J. Agheyisi

This study examines the socio-demographic characteristics of an emerging urban centre. (A case study of Okada town). The objectives of the study were to examine the socio-demographic characteristics within the neighborhood in the study area, the relationship between the two zones of the town, the relationship between the socio-demographic variables in the two zones of the town such as age, sex, marital status, monthly income, and occupation etc of the individuals in the neighborhoods. Questions were administered to a total of 150 respondents and out of this 138 were returned valid and the data collected was fed into the SPSS. Using the frequency table, bar charts, chi-square, and analysis of variance (ANOVA), it was found that socio-demographic characteristics is not evenly distributed in the study area and the analysis shows that there is slight variations between the neighborhoods. It also was found out that there is no significant socio-economic groupings in the town. the study was able to determine if there is a functional differentiation amongst the residents of the town, the study was able to identify if Okada town has the required urban foundation requirements necessary for urban growth to take place.it was also able to discover the dominant occupation in the town and above all the study was able to show the dominant function of Okada town.. The study recommends that government should help put in place a very comprehensive and qualitative population census data of the town since the census information available reflects the 2006 population of the local government only and does not reflect the actual population of the town.