URBAN REGENERATION AS A VERITABLE TOOL FOR HOUSING

DELIVERY IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

BYTIMOTHY OLUGBENGA NUBI (Ph. D)

Presented at the Urban Regeneration Conference Organized by

Commonwealth Association of Surveyors and Land Economists (CASLE). University of Ulster, Belfast. U.K .

12th-15th September 2008.

INTRODUCTION• Housing deficit in Nigeria is put at between 12

and 15 million• Unguided urbanization process and uncontrolled

rural urban migration in the last five decades has resulted in urban sprawl and slum development in Nigeria.

• About 70% of Metropolitan Lagos with a total population of about10 million was declared slum in 1992.

INTRODUCTION CONT’D• Most of the buildings in these slums are structurally sound

but lack basic infrastructure which can be provided at cheaper cost than new built.

• The paper enumerates several efforts that had been made to increase the rate of housing supply in Nigeria.

• These approaches often focus on development of new housing units, housing estates and satellite towns with total disregard for housing improvement and slum regeneration.

• This study explains the concept of regeneration and the huge opportunities inherent in urban regeneration as a means of increasing the nation’s housing stock.

REGENERATION

“Regeneration is a deliberate, well designed and coordinated interventions to re-engineer a competitive future for deprived nations and communities over a given period of time. It usually encompasses economic, social, cultural and environmental interventions to improve the quality of lives and infrastructures”- Mathews (2004)

PURPOSE OF REGENERATION PROGRAMME

Regeneration programs and policies are part of the drive to tackle a combination of local need and priorities associated with:

- Poverty and deprivation and youth unemployment.- Low skill levels, uncompetitive industry- Poor health and education, benefit dependency, high proportion of lone parents and homelessness- Bad Housing, a run down physical environment.- Loss of community values and social cohesion and high level of crime and drug misuse- Urban renewal and redevelopment program

PREVIOUS HOUSING POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES (COLONIAL PERIOD-1975)• Provision of residential quarters to civil servants initially introduced during

colonial period.• Formation of the Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria in 1964.• Establishment of the National Council on Housing in 1971.• Federal Government Staff Housing Board established in 1971.• Establishment of the National Housing Programme in 1972 as a component

of the second National Development Plan.• Creation of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) as an implementing

agency of Federal Government National Housing Programme.• Direct provision of N2.6 billion for housing provision in all the states of the

Federation during the third National Development Plan (1975 – 80).• Pioneer Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and

Environment was created in 1975.

PREVIOUS HOUSING POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES (1975 - 1991)

• Housing problems of the low-income group brought to the fore through the Committee on Standardization of House Types and Policies (1975).

• Constitution of a Rent Panel in 1976 leading to the establishment of State Rent Tribunals.

• Promulgation of the Land Use Decree No.6 (1978) a major step in land reform aimed at making land readily available for development.

• Nigerian Building Society transformed to Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in 1977.

• Federal Low-cost Housing Programme of the then civilian based on the concept of affordability and citizen participation. It targeted low and medium income groups.

• National Housing Policy launched in 1991.• National Construction Policy launched in 1991.

PREVIOUS HOUSING POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES (1992 - 2006)

• Establishment of the National Housing Fund (Decree No.3 of 1992).• Promulgation of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Act (Decree No. 82 of

1993).• New National Housing Programme launched in 1994 under the auspices of

the Federal Housing Authority.• Creation of the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development

(2002).• Formation of Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) in

2002.• Formation of Building Materials Producers Association of Nigeria

(BUMPAN) in 2004.• New National Housing Policy formulated in 2001 and became official in

2006.

CURRENT HOUSING SCENARIO

• These various policy interventions and programmes were not effective on the housing crisis plaguing Nigeria and the citizenry;

• the low-income group are the most affected. • The housing requirement particularly for this group, which

constitutes over 70 percent of the population have made it imperative for a paradigm shift.

• More so, the current estimate of the country’s housing deficit is over 15 million and still increasing.

CONSTRAINTS TO HOUSING DELIVERY

LAND - Absence of clear property and security rights- Mandatory Governor’s consent for all land transactions- Inefficient land management system- High cost of land transactions

FINANCE- Absence of long term mortgage finance - Housing delivery models not replicable – projects carried out in silos- Foreclosure laws- Lack of institutional depth - Affordability gap between cost of houses and income of end users.- High interest rates reflecting risk and source of funds

CONSTRAINTS TO HOUSING DELIVERY CONT’D

HOUSING STOCK - Acute shortage of housing stock- Inadequate scale of delivery- Over 80% of houses built by individuals- Absence of quality assurance framework- Fragmented industry- Artisan construction- Absence of community management to preserve asset value

URBAN RENEWAL IN LAGOS STATE

LAGOS STATE URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY (LASURA) a parastatal under the Ministry of Physical planning and Urban Development came into existence in 1991 by Edict No 7 of 1991. A restructuring to reposition came vide Gazette No 25. Vol. 38 of 14th October 2005.– Lagos Metropolitan area is located to the Southwest of Nigeria.– The metropolis in early 1990s covered an area of about 167,700

hectares (1667 sq. km) – about 50 per cent of the state- out of which the lagoon and water bodies occupy 20,900 hectares (209 sq. km).

– The Metropolis now covers about 70% of the state land mass. – Lagos state population was put at 7.5 million in 1987 – about 7% of

the national population.– Today its population is about 16 million and about 88% of the

population resides in the Metropolitan Area.

THE EMERGENCE OF LAGOS AS A MEGA CITY

The development of Lagos from the time of its settlement went through various stages coinciding with important events in the history of the area, in particular:

• The metropolis was affected by slave trade, • The early missionaries especially in 1852, • The commencement of colonial rule in 1862, • The political independence in 1960, • The creation of states in 1967 and 1976, • The period of the oil boom (1972-1982). • The development of infrastructure which also brought about an influx

of migrants and others.• The development of the Lagos harbour between 1908 and 1917.

Year Population(Million)

Global Ranking

1985 5.8 31st

1990 7.7 22nd

1995 10.28 Nil

2000 13.42 6th

2005 16.86 Nil

2010 20.19 2nd

2015 24.6 3rd

Source: UN-Habitat

Lagos Population Trend (1985 - 2015)

THE SLUMS OF LAGOS.It is pertinent to mention that the focus has been on increasing housing stock through newly built houses supplied through the formal market. Unfortunately the population in dire need of housing are in the informal sector in the notorious slum of our cities especially Lagos.

T.G. NUBI T.G. NUBI

TABLE 1: SOCIO-ECONOMIC SURVEY OF THE IWAYA, MAKOKO AND ILAJE. (EXPENDITURE, HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, WATER)

IWAYA MAKOKO ILAJEMonthly ExpenditureMedian Value (N/month) 15220 10773 13613Housing (% yes)Household sizeNo of rooms% sharing bathroom% sharing Kitchen% without indoor cooking% tenants

6174413869

6190692374

6178355167

Road (% Yes)Road Tarred in front of houseTime to walk to Public Transport

3910

45

278

Water (% yes)Vendor sellerYard well/boreholePublic standpipeTanker waterYard shared standpipeHouse connection

80200000.8

63211202.71.8

927.40000

Source: Field Study 2007

TABLE 2: SOCIO-ECONOMIC SURVEY OF THE IWAYA, MAKOKO AND ILAJE. (SANITATION, SOLID WASTE, STREET LIGHTS, ELECTRICITY, & DRAINAGE)

IWAYA MAKOKO ILAJESanitation (% yes)Pit latrinePour flush toiletWC + SepticNo toilet

3325626

316081.8

5617819

Solid waste (% yes)Dumping ground neighborhoodTruck pusherNeighborhood bin/skipBin/drum outside house Other

532790.80

0.996000.9

5725050

Street lights (% yes)In streetsWorking regularly

0.80

120.9

2.50

Electricity (% yes)In house 98 100 98Drainage (% yes)Regular flooding in streetsRegular flooding in house

6122

8641

7048

Source: Field Study 2007

URBAN RENEWAL VERSUS URBAN REGENERATION

• The criticisms of Urban Renewal Program are many.– Its application leads to the destruction of the homes and neighbourhoods

of the poor and minorities– Leads to the displacement of small business and the demolition of

inhabitable housing.– Also, it gave too little attention to social concerns (Holcomb and

Beauregard, 1981).– Urban renewal soon earned the reputation of being a “bulldozer”

approach”, demolishing blighted areas to make room for luxury housing (Santiago, 1975).

• Urban renewal does not often give room for socio economic re-engineering therefore, it is usually unsustainable. This explains the need for a paradigm shift.

• The focus of urban regeneration is a response to problems of housing created by economic, social and physical change in urban areas.

ROAD MAP FOR REGENERATING LAGOS SLUM AREAS

• Enterprise Development Programmes - delivery of joined-up government gateway entrepreneurial programmes from schools to colleges and new methods of funding development, manufacturing and trade/investment opportunities in the state.

• Enterprise Development Programmes - investment in the development and urbanization of key districts and communities to attract new businesses and growth of existing business.

• Socio-Cultural Programmes – investments in promoting the social and cultural aspects of the state for tourism, culture, sport, talent, arts and crafts, etc

• Poverty Alleviation Programme - that will gradually reduce poverty from the society by targeting resources to the most deprived within the community in order to alleviate child poverty, old age poverty, crime prevention, health promotion, long term unemployed and unemployable.

COMMUNITY REGENERATION & DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Property Development – this will enable the government to generate income and provide the following services:

• The provision of affordable social housing for the less privileged in the society and including the civil servants.

• Increase in the level of home ownership through restructuring of the property/housing market to enable people to buy/own their homes, thereby creating sustainable communities.

• Acquisition and disposal of assets to enable regeneration.

COMMUNITY REGENERATION & DEVELOPMENT PROJECT CONT’D

• Creation of new structured communities with a range of amenities including accessible transportation networks.

• Partnership development opportunities with private investors and Banks to finance the housing projects.

• Stimulation of the local economy and opening of new markets, communities and revenue opportunities.

• Creation of employment opportunities for the local people in construction trade and allied businesses.

• Education and training opportunities for local people.

CONCLUSION• There is an urgent need to carry out housing audit to have a comprehensive

report on state of housing and urban infrastructures in the Mega city. • It is cheaper to improve existing stock rather than new built.• Most sites for new development are at the periphery creating extra burden

of commuting long distance from home to office.• Urban sprawl and consumption of urban green in the name of new

development create imbalance in the environment.• New developments in most cases usually end up in the hand of the rich few

rather than the targeted population. But house improvement ensures delivery to targeted group.

• Regeneration no doubt helps to release dead asset, creating wealth for house owners thereby ensuring sustainable environment where owners can pay for infrastructures.