Perspectives on sustainable housing development in Nigeria

Nigeria holds the record as the most populous, fastest urbanizing and largest economic nation in Africa. Nevertheless, multidimensional effects of mounting population growth, marked internal rural-urban migration and widespread use of inappropriate housing development approaches have resulted in the emergence of urban sprawls, slums and squatter settlements in and around the country’s cities. The Sustainable Housing Development (SHD) initiative remains a welcome panacea to ameliorating the intricate problems hindering housing development in Nigeria. The success of the application of the actions and plans of the SHD initiative significantly depends on sustainable planning, design, financing, construction and cultural blending. This study identified the government, the private sector and the citizenry as major drivers and the Land Use Act (1978) as the most significant factor hindering SHD performance in Nigeria. Other highlighted barriers are housing affordability and accessibility, lack of sustained political will to consistently prosecute coherent policy frameworks and enablers as well as the poor state of dependable, in-country research and development data. In spite of these hurdles, the prospects of SHD are considered high as evidenced by Government’s interest in engaging construction industry professionals in line with the provisions of the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan for improved service delivery in the housing sector.