on temporal growth with little or no emphasis on safety of workers in spite of the existence of Factories Act. This study examined the level of compliance to occupational health and safety standard among small scale industries in Ondo state. Data were collected from industrialists, workers and government's supervisory body through three different set of questionnaires. Data collected were analyzed using simple tables and bar graphs. The grand mean weighted values were compared with the mean weighted value in order to isolate the most important responses. The study discovered a very low level of compliance among small scale industries in the study area Out of 250 enterprises sampled, 62% (155) did not provide safety kits to their employees, 43% (108) did not have adequate ventilation, and 54% (135) did not have sanitary conveniences, while 35% (88) had no recreational facilities at all. In spite of this however wood based enterprises were identified to have the most compliance, although the compliance is only slightly above average (score of 37 out of a total of 60). Regional analysis of the pattern of compliance revealed that out of the 55 industries that had some acceptable level of compliance (which is only22 % of the entire industries sampled), Ondo North region was ahead of the other two regions Ondo North and Ondo South with 62%(34) of industries while others varied from 16%(9) to 22%(12). Reasons for low compliance were sought from proprietors workers and officials in the state ministry of industries which is the supervising body. Reasons given varied from lack of finance to ensure compliance, the belief that OHS was only meant for large scale industries, Proprietors lukewarm attitude to OHS, and fraudulent practices by supervisors.