Living conditions of urban households in Lagos Island

Abstract

In recent times, the number of urban households living in poverty in Nigeria is increasing due to declining income. Consequently, the living conditions of urban households are nosediving. In this paper, the living conditions of urban residents in Nigeria were examined using Lagos Island area, Nigeria as an example. Taking a sample of 1,000 households in a cross-sectional survey, the paper examines household structure and characteristics, home ownership, educational status and employment, access to safe water, sanitation and healthcare services. Mean household size  4.92 mean monthly household incomes N66, 468.43 (US $183) N33, 798.96 and number of rooms occupied by household 2.46. Largest household size 7.45, crammed into 2.39 rooms and in some localities, some households containing 5.20 persons are crammed into 1.53 rooms. Literary level is high, about 87% of the sampled heads can read and write. Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is low as about 29% of household obtained their domestic water from tanker or water vendor. Other obtained theirs from unhygienic sources. About 83% of household heads indicated that the drains in their areas are not covered. Daily supply of electricity is very poor. Mean daily hours of electricity supply to household is 4.972.88. One-way ANOVA indicated significant spatial variation in household size (F=6.179 at P = 0.000), average monthly income (F=34.38 at P ≤ 0.05) and number of rooms occupied by households (F=3.36, at P ≤ 0.05). An inverse relationship between household monthly income and household size was obtained at r = -0.086 at p = 0.03, indicating the existence of large household among low-income earners. The significant spatial discrepancies in the socio-economic conditions of residents of Lagos Island as indicated by this study shows the potential need for differentiated policy responses that will accelerate functional development in various spatial units of this essential and important economic core of Lagos City and Nigeria at large. There is the need for urgent collective efforts at facilitating improved access to decent and affordable housing, education, employment and sanitation.