Our Stand (79)
Like many other countries, mostly third world which Nigeria falls under, the country has long been embroiled with increasing problems of rural-urban migration caused by lack of provision of the basic facilities and poor economic conditions in the rural areas, thereby, increasing the population of urban dwellers.
The consequence of this, is population explosion in urban areas, producing difficult housing problems and resulting in overcrowding in settlements.
One of the problems of overcrowding of environments especially cause by rural-urban migration is the increase sights of make shift dwellings in informal settlements that results to rising slums that increase as more persons seek to leave the rural settlements for greener pastures in cities.
Majority of these settlements are constructed on areas that lack the basic amenities of a comfortable living that include good drainage which is hugely important as it directs the flow of used waters, also, lack of electricity, fresh air and the right privacy. These settlements are raised with inferior or used materials that pose threats to the safe living of inhabitants.
Even in urban areas, most are known for high density buildings, terrible sanitary problems, air and noise pollution. Millions of urban dwellers still reside in houses that are substandard, requiring major repairs. There are lots that need to be done by both the private and public sector that will lead to the primary goal of providing the most important infrastructure which is affordable housing.
This should be an everyday cause of concern for housing stakeholders in the country, both private and the public sphere until the goal is achieved and as such, we are tired of saying “more need to be done to enable improvement”. When was the last time more was done? Lack of affordable housing still remains a major challenge and the time to act is now.
