Rapid Urbanization and Urban Housing Policy Implementation in Enugu Metropolis

Issues, Challenges and Prospects for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Urban growth in relation to urban housing development has become the aspiration of nations thus making it a global development paradigm currently sweeping through developing countries like a wild fire. In the circumstance of the magnitude and speed of rural-urban migration many state governments in Nigeria are seemingly overwhelmed and unable to cope with such challenges. Thus the confronting reality is that basic infrastructure and social services are seldom provided as urban growth proceeds lopsidedly haphazardly with severe threats to the well-being of the people and state as a whole. In this context, Enugu metropolis been one of the emerging urban areas in Nigeria is currently confronted with the challenges of urban growth and development with housing provision of particular concern. This study was motivated by the current inadequacy in urban policy implementation in relation to housing in Enugu; it is a qualitative study based on extensive literature review. The paper identified salient features of the urbanization process in Enugu, Nigeria and the challenges they pose to adequate housing. These include rapid population growth and changing demographic structure; poverty and unemployment; difficulties in accessing housing delivery inputs; and lack of adequate capacity on the part of government. The study examined the implications of these challenges in housing provisioning especially for poor households and concluded that proper housing policy in developing cities if properly implemented and managed would bring about economic and social development.