Re-Thinking the Approaches to Mass Housing Delivery in Nigeria: Lessons from Past Housing Programme Implementation

Abstract

Nigerian cities are experiencing increasing population and rising urbanisation rates which are inconsistent with the provision of adequate housing and urban infrastructure. This contradictory trend arises mostly from the failures of past efforts by the government and the private sector. In recent times, public-private partnerships have evolved at different urban centres to produce houses which are inaccessible to the low-income households. Consequently, a substantial population of the lowincome households residing in the urban areas are accessing their housing through informal arrangements which are synonymous to the sprawling of substandard housing. This problem is evidenced by the deficiency of infrastructure, shortage of good housing, unplanned urban expansion, poor living condition, high residential rentals and deprivation. To examine these issues, a review of government's mass housing schemes is undertaken. Official policy papers, reports and academic literature covering the period from 1960 to 2010 were used to explicate the mass housing schemes. The findings indicates a consistent use of top-down approach to design and implement mass housing programmes, from the Federal to State and Local government levels. This approach failed to achieve desired results due to non engagement of relevant stakeholders (governmental actors, private institutions, land owners and end-users) in the funding, design and implementation of housing projects. Similarly, roles were over-centralised in Federal Government line agencies which gave undue advantage to few individuals to monopolise the implementation processes. Furthermore, there was a lack of appropriate procurement regulations to address probity, accountability and efficiency concerns. In view of these findings, a bottom-up approach, the decentralisation of roles and partnership of multiple actors are recommended. These have potentials for solving the problems identified; therefore, further research could empirically verify this claim.