Wanton destruction of vegetal cover for some socio-economic reasons has
become a common phenomenon in the tropical rainforest region of the world. In Africa,
deforestation has been persistent over the years, and in the West-African sub-region and
Nigeria in particular, it is a day-to-day practice. Deforestation is part of human activities on
the earth surface considering the exploitation of endowed abundant natural resources; in
particular, deforestation has become a big threat to Nigeria’s environment. Because of the
problems created by deforestation, the researcher tried to analyze the phenomenon in Epe
Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. The study was carried out for the period
between 1962 and 1994 using remote sensing technique. Aerial Photographs of 1962 and
SPOT imagery of 1994 of the study area were used to map out land use/land cover of the two
periods, after which the maps were overlaid to produce the change map. The maps were then
digitized using geographical information systems (GIS) technology. The areal extent of each
land use/land cover category was extrapolated through the system (GIS). The results show a
lot of deforestation. For example, heavy forest lost to light forest, Agriculture, and open area
under development. Light forests on the other hand lost to agriculture, palm forest and open
area, etc.