Housing Policy as a Tool for addressing Rural Housing Challenges in Nigeria

Abstract

Adequate housing is a fundamental human right as articulated by the United Nations, and though Nigeria is a signatory to many such international protocols coupled with the provisions under its 1999 Constitution (Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy) that ‘suitable and adequate shelter… are provided for all citizens’, it neither has a rural housing policy nor has it instituted mechanisms to effectively ensure the realisation of this inalienable right among the majority of its population. The study sought to demonstrate the need to evolve a national instrument for addressing the problem of rural housing in Nigeria. This was achieved by highlighting the challenges of rural housing in Nigeria as well as by evaluating the extant national housing policies and their potentials for addressing rural housing. It was confirmed from the study that a colossal rural housing gap exists in the national housing agenda of Nigeria. Based on the foregoing, specific frameworks have been proposed that could strengthen the current policy and help to frontally resolve rural housing challenges in Nigeria. These will improve the capabilities of the revised national housing policy to serve as an effective tool for deciding the rural housing question pending the take-off of an all-rural policy.

Keywords: Right to Housing; Rural Housing; Nigeria; Housing Policy; Rural Gap