Available online @www.enopmcservices.com IJEST. 34 (2004) 2920-2925 The relevance and impact of professional counseling on land use and development in Nigeria: the Benue experience L.O. Okenyi* 1 & D.E. Egirani 2 1. School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK 2. Department of General Studies, Benue Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, Nigeria Received 25 January 2004; accepted 20 April 2004 Available online 5 June 2004 Abstract The relevance and impact of professional counseling on land use and development in Nigeria has been studied using a structured questionnaire. It was administered on 520 urban and rural dwellers residing in Makurdi, Oturkpo and Ugbokolo in Benue State, Nigeria. It was studied under several range condition indices of age, educational level, settlement and mode of land use and development. The analytical study reveals that 78.9% of respondents out of which 48% are urban dwellers believed in professional counseling before a piece of land could be used and developed. The impact of professional counseling on land use and development is still not felt. This is due to the fact that there still exist indiscriminate arable farming too close to road pavements. In addition, where mineral resources exist, land owners prefer using them for arable farming rather than allowing relevant agencies to develop and manage the mineral resources. Turning a piece of land that is viable for the mining of gypsum to an arable farming land as practiced in Adoka, Benue State, Nigeria, requires professional counseling to change the trend. These irregularities could be attributed to the fact that professional counselors are either not enough or they have not made themselves available to those who need their services. Keywords: Professional counseling, gypsum, mineral resources, land use and development Integrated Journal of Environment, Science & Technology www.enopmcservices.com eno pmc