Nigeria and The Housing Crisis

The quality of life of a people finds measurement in the quality of roofs spread over their heads at the end of each long, exhausting day.

For many years, decent housing has been one of the defining yardsticks of how well people are faring at any given time. If at the end of each long day, people are able to retire to decent houses, then, invariably, they are living reasonably well. On the other hand, if at the end of similarly long days, people are confronted by dingy homes in overcrowded areas, then a problem immediately becomes obvious.

Now, Nigeria as a country has had its fair share of developmental struggles since independence in 1960. Some of the problems that were occasionally defined and dismissed as teething problems have shown both remarkable longevity and ability to evolve. They have continued to impede the country`s development in many deleterious ways. The effects are all too clear.

One such problem is the housing inadequacy that plagues the country like an epidemic. All over the country, a sickening majority of Nigerians find themselves cramped into houses in areas that are so tight that there is literally no breathing space. This ugly situation marks urban as well as rural areas although it appears that the urban areas with their pull of a better life are the worse affected.

The housing problem also immediately betrays a frightening spectre of inequality. While the rich are able to enjoy quarters closer to fresh air, space, light and minimum noise, people of little means are left on the fringes of the housing crises.

Inequality is the common denominator here, the common divider, the main instigator of the housing crisis. In cities like Lagos and Abuja, areas that are the exclusive preserve of the rich enjoy space and exotic houses, while the poor who must occupy the fringes of the city find themselves corralled into shanties.

There is yet another group that is worse off, it is group of the homeless: those who have no homes at all.

The housing crisis is a blight on Nigeria as it should be on every country that desires the well-being of its citizens. A lack of political will exacerbated by a self-interest that is distinctly Nigerian has ensured that successive administrations have floundered in their bid to fix it.

Some would argue that population explosion is partly to blame. Well, this may be true to an extent. What is truer however is that poor planning is a chief contributor. The future can always be planned if the vision and the mission are well placed.

There is also the problem of landlords who provide stiff competition to the Shylock of the Merchant of Venice. These landlords churn out substandard houses with frightening speed and proceed to crush their hapless tenants with extortionate amounts as rent.

When these helpless and hapless tenants are unable to keep up with the exorbitant demands of rent, forced eviction becomes the order of the day. Laws have been made to remedy the housing crisis, but Nigeria is a country of many laws that lack teeth and traction.

The government must continue to do all it can to regulate the housing industry with the ultimate aim of ending the housing crisis and providing decent housing to all Nigerians. A country where citizens do not have quality houses to inhabit is a homeless country. Kene Obiezu, Abuja