Ghana Journal of Geography

Multiscale Drivers of Rainfall Variability in Wa, Northern Ghana: Relative Roles of Oceanic Teleconnections and Local Atmospheric Controls.

Robert A. Akum — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Rainfall variability in northern Ghana has significant implications for rain-fed agriculture and climate risk management. This study investigates the multiscale drivers of rainfall variability in Wa over the period 1960-2020, distinguishing between largescale oceanic teleconnections and local atmospheric controls. A key contribution of this study is the development of a comparative multiscale framework that isolates and quantifies the individual and combined influence of remote oceanic forcing and local atmospheric processes on rainfall variability. Monthly rainfall variability, trends, and interannual fluctuations were first quantified using the coefficient of variation, Mann-Kendall trend analysis, Sen’s slope estimator, and change-point detection. To attribute drivers, three regression models were developed: (i) teleconnection indices only, (ii) local ERA5 atmospheric variables only, and (iii) a combined model incorporating both predictor sets. Rainfall exhibited the highest relative variability during the onset and cessation months. It is revealed that interannual variability has significantly declined since 1990, while significant negative trends are confined to March and July. Regression results show that teleconnection indices explain 8.6% of rainfall variance, whereas local atmospheric variables explain 30.2%. The combined model provides the highest explanatory power (41.1%), indicating that large-scale oceanic variability exerts a statistically significant but secondary influence relative to local thermodynamic and cloud-related processes. The findings demonstrate that rainfall variability in Wa is primarily governed by local atmospheric conditions, with large-scale SST anomalies modulating the background monsoon environment. These results highlight the importance of integrating both remote and local predictors to improve seasonal rainfall prediction, climate risk assessment, and agricultural planning in northern Ghana.

Walking at the Margins: Spatial Justice, Social Exclusion and Inclusive Mobility in Urban Accra

Jacqueline Valentine Gyiele — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Urbanisation across sub-Saharan Africa is remaking how people move, yet pedestrian infrastructure rarely features in urbanisation agendas. Most residents of Accra walk to get where they are going, and those with the fewest alternatives walk the most; however, planning and governance systems have not been built around them. This study examines inclusive walkability in Madina and Adenta, two fast-growing municipalities in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, drawing on semistructured interviews with six elderly residents, ten pregnant women, four persons with disabilities, and two municipal road officials, as well as systematic field observation. We read the evidence through a spatial justice framework that brings together distributive, procedural, and recognitional dimensions, using Social Exclusion Theory to explain how disadvantage is produced and Universal Design to provide criteria for evaluating the built environment. This lets us specify what the Accra scenario adds to transport-related social exclusion scholarship, rather than restating that scholarship in a new setting. We advance three propositions. Exclusion is generated by a custodial gap; the institutional separation of the mandate to build pedestrian infrastructure from the mandate to keep it usable, in which provision decays into exclusion with no actor accountable for the outcome. Transport exclusion here is a condition of the majority mode rather than of a car-less minority, so its causal centre lies in institutional non-recognition of walking rather than in individual resource deficit. And provision itself can exclude through infrastructural inversion, where interventions that reduce aggregate risk redistribute residual risk onto elderly, pregnant and disabled pedestrians, compounding on the same bodies. Building infrastructure is not the same as providing access. We argue that inclusive walkability belongs in debates about governance and justice rather than in the technical registers of transport planning, and that the everyday experience of vulnerable pedestrians is the clearest available evidence of what an equitable urban transition would require.

Topographic Influences on Household Distance to Water Points in Mountainous Lake Victoria Settlements, Tanzania

Chaeka Semango Mwesongo — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Limited access to water services in urban areas has focused primarily on infrastructural deficits, with comparatively little attention to environmental factors, especially topography, and their relationship to household distance from water points. Consequently, empirical evidence on the role of environmental conditions in shaping household distance to water points remains limited. However, understanding the relationship between topography and household distance to water points can inform context-sensitive planning strategies aimed at improving access to water services. This study examines the association between topography classified as gentle slope (0-5⁰), sloping landscape (6-15⁰), and steep slope (16-30⁰) and household distance to water points, drawing on Urban Political Ecology as a theoretical framework for analysing power relations. A mixed method approach was adopted, integrating household survey and key informant interviews to explore this relationship. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, GIS and content analysis. The findings indicated that residents located in gentle slope areas tended to access water points at comparatively shorter distances, followed by those in sloping landscapes, while residents in steep slope areas were more likely to access water points located beyond 400 metres from their households. The distances in steep slope settlements are inconsistent with the standards outlined in the Tanzania National Water Policy. The proportion of households located beyond 400 metres from water points was 14.72% in sloping landscape and 26.79% in steep slope, whereas no such cases were observed in gentle slope areas. The findings underscore a significant association between topography and household distance to water points. In light of these findings, I conclude that addressing disparities in water access may require greater consideration of terrain-specific conditions, strengthened regulatory enforcement, and improved policy implementation mechanisms.

Comparative Analyses of Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics From Landsat-8 OLI, ASTER LIT, and Sentinel-2A MSI Imageries over Selected LGAs in Osun State.

Oludayo Emmanuel Abiodun — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Land use and land cover (LULC) mapping in tropical humid environments is frequently constrained by persistent cloud cover and complex landscape heterogeneity. This study comparatively evaluates the performance of Landsat-8 OLI (resampled to 15 m), ASTER L1T (15 m), and Sentinel-2A MSI (10/20 m) imageries for multi-temporal LULC mapping (2015, 2018, and 2024) across selected Local Government Areas in Osun State, Nigeria. Supervised image classification was executed using the Maximum Likelihood Classifier across six discrete land cover classes within ENVI, ERDAS Imagine, and ArcGIS Pro environments. The results demonstrate that Sentinel-2 achieved the highest overall classification accuracy (95.40%; Kappa = 0.89), followed by ASTER (92.50%; Kappa = 0.86) and Landsat-8 (91.70%; Kappa = 0.82). The superior discrimination of Sentinel-2 was supported by a higher Jeffries Matusita distance (1.96) between undisturbed and disturbed forest classes, driven by its 10 m spatial resolution and strategic red-edge spectral bands. However, McNemar’s test revealed no statistically significant accuracy differences among sensor pairs (p > 0.05: Sentinel-2 vs. ASTER, p = 0.0663; Sentinel-2 vs. Landsat-8, p = 0.0673; ASTER vs. Landsat-8, p = 0.0653). While Sentinel-2 offered enhanced delineation of fragmented peri-urban areas, both ASTER and pan-sharpened Landsat-8 maintained high, comparable accuracies (> 90%), confirming their continued reliability for long-term historical analyses in data-scarce tropical regions. These findings provide vital empirical benchmarks for sensor selection and sustainable land management in heterogeneous humid mosaics.

User Acceptance and Satisfaction with 'Ogata' Electric Bus Services among Students and Staff at the University of Lagos

Femi Ola Aiyegbajeje — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Transportation is a very critical driver of all human activity. It is a sector that relies mainly on fossil fuels, which has made commuting within and outside the university campus more expensive because of the removal of fuel subsidies. In response to this challenge, the university management adopted renewable energy solutions, such as electric/solar-powered buses, which have gained global attention, to address the numerous issues hindering commuting among university students and staff. This study examined the operations of the Ogata Electric Bus at the University of Lagos, focusing on commuter usage acceptance, patterns, and satisfaction. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 370 respondents and analysed using SPSS version 26. The findings revealed that most commuters used the bus daily, primarily for academic purposes. Respondents expressed high satisfaction with cost (M = 4.2) and safety (M = 4.1), but only moderate satisfaction with comfort, accessibility, and convenience. The most pressing challenges identified were insufficient buses (59.5%), limited route coverage (48.6%), and irregular schedules (40.5%). Notably, the hypothesis tests confirmed that perceived cost-effectiveness significantly influenced patronage (r = 0.62, p < 0.001), and satisfaction differed significantly across commuter categories F (2, 367) = 4.56, p = 0.012). The study concludes that while the Ogata Electric Bus is an essential step toward sustainable transportation within Nigerian universities, its long-term success depends on addressing operational inefficiencies. The study recommends expanding fleet size, improving route coverage, strengthening maintenance capacity, and introducing supportive policies to enhance economic and environmental sustainability.

Examining the Effects of Boko Haram Activities on the Livelihood of the Communities Within and Around Sambisa Forest of Nigeria

Chinomso Ukah — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines the effects of the activities of Boko Haram on the livelihood of the communities within the Sambisa Forest of Nigeria. Both qualitative and quantitative research designs were adopted for this study. Primary and secondary data were employed in this study. The primary data includes data on the livelihood (economic, food, health, education, employment, water, sanitation among others) of the communities, and they were sourced with the aid of questionnaire. Secondary data include data on the population of the study area and other documented information on Sambisa Forest. This research made use of the multistage sampling techniques, involving three stages. Four hundred copies of questionnaires were administered to the Local Government Areas. The hypothesis that Boko Haram activities have no significant effects on the livelihood of the communities within the Sambisa Forest was tested, using the General Linear Model (multivariate analysis). The livelihood indices analysed include agricultural productivity before and during the emergence of Boko Haram, how often they go to farms and markets, sources of energy generation in the communities, job opportunities, their food intake, education as well as their income generation. Majority of the respondents (362 respondents representing 90.5%) noted that before the emergence of Boko Haram, agricultural productivity was very high. Furthermore, before the emergence of Boko Haram, there was enough job opportunities as noted by 313 respondents amounting to 78.3% of the total population sampled. The hypothesis that Boko Haram activities have no significant effects on the livelihood of the communities within the Sambisa Forest was tested using multivariate analysis and the result shows that truly, Boko Haram activities have serious effects on the livelihood of those communities (F = 1.898, p < 0.05).

Geo-Spatial Distribution and Utilization of Waste Disposal Facilities in Ilorin, Nigeria.

Kazeem Omotayo Laro — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Rapid urbanisation in developing countries has intensified challenges of waste management and environmental sanitation. This study investigates the geo-spatial distribution and utilization of waste disposal facilities in Ilorin, Nigeria. The objectives were to identify household disposal methods, examine the distribution of government facilities, assess utilization levels, and explore factors influencing non-use. Data were drawn from 400 residents through questionnaire, Records of waste disposal facilities were obtained from the Kwara State Ministry of Environment, population data were obtained from the National Population Commission (NPC), while administrative maps were sourced from the Office of the Surveyor-General, Ilorin, Kwara State. Analytical methods employed included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and GIS techniques including buffering and nearest neighbor analysis. The findings reveal that private waste collection services dominate, used by 75.3% of households due to convenience. Proximity emerged as a major barrier, with 45% of respondents citing distance from Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency (KWEPA) Roll-in Roll Out (RORO) bins as a reason for non-utilization. Spatial analysis showed that government facilities are concentrated in only 12 of 20 wards, leaving significant gaps in coverage. The Nearest Neighbour Analysis confirmed a dispersed distribution pattern, while buffer analysis indicated that only 11 wards fall within a two-kilometer service radius. Regression analysis demonstrated that proximity accounts for about 50.9% of variance in facility utilization. Overall, the study highlights inequitable access to public disposal infrastructure, which limits utilization and fosters reliance on private or informal methods. On the basis of the findings, it is recommended that extending facilities to the nine underserved wards to promote equitable access, strengthen waste management, and support sustainable urban development in Ilorin metropolis.

Characterization and Classification of Soils Derived from Coarse-Grained Granite and Gneiss in Humid Rainforest Area of Southwestern Nigeria

Ruth Ouwakemi Abifarin-Adegbenro — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study investigated soils derived from coarse-grained granite and gneiss in southwestern Nigeria, focusing on their characterization and classification. Eight soil profile pits were established across varying topographic positions, and samples were collected from generic horizons. Standard procedures were used to analyze physical and chemical properties. The soils were generally deep and well-drained, except at valley bottoms where they were shallow and poorly drained. Surface horizons displayed colours ranging from dark reddish brown (5YR3/4) to dark yellowish brown (10YR3/4), while subsurface horizons varied from yellowish red (7.5YR5/6) to yellowish brown (10YR5/8). Textures ranged from loamy sand to gravelly sandy clay at the surface, and sandy loam to clay in the subsoil, with moderate, medium, sub-angular blocky structures. Gravel content varied widely (8.5–67.1%), bulk density ranged from 1.17 to 1.81 g/cm³, and porosity values spanned 38.07–54.63% at the surface and 31.88–55.63% in the subsurface. The soils were slightly to moderately acidic, with variable levels of exchangeable bases, organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Organic matter was particularly important for nutrient availability. Classification revealed upper and mid-slope soils as Typic isohyperthermic Paleustults, lower slope soils as Plinthic isohyperthermic Paleustults, and valley bottom soils as Aquic Psamments under USDA taxonomy. FAO/UNESCO categories included Lixisols, Plinthic Lixisols, and Fluvisols. Overall, the soils exhibited low to medium fertility, highlighting the need for sustainable management. Recommended strategies include applying fertilizers, incorporating crop residues, and using organic manures to enhance productivity and ensure long-term soil resource sustainability.