Public Housing Delivery Strategies in Nigeria: a Historical Perspective of Policies and Programmes

While decent housing is important to every individual and nation, housing crisis remains one of the global problems and a grave and rising challenge facing both urban and rural residents, particularly in most developing countries. Thus, in spite of a number of political, social, and religious initiatives taken in the past in some of these developing countries, a great proportion of their population still live in substandard and poor houses and in deplorable, unsanitary residential environments. In Nigeria, though housing provision by the government commenced before the country got her political independence from Great Britain on October 1, 1960, the housing problem in Nigeria still remains intractable as many rural and urban populations in the country do not have access to decent, safe, and affordable housing. This paper attempts to show an overview of the housing delivery strategy taken by government in Nigeria over the years, revealing that Nigeria’s impressive housing policies and programs are rarely implemented or haphazardly implemented. The housing delivery strategy in the country is, therefore, a classical example of politics of many words, but little action. The paper suggests that urgent steps need to be taken to bring about the much needed improvement and transformation in the Nigerian housing sector. It also advises the government to back up its many lofty initiatives and efforts with necessary political will and commitment, using cooperatives, development agents, and partnerships through Public Private Sector Participation (PPP).