Urbanization according to Aluko O. E is rather subjective and can be given various interpretations. However in this concept it can be defined as the expansion of the number of people living in an urban area that depicts the rate at which people move from rural areas and populate the urban areas.
Reports however, from the united nation show that the population at the urban centres has multiplied four times its initial growth since 1960 and would have risen to a projected number of about 5 billion in the year 2030. Report also has it that over 70 per cent of these populations would settle in cities and towns. Following independence, many administrative centres experienced major unplanned rapid urbanization .
The ripple effect of these on cities being the core of urban development is enormous especially on the housing development which has eventually resulted in overcrowding, in
...adequate dwellings, deplorable urban environment, degrading public infrastructure, and to an extreme, “outright homelessness” (Adesoji David Jiboye, 2011).
Nonetheless, According to Femi Olokesusi, 2011 quoting Onibokun et. al. 1987) and Onibolun and Kumuyi (1999), assert that various political and socio-economic factors have resulted in rapid growth of urban population resulting in informal settlements, poor housing and slums in Nigeria. The rate of influx of people into major cities has been so high that the pace of settlement development and housing provision could not accommodate them. Since they must have shelter, all forms of informal procedures are adopted to provide housing. This has resulted in non-compliance with physical planning regulations and development control standards.
Thus there have been cases of incompatibility of land use activities, overcrowding
(due to high occupancy ratio, high density of development), poor construction standards (due to use of substandard building materials and construction methods), and ill-serviced dwelling Units, among others. The impact of rapid population growth however, on urban development and conditions is far more than merely a demographic or quantitative one especially on housing development as a whole which is a direct consequence of the push of the rural areas and the pull of the town.
Current studies however indicate that the impact of rapid urbanization in terms of housing is revealed both in its quantity and quantity such that the little number of available houses is being overloaded infrastructurally and spatially leading to a reduction in the level of comfort and a rapid development in the number of slums being created and the level of substandard houses being built in an unplanned and unhealthy environment.
However, the level of impact on the adequacy of housing has been compounded particularly by the high rate of population growth, through influx of immigrants, exaggerated real estate values etc. Nonetheless, housing according to Aduwo 2011, Daramola 2006 et al is the measure of the level of housing inadequacy and its quality. According to pelu Awofeso, one out of every two Nigerians now live in a city leaving limited infrastructure to be engulfed by millions of individuals.
In his report he stated that 16 million housing units would have to be provided to address the shortage in urban shelters since the inflow of people supersedes the rate at which affordable housing is being constructed. Housing however, according to Abbas Olukunmi Owoade, 2007 quoting Tannerfeldt and Ljung ‘06)does
not only relate to provision of houses but also basic infrastructure of a neighbourhood as well as schools clinics , recreational facilities and other amenities. CASE STUDY:LAGOS
The city of Lagos was first inhibited before the 15th century and grew from a typical small fishing and farming settlement due to certain factors such as, the construction of the railway in 1895 that linked the city, the hinterland and the port with the development of the Lagos harbour. In the twinkle of an eye, Lagos became the centre of trade and commerce bringing migrants from every nook and cranny. As the population increased so did the spatial expansion which posed a great deal of problems especially housing development. kehinde George, 2002).
Population explosion in lagos became noticeable after 1950 amongst other reason, it was the national capital and in ’67 became a state on its own attracting funds from both the federal and state government there by introducing more migrants. However, Over 90 per cent of the typical housing standard is being provided by the private sector and individual efforts bringing about a gap between its demand and supply finding expression in the cost of rented values that eventually leads to vercrowding, growth of slums and rise in the number of substandard housing (Owoade,Abiodun ‘97).
Two major factors that accounted for the rapid growth in lagos can tied to net migration and natural increase According to the old United Nations university website, prior to 1928, planned residential areas in Lagos were limited. They included Ikoyi, which was a reservation area for expatriates who were colonial administrators and executives of foreign firms, and had
a population of 4,000, or 3 per cent of the population of the city in 1931.
Apapa, Ebute Meta, and Yaba, with a combined population of 22,000, or 17 per cent of the total, also had some element of planning, in the sense that road networks in Ebute Meta and Yaba were laid out on a grid and residential development was confined to the blocks within the road pattern. On Lagos Island, apart from the areas around the racecourse and marina, the indigenous housing was unplanned and was left to develop haphazardly, with houses built quite close together.
Such overcrowded, unhealthy housing and poor environmental conditions stimulated the rapid spread of influenza epidemics and bubonic plague, which ravaged the city between 1924 and 1930. These led to the emergence, in 1928, of the pioneer planning authority in Nigeria, the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB), which embarked on slum clearance and the relocation of families from the Island to the Mainland (Oko Awo scheme) and since then, the activities of planning authorities have assumed considerable importance in metropolitan Lagos.
The government of Nigeria has interceded at different times to solve housing problems with particular focus on Lagos by providing housing units as well as establishing site and service programmes to make available plots of lands to individual to build their own houses, the period 1979-1983 under the Jakande administration witnessed a massive housing development programme. evertheless, These programmes had little impact in that it provided limited number of housing units with a major setback in the year 1994 due to increase in price of building materials. Thus, making a considerable number of Lagosians
lack “shelter” a basic need of human existence. The wide gap between the supply of and the demand for has operated in escalating house rents, rent edict were promulgated to reduce this hardship by working population .
In 1973 for instance the mid-west state government proclaimed an edict which limited the maximum rent payable on dwelling units. However, such edicts have not been effective in arresting increase in house rents (Josephine Abiodun,1976).
In Lagos, like elsewhere in Nigeria the access to privately owned housing units through traditional channels has made it immensely possible for a relatively large number of people to be house owners at certain cost which includes the sale of the same plot to more than one buyer owing to a lack of a comprehensive land register and sometimes conflict over rights of ownership between the state and private individuals or family groups or between members of families “omo onile” (owoade, abiodun ‘97).
However, over 60% of these residents are under a tenement kind of arrangement constructed by “absentee landlord” with this kind of arrangement ending abruptly due to unforeseen evictions(Owoade, abiodun et al) The issue of land acquisition at the same time is far more complex because government acquired land is rarely made available or affordable for the average or even made accessible due to lack of basic infrastructure.
Alternatively, in order to live closer to job opportunities there’s need for settling in centrally located pieces of abandoned land left due to unsuitability for housing either for being along railway paths or under high tension electric cable or marshy lands. (Owoade ’07, Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006). David Owoade
in his report emphatically stated that the Problems of rapid urbanization have increased and become more glaring as the cities expand and many attempts to curb these problems have not achieved the desired results. Housing continued to be supplied through informal self-help landlords and a majority of tenants live in homes with unsecured tenure while many holders find home in slums and shantytowns. Examples include Ajegunle, Makoko, Badiya, Maroko etc.
Those that have been fortunate enough to build their houses on the periphery of the cities (ota in sango) have to live without basic services and infrastructures such as clean water, sewers, electricity and roads. In 1976, it was estimated that 111000 residential houses were available in Lagos to provide accommodation for a population of 3. 2 million keeping it at an average of 28 persons per building.
By 19080, it had gotten worse with 30 persons living in a building and it was further projected that 2 per cent of the population lived in self-contained buildings leaving the remaining 98 % to rooming accommodations connoting shared facilities like the kitchen and the toilet. It was further estimated that by the year 2000, a total number of 1. 5 million housing units would be needed to cater to fast growing population. It is no surprise that there is no more land for the government to build that they have resulted in sand filling of certain areas ( Raji Rasaki, 1988).
However an updated article by lookman oshodi,2010 quoting the Lagos ministry of housing 2010 brings the demography to a total number of 91% of the total population living in the metropolis, about
20,000 persons per square kilometre in the built up areas. The occupancy ratio however are 8-10 persons per room with 72. 5% of household occupying one room apartment’s . ince the rate of growth in Lagos has assumed a geometric progression the provision of houses has never been commensurate leading to decay in structure either by quantity or quality.
Hence, multiplying the number of inhibited slums from 42 in the year 1985 to over a hundred in 2010. (slums and squatter settlement)also, this “urban poor” pay house rents that are almost 50-70% of their income since most accommodations as earlier said are provided by private landlords. Thus, dividing the metropolis into classes such as low income/high density, medium income/medium density, high income /low density. (Lawanson 2007, lookman oshodi 2010)
The population in Lagos seems to growing each day with its problems. onetheless, according to aduwo,2011 quoting (Okupe, 2002; Oruwari, 2006), Public housing was birthed as a solution to the proliferation of slums and squatter settlements but Housing specialists have revealed that public housing has failed to provide decent housing, claiming that it has succeeded in segregating tenants by income, race, and that it has isolated residents from the larger community. However, all these problems have resulted in overcrowding of buildings leaving room for no access, urban sprawl, lack of open spaces, high cost of building materials etc.
