Housing the Urban Poor in Nigeria through Community Participation Using Lessons from Nairobi Kenya

Migration of people to urban areas from the rural areas usually comes with its challenges interms of infrastructural requirement and housing to cater for growing population. One of the challenge for the urbandwellers in Nigeria is that of adequate housing. The inability of the government to meet this demand has seen thepeople concerned seeking alternative solutions to housing need. The resulting settlements are usually unplanned hencebecoming a challenge for government to manage in terms of providing infrastructure facilities. With the growingincidence of global warming and the attendant increase in flooding in most urban areas of Nigeria, especially betweenyear 2000 and 2013, the safety of the people who live in slums have become a concern to the state governments due toissues of flooding and collapsed buildings. Government usually evicts such people and clear the settlement; howeverthe people simply relocate to another area. The aim of this paper is to examine how community participation can beused to provide housing for the urban poor based on their living requirement, drawing from the experience of selectedcase studies from Kenya. The research method adopted for the study is a qualitative research method using case studiesof selected communities in Kenya and selected communities in Nigeria. A comparative analysis is drawn with thesecommunities. The research concludes by proposing how community participation process should be incorporated intoprovision of housing for the urban poor.