Accurate and up-to-date information describing the nature and extent of landuse changes over
time is increasing, especially in rapidly growing in African cities. This paper illustrates the result
of landuse/cover change in Akure using topographic map and multi temporal remotely sensed
data from 1986 to 2009. The maximum likelihood supervised classification was carried out on
reflective bands (4, 5 and7) for the three images individually with the aid of ground truth data.
Ground truth collected during the field trips of conducted using topographic map of 1966 and
landcover map of 1986were to assess the accuracy of the classification results. Post-classification
detection techniques were used to produce change image through cross–tabulation. The analysis
indicated the urban expansion of Akure showed that between 1986 and 2009 built up areas
increased approximately 8,839ha (16.63%), light forest decreased 6753.15ha (12.70%). Gallery
increased 11,119.07ha (20.92%), Dense forest increased 80.03ha (0.05%), Bare rock decreased
4029.47ha (2.33%) and Bareland increased 40,396.22 (ha) (23.036%) respectively. The study
quantified the patterns of landuse/cover change for the last 23 years for Akure that forms
valuable resources for city planners and policy makers to attain and sustain future urban
development and environmental planning.