URBAN SLUM DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF ABA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ABIA STATE

Transcription

1 URBAN SLUM DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF ABA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ABIA STATE 1 IWUAGWU, BEN UGOCHUKWU, 2 IKECHUKWU ONYEGIRI, 3 IWUAGWU, BEN CHIOMA 1, Department of Architecture Abia State Polytechnic, Nigeria, 2 Department of Architecture Imo State University, Nigeria, 3 Department of Statistics Abia State Polytechnic, Nigeria, 1 iwuagwuben@yahoo.com, 2 onyegiriikechukwu@gmail.com, 3 ibenchioma@yahoo.com, Abstract- Housing problem is one of the challenges facing mankind today and are more critical in Less Developed Countries (LDCs) such as Nigeria, where slums have grown as a seemingly inevitable part of the urban area. Slums accommodate the majority of the population of cities in developing countries and it is estimated to be home to over 800million people. Aba South Local Government is the hub of Aba metropolis, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, with land size of km 2 and a total population of 427,421 according to 2006 Census. The main objective of the study which focused on urban slums in Aba South Local Government Area of Abia State was to examine slum development and its effects in the study area. The major factors as discovered, contributing to slum development in the area include ruralurban migration, unplanned neighbourhood, over- population, non-compliance with laid down rules and illiteracy. The study observed that the resultant effects of this are overcrowding, encroachment on government land, poor housing, poor sanitation, outbreak of diseases, insecurity of life, and decline in property values amongst others. It was further established that some attempts had been made to upgrade the slum neighbourhoods, but the attempts were biased towards improvement in infrastructure services and gave less attention to housing development. As a remedy to reduce slum expansions and development in the study areas, it is recommended that, at the local level, the planning authority should excises their powers by efficiently controlling development in the area. At the state level, government should provide and implement enabling laws and regulations, improve waste disposal, drainage and sanitary system and also decentralize development programmes and projects to help reduce rural-urban drift. The proposed recommendations, if applied, will help to control slum development and its effects in the study area and Nigeria at large. Keywords- urban slum, housing, slum development, unplanned neighbourhood. I. INTRODUCTION Shelter is a structure, permanent or makeshift, designed basically to protect the occupant against unwanted elements and intruders [1]. Housing is much more than mere shelter; it embraces the quality, comfort, social, and community amenities - all the social services and utilities that go to make a community or neighborhood a liveable environment [2]. Housing is bound up with concepts such as shelter itself, privacy, location, environmental amenity and investment [3]. Housing which satisfies these concepts can be considered adequate. Reference [4] defined housing as the process of providing a large number of residential buildings on permanent bases with adequate physical infrastructure and social services in planned, decent, safe and sanitary neighborhoods to meet the basic and special needs of the population. Housing problem is one of the challenges facing mankind today and are more critical in Less Developed Countries (LDCs) such as Nigeria, where slums have grown as a seemingly inevitable part of urban area. In the urban centres of Nigeria, slums have reached an alarming state, as almost 75 percent of the urban dwellers live in slums and in conditions that are degrading of human dignity [5]. The incidence of over population, as a result of ruralurban migration, in urban centres has created severe housing problem, resulting in overcrowding, inadequate dwellings and in a situation in which according to [6], 60 percent of urban population in Nigerian can be said to be houseless persons. Estimate by UN- Habitat 2003 shows that in sub- Saharan Africa, about 72 percent of urban residence lives in slum or slum-like condition which [5], described as settlement characterized by make-shift housing, congestion, high level of unemployment, social fragmentation, high level of migration, and poor environmental sanitation, health insecurity and social vices. Slums form and grow in many different parts of the world for many different reasons. Some causes include rapid rural-to-urban migration, economic stagnation and depression, high unemployment, poverty, informal economy, poor planning, politics, natural disasters and social conflicts [7]. The urban poor are in some places even worse-off than their rural counterparts within the many cities in Nigeria. The cities incorporate a mix of well-planned areas with modern facilities as well as poorly built and obsolete buildings which makes living standard deplorable. There have been several strategies to control and improve urban slum development in Nigeria such as, Forced Evictions in the early 1970s, Self-Help and In Situ Transformation in the Late 1970s, Enabling Policies in the 1980s, Resettlement in the 1990s and Participatory Slum Improvement in the Early 2000 till Date. Meanwhile, in spite of several strategies and policies to control urban slum development, the situation had been on the increase. This had propelled the researchers to examine slum development and its effects in the study area. To achieve this, the concept 48

2 of slum as well as development will be examined, factors contributing to slum development and the effects will be evaluated, and actionable recommendations will be made at reducing if not totally eradicating the rate of slum development in the study area and Nigeria at large. II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM High rates of urbanization in developing countries lead to a big and often problematic issue of providing housing and shelter, especially for the urban poor. Housing shortage is the most significant feature of slums and it is estimated that the supply of public housing in developing countries meets no more than 1 percent of the total demand [8]. It is claimed that the work of the architectural profession reaches only one third of the world s population [8]. A slum settlement has services and infrastructure far below the adequate or minimum tolerable levels. Housing conditions in such residential neighbourhoods are substandard and deteriorated to the extent that it is unwholesome and a threat to the health, safety, morality and welfare of the inhabitants. This is a pattern that is applicable in the slums in the study areas and also prevalent in urban areas throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria. The people who live slums in the study area are the large majority of humanity who are left in the position of being their own architects, providing and shaping their own housing and environment. The living conditions in slums in the study area are chaotic and unsafe due to lack of overall planning, poor infrastructural support, poor quality of housing construction, no access to water, poor drainage and sanitary conditions, and the insecure status of residential ownership or tenure. According to UN-Habitat, the world population will rise to 9.5 billion people within the next thirty years. The urbanization in the world will continue to grow rapidly and by the year 2050, 7 out of 10 people will live in urban areas [9]. It is likely that many of these dwellers will be forced to seek shelter in the informal settlement, with great consequences following. In the years ahead, the demand for housing will rise drastically, causing numerous stresses on our cities and our environment. Unless the increased demand for housing in the study area is met, slum development will continue to expand according to [10], contributing to the rise of social problems and causing an increased stress on the environment. n = N / (1 + N (e) 2 ) Where, n = sample size, N = population size and e = decision level. By plugging the data for this study into the formula with the decision level, e, as 0.05, the sample size n will be 400. A set of 400 questionnaires were prepared and 80 copies were randomly administered across each of the five slum neighbourhoods in the study area namely, Ngwa Road, Obohia, Ohanku, Uratta and Omoba Road. Out of the 400 questionnaires successfully administered, 318 questionnaires were retrieved, as the slum inhabitants finds it difficult to accept or return copies of questionnaire claiming we are government agents. The data were analysed descriptively using tables, bar charts and graphs. IV. FINDINGS Variables such as environmental quality, occupation, residency status, occupancy ratio, modifications, toilet facilities etcetera provided to residents at the study area have been analysed below. Table 1: Occupation. Fig.1 Occupation of respondents. III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The National Population Commission (NPC) 2006 Population Census puts the population of Aba South Local Government at 427,421. Applying a growth rate of 2.85 percent, 2015 projected figure was arrived at as 550,422. Reference [11] came up with a model for determining a sample size from a population. His formula is defined by Table 2: Reason for living in the neighbourhood 49

3 From the survey (Table 1) majority of the respondents (53.5%) are traders while 7.2% are civil servants. Table 2 shows that 44% of respondents live in the slum because of closeness to their business, seconded by poverty (40.3%) which was why 67.6% of the respondents are on rent with the majority as shown in Table 4 (67%) with occupancy ratio of between 4 6 persons. Table 5: How modification was carried out. Fig.2. Why respondents live in the neighborhood. Table 3: Residency status Fig.5. How modification was carried out. Fig.3 Residency status. Table 6: Toilet facility provided Table 4: Occupancy ratio. Table 7: Environmental quality. Fig.4 Occupancy ratio. Table 5 and Fig 3 show that government has contributed in only 1.3% of modification in the study 50

4 area with the inhabitant contributing 48.1% through self help. About 51.3% of the respondents have no toilet or use pit, with poor access, drainage and refuse disposal system. study area has been inhabitants issue with government making little contribution. Furthermore, a large percentage of the respondents said that the drainage condition was bad and in the long run, will affect the safety and healthy living of the masses as it always lead to flooding in the neighbourhoods. It was observed that most of the access roads are in a deplorable condition with some only accessible through footpath. It was also observed that there was no proper refuse disposal system as the inhabitants dispose their refuse on the road or on the available drainage especially when it is raining. Large percentage of respondents still use primitive ways of sanitary disposal as 51.3% use pit toilet or no toilet at all. It was painfully observed that the study area is a breeding ground for arm robbers, drug addicts and even prostitution making it security porous. The study observed that the resultant effects of these developments are overcrowding, encroachment on government land, poor housing, poor sanitation, outbreak of diseases, insecurity of life, and decline in property values amongst others. VII. RECOMMENDATIONS Fig.6. Environmental quality. V. DISCUSSION OF FINDINDINGS The study area is densely populated as 67% of the respondents affirmed that they are more than 3 in a room. This is not health friendly and there is possibility of facilities being overstressed. Residents have access to poor facilities. Only 48.7% of the respondents are using W.C for their toilet. The rest are majorly pit latrine or not available at all. There is environmental facilities failure in the area as 70.8% of the respondents opined that there is no road, 74.5% without drainage system. Poor refuse disposal system and insecurity are also high. VI. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS Most of the slum inhabitants in the study area are traders (53.5%) as shown in Table 1, who live in their neighbourhoods because of closeness to their businesses as the study area is commercial nerve center of the state. The fact that some of them (40.3%) live in the neighbourhood because of poverty was not disputed as majority of inhabitants are on rent with only 25.5% living in their own house as shown in Table 3. The study area is densely populated with about 67% of respondents having occupancy ratio of more than 3 people in a room which led to the overstress of existing facilities. Most of the houses as observed are traditional and obsolete and the ones termed modern lack the necessary facilities cum services that make life comfortable such as sanitary conveniences; room size/density per room etc. In addition, housing modification in the As a remedy to slum expansion and development in the study areas and its effects, it is recommended that, the Planning Authority should efficiently control development in the area and enforce development taking place within its jurisdiction to be in conformity with laid down regulations towards achieving aesthetics, convenience and orderliness. Government should provide and implement enabling laws and regulations, improve waste disposal, drainage and sanitary system and also decentralize development programmes, projects and make facilities which are attracting people in rural areas to the urban areas available to them. These will reduce, if not eliminate the rural urban drift which causes over population, hence slum development. Government should carry out urban renewal measures in areas that are blighted or are fast developing into slums. Government should also provide an enabling environment which should allow private developers provide mass housing as housing contributes highly to the development of any economy. This should not be done with a view to paving way for the few rich because if this is the basis, it may not achieve the desired result. CONCLUSION In spite of several strategies and policies to control urban slum development, the situation had been on the increase. This had propelled the researchers to examine slum development and its effects in the study area. From the study, slum development has reached an alarming state in the area thereby reducing the value of the area, creating poor living conditions, encouraging inharmonious and conflicting uses of 51

5 land, environmental degradation, and congestion among others. Based on the foregoing, if the proposed recommendations are applied, it will help control slum development to some extent if not totally eradicate slum development and its effects in the study area and Nigeria at large. REFERENCES [1]. [1]. V. Onu, and A.J.C. Onu. Urban Residential Housing And Low-Income Earners: A Study Of Makurdi Metropolis, Benue State, Nigeria. European Scientific Journal vol.8, No.28, [2]. [2]. National Housing Policy National Housing Policy, Nigeria. Abuja, Nigeria: Official Gazette [3]. [3]. A. Aribigbola. Conceptual Issues in Housing and Housing Provision in Nigeria. In Effective Housing in the 21st Century. Akure, Nigeria. A Publication of the Environmental Forum, School of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology (FUTA) [4]. [4]. Draft National Housing Policy. Financial System Strategy, Mortgage FSS 2020 International Conference. Retrieved November 24, 2012 from it/fss%202020%20%mortgage %20presentation.pdf. [5]. [5]. A. O. Olotuah, and A. O. Ajenifujah. Architectural Education and Housing provision in Nigeria, in CEBE Transaction. Online Journal of centre of education in built environment, Cardiff University, UK. 6(1) [6]. [6]. A. O. Olotuah, and S. A. Bobadoye. Sustainable Housing Provision for the Urban Poor: A Review of Public Sector Intervention in Nigeria. The Built and Human Environment Review, [7]. [7]. C. Patton. Spontaneous shelter: International perspectives and prospects. Philadelphia. Temple University Press [8]. [8]. J. Astrand. LTH - Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Sweden. 23 April [9]. [9]. UN-Habitat. The challenges of slum: global report on human settlement UN human settlement program. London, earthscan [10]. [10]. I. Imparato, and J. Ruster. Slum Upgrading and Participation Lessons from Latin America. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank, Washington D.C. [Online], Available: [ ] [11]. [11]. T. Yahmane. Statistics: An introductory analysis. 2 nd Ed. Harper and Row. New York