The Challenge of Housing the Urban Poor in Nigeria

Abstract

The thrust of this paper is to investigate the challenges of housing the urban poor in Nigeria with a focus on Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State. Using Survey Research Design (SRD), data were collected via structured questionnaire interview, observation and photo-snaps. The study identified rapid urbanization in Nigeria due to massive rural-urban drift and explosive urban population growth. The result of the study confirms a number of problems associated with urban poor in Nigeria including poor housing, unemployment, inaccessibility to basic facilities, poverty and poor sanitation leading to environmental degradation and poor health. The study also identify the poor constituting a sizable number of urban dwellers who are mostly incapacitated to build houses for themselves and unable to afford the cost of existing ones. The paper asserts the need for quick government intervention through Poverty Alleviation Programs (PAPs) as viable means to alleviating the current devastating economic status of the urban poor in Nigeria. This necessitates the need for advance strategies that will link shelter with employment generation. Besides, effective housing loan schemes should be encouraged and made available to mitigating the problems of urban housing provision for the poor in Nigeria.