Bature Danjuma Dodo
10 March 2004
(Memo to Minister of Housing)
Let me start by congratulating you Minister for Housing on your appointment as the minister in charge of one of the most basic of human needs; housing. It is my wish and hope that you will succeed where most if not all of your predecessors have failed. It is also my ardent prayer that your tenure will be one of the most rewarding to the average Nigerian.
Madam, this memorandum was prompted by a news item I came across some days ago. According to the report you were quoted as informing the Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, that the Federal government would annually construct 1,000 housing units in every state of the nation. The report also implied that these housing units are intended to alleviate the housing problems of the lower and middle class. What is most interesting was your statement that your ministry would be working in conjunction with state and local governments and private developers.
At an average cost of N 2-3 million per unit, the Federal Government would be investing the sum of N 2-3 billion in every state or N 72 -108 billion nationwide annually. The Federal Government may very well spend twice that amount annually for the scheme. This is no doubt a huge investment, which indicates the Federal Government's seriousness in tackling the widespread housing problem of the nation. The involvement of the state and local governments shows the grassroots approach to the problem, rather than alienating the state and local governments. This approach will also ensure that there is coordination between the Federal and states' governments' housing schemes. In addition, the involvement of the private sector would ensure prudent management of resources since no one will invest in a venture that will not generate some returns.
However the political aspect of the scheme and its economics, although important, are the least of my concerns here. My concern is with the social and environmental aspects of the scheme, for not many will argue with the statement that with very few exceptions, most housing schemes in the country present an abject social and environmental failure. And the reasons are not very difficult to fathom, because they are the result of inadequate consideration or in many cases, total disregard for what constitute the social and environmental aspects of any housing scheme.
The aim of this memorandum, Madam, is to remind you of the major causes and to bring to your notice the not-so-obvious causes of failure of housing scheme in Nigeria.
Madam, the first thing your Ministry should do is to ensure that the sites for the housing projects are well selected. The locations for these housing schemes must be accessible both physically and socially. To illustrate, one of the locations selected for the second republic housing scheme was 15 km away from a semi-urban town in the south-eastern part of the country.
Madam, by far the most contributory factor in the failure of housing schemes is the design of these houses and their layouts. To solve this problem you need very good architects and urban designers. And by this I do not mean those who will produce designs with fancy shapes and pseudo-structural layouts that are to say the least confusing. I am referring to architects and urban designers, who understand, appreciate and have internalised the dynamics between culture and habitat, and the difference between order and structure.
Secondly, our architects and planners have long ago lost the skill to design with climate. Simple and effective rules of cross-ventilation are ignored because of cost or ignorance. Also, principles of natural lighting are ignored because of over-reliance on electricity, even though everyone is well acquainted with the state of power generation and distribution in the country.
Thirdly, studies have shown that the African habitat is conceptually dynamic, that is, it expands and contracts gradually mutatis-mutandis. The African habitat has three main stages; the minimal, when it satisfies the immediate requirements of the builder; the primal when it meets the owners' gradual growth, and the optimal stage when the owners' family reaches its peak of growth. Thus within the context of the Nigerian social milieu, for a design to be successful it should take the possibility of expansion into account. It should also be flexible enough to accommodate changes in spatial use as will happen in the Nigerian social milieu.
The best house design for a family therefore is custom made. While this is not practicable in a housing scheme, it is possible to identify certain broad traits that form what one may call universals for a particular sub-cultural group or the sine-non-qua of acceptable housing for the group. Madam, this means your ministry must institute and encourage research into social and cultural preferences as they concern housing.
Similarly, the layout of these housing schemes should not only have order but must also have structure. Anyone familiar with Festac Town in Lagos or Gwarinpa Estate in Abuja will understand the difference. While if viewed as a whole, especially from the air, the estates look comprehensible (that is, they have order), they are utterly confusing when experienced moving through them (that is, they lack structure). In technical jargon, they lack intelligibility. They also lack the social solidarity that makes Makera in Katsina, Rumumasi in Port Harcourt and Mokola in Ibadan vibrant and full of life.
Once you get functional designs (rather than kitsch designs), Madam, you should set the appropriate machinery for realising these. The first thing to ensure is that contractors use good and standard building and construction materials. This is easier said than done, but not entirely impossible as demonstrated by the defunct Petroleum (Special) Task Fund (PTF). In the same vein you must ensure that the quality of works is of acceptable standards. For instance most of the sandcrete block manufacturers in the country mould 45-50 blocks from one bag of cement whereas the standard is 25 blocks per bag of cement. This means that on average, the Nigerian sandcrete block is at least 55% weaker than the standard sandcrete block. Another instance is the correct concrete mix; while all Nigerian contractors put on paper that they intend to use concrete with a mix ratio of 1:2:4 for foundation footing, in reality most of them use a mix ratio of 1:3:5 at best or in some cases a mix ratio of 1:4:8. Madam, this is extremely important because the only reason foreign firms like Julius Berger, AG Ferero etc, have better finished products that last longer is because they insist on standards, nothing more. Therefore you must insist on standards from the appropriate lateritic backfill to the correct roofing sheet nail, because that is why some buildings constructed in the 1940s are still functioning today, while those built 40 years later are not. Above all, you must also be ready to deal appropriately with any of your contractors, sub-contractors or suppliers of materials who fail to deliver or work up to standard. It is part of human nature that whenever a rule or regulation is put in place, some will advertently or inadvertently breach it. What is important is how such people are dealt with; if they are ignored or let off lightly, then you can be sure others will emulate them and one thing will lead to another such that before long the whole system collapses.
Another major area where you need to focus on, Madam, is the provision of basic infrastructure and utilities. It is extremely disheartening to see large estates made with neither provision for roads and drainages, nor for basic utilities like water and power supplies. You must resist the tendency to leave these to the mercy and pleasure of your colleagues heading the relevant ministries and parastatals. You should either take the relevant ministries and parastatals on board while planning and executing the projects, or you should take over these functions as they concern your housing schemes and charge the relevant ministries and parastatals for them as appropriate. Provision of basic infrastructure can be achieved with little funds but with enormous amount of imagination, commitment and dedication. For instance, water supply can be ensured through borehole provision (singular or multiple), point source reticulation, ground storage and even traditional windmill pumps. You could also explore the possibility of subsidised pay-as-you-use for certain facilities. But please Madam, do not repeat what your predecessors did, for instance in Lugbe Abuja, where prospective house owners were levied for infrastructural facilities that are yet to be provided for more than 10 years later. This will only make affordable housing an illusion and encourage speculators who will feed fat on any government misadventure.
Three last items need your attention. First, is the provision of certain services necessary for the upkeep of a healthy social environment. The first is a maintenance outfit to cater for unscheduled maintenance problems that usually arise in any housing scheme. This is extremely important, especially where you make use of building components that are not easily available. Anyone who has lived in the 1004 Housing estate in Lagos or any of the barracks along the Outer Northern Expressway Abuja would attest to this problem. However this is better executed if the administration certifies the artisans and the handymen and allows the tenants to deal directly with them, only coming in to arbitrate where necessary.
The second is to cater adequately for open spaces for aesthetics and leisure. To this end there must be a legislation ensuring the preservation of such open spaces, otherwise you would end up with what happened (for instance) in Kundila Estate Kano, where open spaces were auctioned off with the result that the estate became a slum.
Third and most importantly, your schemes must ensure adequate provisions for parking and commercial activities. It is unfortunate, but the fact is that in Nigeria our urban planners, architects and administrators have always failed us when it comes to the provision of parking and commercial areas. This is so because when designing our environments we tend to make certain assumptions that are manifestly out of touch with our reality. For instance we make provision for parking spaces as certain percentage of the number of inhabitants or units, say 15%. While this assumption may hold for Europe and America, it fails woefully for Nigeria because we do not have a functional urban mass transit system. Similarly we always underestimate the extent and reach of our commercial activities. This is nowhere better demonstrated than the nation's capital city Abuja, where there is not a single standard market simply because we ignore the fact that commercial activity is not by licence as in some places, and is closely tied to social activity in Africa. As several researches have shown, in Africa the market place is more than an economic space: it is both social and cultural. In many places in Africa it is the pub, the discotheque and the theatre.
To conclude, this memorandum has highlighted those factors that have militated against good housing schemes in the country despite the huge investments by governments. These factors include location and accessibility, construction materials and standard of work, adequate infrastructure and provision of basic services. However by far the most important factor is the lack of cultural and social considerations in the design of the layouts and edifices. To solve these problems there is need for social and cultural research as they concern housing. You must be able to put your finger on what makes for good habitation aside from what is technical and purely scientific. These problems are surmountable, given imagination, commitment, dedication and, yes, plain common sense.
Madam, I sincerely wish you would do to housing what Dr. D Akunyili, as it is generally accepted, is doing for food and drugs. Good luck.
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