American International Journal of Social Science

Urban Mobility in Ekiti State: Options for Transformation
Ogunleye, Olusesan Sola PhD

Abstract
Mobility had been adjudged as one of the basic necessities of life such as food, clothing and shelter. This is so because an immobile person or economy is bound to be poor. In a nutshell, immobility perpetuates poverty. To enable people, goods and services to be able to move in freely from one geographical area to the other, governments at all levels always strife to make provision of transportation system one of their cardinal objectives. Attention in most cases is given to the urban areas at the expense of the hinterland based on the fact that a substantial percentage of the economic activities of many nations is concentrated in the urban centres. Despite all these, mobility problems still confront most of the urban centres in the developing countries of the world. This paper which is on urban mobility in Ekiti State examines mobility problems past and present and the various options that can effectively enhance mobility in the urban areas of the state. Data for the study was collected from both the primary and secondary sources. Physical survey of existing transport networks and other facilities were carried out and documented. Previous findings on mobility condition in the study area was also consulted and juxtaposed with the findings from the physical survey that was carried out. Findings from the analysis revealed that while considerable improvements had been made in solving mobility problems in the study area a lot still has to be done to enhance sustainable urban mobility. The paper recommends options such as co-ordination of land uses and transportation planning in the study area preparation of a Master Plan and expansion of urban roads to accommodate increasing population in Ado Ekiti in particular among others for sustainable transport systems in the study area. (Keywords: Urban, Mobility, Options and Transportation).

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