Climate and Building Structures in Ado Ekiti Township

Abstract

The study examined the impact of climatic elements on building structures in Ado Ekiti Township using two sources of data. Primary data were obtained through questionnaire administration, oral interviews and observation of building structures, while secondary data was abstracted from the archive of the Department of Geography and planning. University of Ado Ekiti for a period of 12 years (1996-2007). Ado Ekiti township was divided into three zones based on population and housing density, these are; the core zone, transition zone and the outskirt zone. A total of 100 questionnaires were administered using the purposive random sampling technique to the three zones on the basis of 50:25:25. Simple percentage score was used to analyse soci-demographic characteristics of respondents, while product moment correlation and chi-square techniques were used to examine relationship between damaged walls, roofs and structural damage/location analysis. Results obtained shows that 68% of the respondents were aged 50 years and above. This indicates a high level of maturity which reflected in the other responses. The mud/cement walling material was observed to have recorded the highest percentage damaged (47.04%). The relationship between damaged walls and rainfall, damaged roofs and rainfall were both positive and strong with correlation coefficient (r) of 0.98 each. Both relationships were significant at the 0.05% confidence level. There was however no relation between structure damage to buildings and location within the township. The research therefore concludes that since the highest number of structural decay occurs within the core zone, the zone should be seriously considered for an urban renewal exercise in order to address congestion problems.