Land use and land cover change is driven by human actions and also drives changes that limit availability of products and services for human and livestock, and it can undermine environmental health as well. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to analyse land use and land cover change (LULCC) in the southern part of Kaduna metropolis. The following data were used; Landsat (4) Thematic Mapper (TM) with 30m spatial resolution of 1990, Landsat (7) Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM +) with 30m spatial resolution of 2001 and Landsat (8) Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM +) with 30m spatial resolution of 2014 which covered the time frame between 1990 to 2014. Erdas Imagine Software version 9.2 and ArcGIS version 10.1 were used for the analysis. The landuse and land cover distribution was determined by classifying the landuse and land cover maps into built-up land, agricultural land, vegetation land, bare surfaces and water body using supervised classification technique. An overlay analysis was carried out in order to determine the magnitude and rate of change of the classified landuses. The analysis of the results revealed an overall landscape change in landuse and land cover status of the area. Urban landuse witnessed an overall net change or increase of (186.29%) with an annual growth rate of 7.76% from 1990 to 2014. While agricultural landuse being the most dominant landuse in 1990; witnessed an overall change or decrease of (25.64%) between 1990 and 2014. Similarly, Vegetation landuse also witnessed an overall change or decrease of (48.13%) between 1990 and 2014 and bare surfaces dropped by 18.81% between 1990 and 2014. Water body also changed or decreased by 29.23% between 1990 and 2014. In view of the findings of the research, the study recommends periodic monitoring, control and evaluation of the LULCC of the area in order to checkmate harp-hazard developments or modifications that may be detrimental to the inhabitants of the area.
