Review of the Housing Policies and Programmes in Nigeria

Problem of inadequate housing faced by poor people around the world has been a matter of concern to governments in various countries especially in the developing world whereby significant portion of the population is mostly   characterized by poverty.  In such countries, the housing problem is not only that of quantity but also of the poor quality of available housing units. Private sector development in the Nigerian housing sector has been a standstill for more than a decade. With few exceptions, the private sector transactions that have taken place have been informal and on the fringe of legality. At the opposite of the spectrum, public sector activity is plagued with many problems. Instead of operating as a social policy, it operates more like a regressive lottery or patronage system. The results have been the simultaneous construction of some of the most luxurious subsidized housing in Africa, and general deterioration in housing conditions of most Nigerians, particularly the housing conditions of the poor. The recorded history of formal intervention into the housing sector in Nigeria dated back to the colonial administration, after the unfortunate outbreak of the bubonic plaque of 1928 in Lagos. This necessitated the establishment of the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB). This signifies the ushering of Nigerian public housing programmes intervention; which was during colonial era. The policies are modest with the ultimate aim of addressing the housing problem at a National scale. The policy focus then, was on the provision of expatriate quarters and some selected indigenous staff in Rail ways, Marine, Police and Armed forces. The construction of senior civil servant quarters in the capital city of Lagos and regional headquarters like Kaduna, Ibadan and Enugu are some of the practical efforts made at the same time some form of rent subsidy and housing loans.