Political economy of urban housing poverty and slum development in Nigeria

Abstract

One point that Marx barely touched, but which has been of great importance in recent attempts to develop political economy perspective, is the role of the state in capitalist society. In Nigeria, a dependent capitalist economy, the distribution of housing resources and units by urban managers has failed to produce and deliver housing in sufficient quantities at costs affordable to low-income segment of the population. This paper examined the ways and means through which urban managers influence housing poverty and slum development in Nigeria using metropolitan Lagos as a case study. Rapid urbanization and the inability of the state to provide affordable formal housing resources and units for the low-income groups are the major reasons why the urban poor have resorted to the building of poor quality houses in slums. Many of the houses in slums had sprung up as planning contravention; only 30 per cent of houses in Lagos had approved building plans, 73% of residents occupy between 1-2 rooms; occupancy rate in some cases was up to eight persons per room and most rooms were not more than 9.3m². The challenges for urban planning in addressing inequality are particularly difficult, as urban planning alone cannot counter market forces.

Keywords: Political economy, Urban slum, Housing poverty, Urban manager, Urban planning, Metropolitan Lagos