More than 60% of Nigerians live in slums – Stakeholders

• Published On: 21 October 2024 at 12:20

Stakeholders in the built environment have reported that 60% of Nigerians live in slums.

According to The Punch, stakeholders revealed this at the 33rd Lagos Builders' Conference and annual general meeting, which was recently held in Lagos under the theme "Breaking Barriers and Empowering Change in Nigeria's Real Estate Sector: Process and Control".

Prof. Timothy Nubi of the Department of Estate Management at the University of Lagos stated, "We need to be honest with ourselves; almost 60% of Nigerians live in slums, which is a dreadful situation.

"We are all homeless if one of us is homeless, and we cannot move this country forward while the majority of its citizens live in slums." There is no doubt that we have failed the generation that follows us.

Nubi believes that regeneration is preferable than urban renewal, which frequently involves evictions and displacement of populations.

He emphasised that many slums persist because individuals are yearning to live in metropolitan areas.

"Unfortunately and in most cases, these slums are on prime lands, mostly waterfronts, like Makoko, among others," according to him.

Also, Olufemi Oyedele, Chief Executive Officer of Fame Oyster & Co., reported that Nigeria's slum inhabitants have surpassed 60%.

He said, "Slums are dirty or overcrowded concentrations of people. Assume the World Bank claims that we live in overcrowded houses in Nigeria due to over 18 million housing shortfalls, and 18 million three-bedroom units can accommodate 72 million people, whereas four people dwell in three-bedroom apartments. In that case, almost 60% live in slums across Nigeria."

Abiodun Ogundare, the conference's Local Organising Committee Chairman, noted, "We began this exciting adventure in 2022 with 'The Legacy Conference Island 2022 Shifting Landscape'. Then, in 2023, we were reenergised for the Heritage Conference-Island 2023 titled 'Safe & Sustainable Building Production Management in Nigeria', and we discovered that there is still a barrier, and the best thing to do with the barrier is to break it.

"Hence, in 2024, we have the Resilience Conference—Island 2024—to break the barrier of financial/investment startups for real estate development, break the barrier of real investment challenges and empower for changes that are coming; these are aims and objectives of this conference."

Mr. Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, declared last year that the Federal Government intends to upgrade 26 slums across the country's six regions to improve inhabitants' living conditions and assist the urban poor.

This declaration was given during his keynote talk at the National Council on Lands, Housing, and Urban Development's 12th meeting in Kaduna.