Housing is a right, not commodity business

Housing provides persons with safety, security, shelter from wild animals, hoodlums, sunshine, wind, rain and other harsh effects of weather and its elements. b) Investment. Housing development is a source of income, as tenants pay rents to landlords and the property keeps appreciating in value. c) Social prestige/status. In all societies, house ownership provides social […]

Housing provides persons with safety, security, shelter from wild animals, hoodlums, sunshine, wind, rain and other harsh effects of weather and its elements. b) Investment. Housing development is a source of income, as tenants pay rents to landlords and the property keeps appreciating in value. c) Social prestige/status. In all societies, house ownership provides social status and prestige to owners (consciously or un-consciously). Houses are durable goods that can be transferred from one person to another and that can be inherited by dependents.
Other advantages of housing include Employment, Collateral security, Physical development and Economic growth.
The right to housing is recognized in a number of international human rights instruments (in which Nigeria is a signatory) and the Nigerian Constitution:
ILO Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries.
2. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ICESCR
3. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
4. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
5. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
 In the early colonial period, Nigeria’s housing development was dominated by indigenous development in cities, villages and hamlets. It was based on this pattern that colonial masters, with their idea of indirect rule, refused to dismantle the native system, but to build adjoining new settlements as a deliberate way of influencing existing culture and development, creating new awareness and needs. Accordingly mass-housing policies and activities were to allow the old settlements to develop organically on their own, and to provide housing in areas outside the existing settlements for certain group of new-comers of the population.
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right to housing as part of the right to an adequate standard of living It states that:
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”.
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (section 16/2/d) states “that suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, and unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens”. The right is only on paper as most of the low-income housing stock is in adequate”.
The Land Use Act of 1978, vested all land (in the designated urban centers), under the control of the governor of the state thereby limiting accessibility to land (due to long bureaucratic processes, and increases land speculation making land beyond the reach of most people).
Housing is more than just constructing of houses, it is an inter-related, inter-dependent and inter-connected process (requiring multi-disciplinary approach), aimed at achieving adequate housing delivery. Nigerian Government has allowed the private-informal sector of housing, to be the dominant supplier of housing to Nigerians.
Nigerians generally do not enjoy adequate housing for the following reasons:
Security of tenure: Most Nigerians lack security of tenure for a number of reasons, such as the fact that their land can be expropriated by the State for the exploitation of resources; they can be forcibly displaced by the State to make way for development projects; customs and traditions are used by private individuals to dispossess a widow or divorced woman of her home and lands; and that sufficient measures are rarely taken against racist practices by landlords and other actors.
Affordability: Housing in cities is becoming increasingly expensive, which makes owning or even renting prohibitive, especially for low income earners who tend to be amongst the poorest in almost every society.
Habitability: Many of the studies revealed that low income earners often live in overcrowded conditions. Overcrowded housing tends to accelerate the deterioration of dwellings and increases the risk of the transmission of diseases and the promulgation of domestic violence and other abuses and violations.
Availability of services: Most Nigerians households lack basic services such as portable drinking water and electricity.
Accessibility: Adequate housing is not always accessible to low income earners (especially in urban areas) as a result of the discriminatory attitudes of housing providers, which creates barriers in the rental housing market.
Location: Most Nigerians live in remote locations where essential services such as health clinics/hospitals and schools are not available.
Cultural adequacy: Most Nigerians are currently living in housing that does not meet their cultural needs. For example, the Federal Government prototype housing schemes.
Dr. Sani is the Principal Partner, Saniplan Consultants Limited, No. 273 Yar’akwa “B”, off Na’ibawa Timber Market, Kano, Kano State ([email protected])