International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue XI, November 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
Housing Challenge and Government’s Policy Intervention: A Case of Service Delivery in Nigeria
ALAMU Oluwaseyi Isaiah
Ph.D Department of Public Administration Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
Abstract: The relevance of housing delivery to Nigerians is a paramount issue in the parlance of administration. Several professionals, government officials and other stakeholders have come up with the need to promote an enduring policy to help mitigate the accruing challenges in the housing sector. Previous efforts made by governments through policy intervention have yielded little in provision of adequate housing for Nigerian inhabitants. The questions then are what has the government done or failed to do in this matter? Policies have been formulated, implemented and reviewed to better the lots in the housing sector; nonetheless, it still calls for more to be desired. There are inadequate housing units due to poor implementation of policy and lack of political will to achieve the housing policy thrust. The paper concluded that housing service delivery can be improved upon when government decisively intervenes through proper policy implementation.
Keywords: Housing, Housing challenge, Housing policy, Housing service, Nigeria
I.INTRODUCTION
The need for appropriate understanding of housing is paramount to formulating a viable policy to meet housing challenges. Housing being an integral part of economy of nations confirms the assertions of different scholars that it is a complex facility that covers different areas of life (Kugbega, 2015). In the words of Agbola (1998) housing is described as a bundle of services. The nature of housing shows that it does enhance economic development by over 20% (Henilane, 2016). Housing has been defined by many scholars such as Agbola (1998), Akeju (2007), and Nigeria Housing Policy document 2012 as not just shelter as imagined by laymen but a variety of services having culture, economic and social intrusion in its features. This definition approves the views of many scholars on the strength that housing is an essential and veritable tool for satisfying the needs of man.
A prevalent understanding of housing was averred by Borne (2007) in his book titled “The Geography of Housing”, where he identified the functionality of housing as a physical facility, unit of structure which provides shelter to occupants; an economic good or commodity which is traded and exposed to market forces as well as used to promote investment. Bourne further saw housing as consolidation of services such as parks, schools, health institutions, location and proximity of certain types of labour; and summarised it as a tool of government to regulate economic growth. Consequent upon this, the relevance of housing to mankind is buttressed through the call for provision of adequate housing to meeting up the scourging