CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH HOUSING DELIVERY IN NIGER STATE

CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH HOUSING DELIVERY IN NIGER STATE

CHAPTER ONE

1.0    INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Housing is paramount to human existence as it ranks among the top three needs of man. Its provision has always been of great necessity to man. As a unit of the environment, housing has profound influence on the health, efficiency, social behavior, satisfaction and general welfare of the community. It is a reflection of the cultural, social and economic values of a society and one of the best historical evidences of the civilization of a country. Housing is a set of durable assets, which accounts for a high proportion of a country’s wealth and on which households spend a substantial part of their income. It is for these reasons that housing has become a regular feature in economic, social and political debates often with highly charged emotional contents. In Nigeria, like in many other developing nations of the world housing problems are multi dimensional. The problems of population explosion, continuous influx of people from the rural to the urban centre’s, and the lack of basic infrastructure required for good standard of living have compounded housing problems over the years. Access to this basic need by the poor who constitute the largest percentage of the world population has remained a mirage and it needs to be critically addressed. , and the number of households and the money available to them to pay these prices on the other, constitutes the central problem of housing. The cost at which houses reach the market goes a long way to determine affordability. Where the unit cost of houses is abnormally high only a few people are able to afford the house.

As the scale of the housing challenge in the developing world is increasing at an alarming pace, the need for real action to address affordable housing supply is becoming increasingly critical. To deal with this challenge governments and local authorities are updating their knowledge on global housing policy approaches in order to formulate effective policy instruments. Over the years Nigeria has developed and implemented a number of housing policies and strategies, in an attempt to address the housing of its citizens and particularly the low-income group (Abdullahi 2010).

Abuja has been experiencing very rapid urbanization. This is largely due to urban growth associated with natural population growth and rural-urban migration driven by rapid socio-economic changes and development, tied to the movement of the seat of Federal Government of Nigeria from Lagos to Abuja in 1991. However, this growth has not been matched with simultaneous provision of adequate housing infrastructure.

The demand for basic infrastructure services has also grown over the years, quickly outstripping the supply capacity of existing assets which manifested in the acute shortage of dwelling units and resulted in overcrowding, high rents, poor urban living conditions. Many years of underinvestment and poor maintenance have left Abuja with a significant infrastructure deficit which is holding back the city development and economic growth. Abuja needs to make massive investments beyond the means available to government in order to close its yawning infrastructure gap. The Federal Government believes that the private sector can play an important role in providing some of this new investment through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Therefore, the need to provide adequate, suitable and equitable housing has remained a major priority of the government, since that piecemeal housing can never solve the housing requirement of the country estimated at about 16 million units (Gemade, 2010).

With the declining financial resources of government on housing delivery and other infrastructural services, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) has been widely advocated for housing and infrastructure development in Nigeria as part of recent housing reforms. The National Housing Policy (NHP, 2006) marked a significant transition of the government to position itself as enabler and facilitator in housing delivery. It advocated increased participation by the private sector and emphasized government’s role in creating conditions to boost housing supply by eliminating legal and regulatory constraints and supporting appropriate infrastructure investments.

This entailed a notable shift in the public sector role from direct housing provision to engaging the private sector in constructing, financing, operating and maintaining housing units. Deriving from international documents such as the Global Strategy for Shelter to the year 2000 (UNCHS, 1992), and later Enabling Markets to work (World Bank, 1993), subsequent policy documents like Nigeria National Housing Policy (NHP, 2006) emphasized the policy thrust of simultaneously enhancing and changing the roles of the public and private sectors. This new role requires that real estate developers learn how to build houses to particular price targets, so that members of different income groups can aspire to the status of homeownership.

The purpose of all these policies is to ensure that all Nigerians especially the low income groups own or have access to decent, safe and healthy housing accommodation that would be achieved through a private sector led housing delivery system anchored on mass construction of houses and strong mortgage finance (NHP, 2006).

All these areas have their accompanied housing environment to accommodate the bulk of its residence. Phase Three has six residential districts and four sector centers. However, the detailed land use plan for phases III and IV are still begin processed, and the planned and unplanned population for these areas are causing overcrowding of the built up areas.

1.       STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

There has been a problem of differential housing quality which has been compounded by the very rapid population growth in Niger state. With Minna the Niger state capital, the challenges associated with housing delivery includes; Poor planning and lack of building control measure; Lack of housing programs impact of the government on residence of the state, Overcrowding and over use of buildings, Improper control of dispose refuse, Inadequate control of drainage channel that cause  Pollution and Lack of access to funds by the people for housing development.  However, the implementation of mass housing programme has been ongoing for a long time now but there does not seem to be much progress with respect to adequate provision of infrastructure and home ownership by the programme, indicating that critical gap exists between programme’s target and reality, therefore this research is an attempt to carryout an assessment on the challenges associated with housing delivery in Niger State.

1. RESEARCH QUESTION
2. What are the challenges associated with housing delivery in Niger State.
3. What are the causes of housing problem in the study area
4. What are the implication and effect of low cost housing on housing delivery in the study area?

1.4    AIM AND OBJECTIVES

This project is aimed at examining the challenges associated with housing delivery in Niger State with the following objectives;

        OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the study include;

1. To evaluate housing challenges and problems in Niger
2. To examine the causes of housing problem in the study area
3. To identify the implication and effect of low cost housing on housing delivery in the study area.

The study will reflect the effect of the implementation of mass housing on housing provisions in Abuja. the results of this research will be a awaken call to improved performance of government and to strengthen further the provision of housing stocks within the Nigeria, as such It also provides the rationale for developing an effective housing policy framework towards achieving sustainable urban development in Nigeria.

The results of this study will help the policy-makers and executors to know the relevance of private estate developers in the provision of affordable housing so as to avoid the pitfalls or gray areas inherent in partnering and providing enabling environment for their effective operation. 

Theoretically, the study will serve as a contribution to knowledge regarding the effects of the implementation of mass housing on housing delivery in Nigeria and Abuja in particular. More so, it serves as a reference material for administrators and policy-makers at all levels of government.

1.6       Scope and Limitation Of Study

The study will focus on the effects of the implementation of mass housing on housing delivery in Abuja the federal capital territory. It will also evaluate the implementation of the programme in housing delivery in the FCT between years 2006 to 2016. The study is limited by unavailability or unwilling attitude of most stakeholders to give necessary data for the research.

1.7       Definition of Terms

Housing: Housing is defined as the process of providing functional shelter in a proper setting within a neighborhood supported by sustainable maintenance of the built environment for the day- to-day living and activities of individuals and families within the community (FRN,2006).

Mass Housing: This refers to a form of housing provision in which houses are built in large number or quantity in a particular area.

Housing Delivery Programme: Housing programmes, are specific strategies usually initiated to increase the housing stock in a country. They are instruments for implementing housing policies.

Housing Delivery System: The housing delivery system involves a complex process which flows in stages and in a sequential series to produce a housing unit or units (Agbola, 1998).

Public Private Partnerships: Wallace, (1998) defined public-private partnerships as arrangements where development is undertaken with a combination of not-for-profit, private and public participations of programs.

1.8       Historical Background of the Study Area

Niger state Minna, was part of the North western state under the Gowon administrations twelve state structure in 1967. in 1967, when a further state creation exercise was embarked upon by the general Murtala Mohammed administration, the previous North – western state was bifurcated into Sokoto and Niger state. Niger state is located between latitude 8, 20’N and 11, 30’N and longitude to the 3, 30’E and 7, 20’E. the state is bordered to the North by Zarnfara state, to the North-western by Kebbi state, to the south by Kogi state, to south — west by Kwara state, while Kaduna state and the feral capital territory border the state to the north-east and south-east, respectively. Furthermore the state shares a common international boundary with the republic of Benin at Babanna in Borgu local government area of the state. Currently the state covers a total land area of 76,000 sq. Km or about 9 percent in the country. Administrative areas: Although at inception in 1967 the state had only eight LGAS, the series of other state and local government creation exercise and boundary adjustments between 1979 -1996 have substantially increased the number of LGAS in the state to twenty five. For easy and effective

Administration, the twenty five LGAS, have been divided into five administrative zones. These include Minna, the state capital, bida, suleja, kontagora and new Bussa. There are eight Emirate councils. These include agaie, Bida, kontagora, suleja, lapal, kagara, Borgu and Minna. At the apex of this council is the Estu Nupe who is the chairman, Niger state council is the Estu Nupe who is the chairman, Niger state council of chiefs. This council plays advisory role to the state government.