Ethno-Religious and Socio-Economic Backgrounds as Indicators of Residential Accommodation Preference in Jos Metropolis

Abstract

Location is among the main determinants of residential property value. It has been realised that location could either be tangible or intangible in nature. Tangible location attributes are those factors of location that are visible in nature and include accessibility, neighbourhood characteristic, structural features and the likes. On the other hand, intangible location factors are those attributes of location that are invisible in nature. They include race, crime, safety, religious inclination, cultural identity, native inclination, security, ethnic background, indigene ship, apartheid, violent free areas, socio-economic background, and violent prone areas and. In Jos today, people do not just take accommodation in any part of the town of their fancy. They have to do extensive research to be certain whether the area is safe. Data were collected by interviews, self-administered surveys through questionnaire and direct observation. A total of 1000 questionnaires were administered to the respondents. 876 valid responses were used to analyse the information. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to interpret and explain the associations found among the data. In essence theoretical, statistical and illustrative methods were employed in data analysis because of their relevance to the data generated from the research. The research findings revealed that majority of the respondents in the study area have not attained high western and religious education. Based on the above finding, it can be understood that crisis is being triggered by ignorance. It has also been discovered that most of the respondents administered with the questionnaires and interviewed are males. This is another reason why the crisis is persisting because males are the vanguard of conflict. The research found that most of the respondents are low income earners. This is also among the reasons why the people resort to violence in order to meet their daily demands and needs. The implication of the intangible location attributes could be felt in the emerging residential relocation, segregation and mobility, displacement of people, variation in land and landed property values and the likes. When carrying out feasibility and viability appraisal, attention must be given to the issue of intangible location attributes.

Keywords: Ethnicity, Religion, Residential Accommodation, Socio-economic Background and Violence