Residents’ Satisfaction with Public Facilities and Neighbourhood Environment in Slum Residential Areas of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The high density residential areas of Jos were scaled on the basis of level of environmental decay and general planning in order to select the worst residential slum areas for study. Three areas, Gangare, Angwanrogo and Dadinkowa emerged as study sample. The areas were subjected to assessment using questionnaires with a view to determining the residents’ degree of satisfaction with seven loaded factors: public institutions, public facilities, environmental conditions, transportation facilities, recreational facilities, neighbourhood safety and commercial facilities. Results obtained showed a general trend of dissatisfaction of the residents of the areas with all the seven measured factors. The tested hypothesis indicated calculated x² value of 13.57 which is greater than the theoretical value, 2.73 at α 0.05 and 1.65 at α 0.01 which implied that there is a significant level of correlation in the degree of satisfaction among the three residential areas. Therefore, the researchers concluded that similar policies and programmes aimed at improving the environmental setting and public facilities will be suitable for all slum residential areas of Jos. Following this, it is recommended among others that, the areas should be declared   as Action Plan Areas (APA) for emergency action with priority accorded to provision of access roads, drainages, planned refuse disposal systems, and public enlightenment programmes on the benefits of environmental sanitation. Public Private Partnership (PPP), State and local government authorities are recommended for the implementation process. For sustainability of the programmes and projects, the involvement of members of the communities is also recommended.

Keywords: Residents’ satisfaction, public facilities, high density, residential areas, loaded factors