YEMI
OLAKITAN
According to the Encyclopedia
Britannica on the subject of housing, ‘‘few
social problems have increased so suddenly or been dramatized so effectively as
the plight of the homeless in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Once an
invisible people who could easily be ignored, the homeless are now recognized
everywhere on the streets and in the public facilities of major cities.’’
This
quote describes the situation of homeless people everywhere and Nigeria is not
an exemption. In major cities of the country such as Lagos, Porthacourt and
Abuja homeless people are easily noticeable on the streets. It is not unusual
to see someone sleeping under the bridge or by the roadside. The United
Nations Statistical Division sets homeless persons into two broad categories: Primary
homelessness (persons without roof on their heads). This category includes
persons living in streets or without a shelter or living quarters; Secondary
homelessness. This category may include persons with no place of usual
residence who move frequently between various types of accommodation (including
dwellings, shelters or other living quarters); and persons usually resident in
long-term ‘transitional’ shelters or similar arrangements for the homeless.
This category also includes persons living in private dwellings but reporting
‘no usual addresses on their census form.’’
Homelessness is in
fact a global tragedy according to Mr. Kayode Akorede a sociologist and educationist;
he opined that it is a problem that is not limited to Nigeria alone. ‘‘It is a
global problem. Homeless people are everywhere. It is a problem that is often
neglected by governments particularly in Africa simply because they live it in
the hands of the individuals. Government should rise up to the occasion because
homelessness is a problem that can be solved if they put the proper policies in
place. Private developers only build expensive homes that can only be afforded
by the rich alone. This is because their only aim is to make huge profits at
the expense of the populace.’’
Investigations by
Sunday Mirror confirmed that homelessness is common in major cities of the
country. In Lagos touts popularly known
as ‘Agberos’ often live in motor parks, garages, some live under the bridges.
Sexual workers with no roof on their heads live in slums and beaches with
houses built with bamboo leaves. There are also hundreds of people who live in
slums built on top of lagoons who are not sexual workers on touts, people who live
in uncompleted buildings and badly built houses made of planks and polythene
bags. In a chat with a young lady, a Ghanaian living in Nigeria, who gave her
name simply as ‘Surprise’ she said, my mother and I ran away from home in
Accra, Ghana because of my father. He was a very violent man. In fact he can be
described as terrifying. He was having issues with my mother. If we stayed in
Ghana, he would still have looked for us, so we escape to Lagos, Nigeria. When
we came to Lagos, it was difficult to find a decent accommodation because
accommodation is expensive in here; the only accommodation we could find was
built with planks. During raining season we often suffer a lot because the roof
leaks. It is usually a nightmare and we still have to pay rents because we
rented the place. We have no choice, we have to manage what we have until God
provides another option,’’ she said.
In another chat with
a Nigerian mother of four who lives in an uncompleted building in Ajah, Lagos
and refers to herself as Mama Tunde, she said ‘‘my husband works in Lagos
Island, he is a polygamist, we were living in a room with my children, his
other wives do not live with us though. When we could not pay house rents the
landlord got angry and he kicked us out. We went through great pains looking
for alternative accommodation because it is way beyond our reach because of the
costs, all the agents we talked to were quoting high sums of money. We had to
pay agreements fee and commission fee. The owners of the house also want two
years house rents in advance despite the law made by the Lagos state government
that they should only collect one year rents. My husband then arranged an
uncompleted building for us to live. We
have been living there since we were kicked out by the landlord. We still pay
but it is not as high as paying for normal accommodation.’’ On how she has been
coping with the situation he said, ‘I have been coping, I have no choice.’’
According to James
Xavier, who described himself as an IT professional and a Lagosian, ‘‘there are
many people who live under the bridges many people live on the streets. They
have no place to stay. It is crazy; mad men roam the streets naked at times and
in the night they lay anywhere they see and sleep. Sometimes it is difficult to
ascertain whether these people are really mad because the case of Clifford Orji
is still very fresh in mind. Clifford was reported to be a ritualistic serial
killer who lived on the streets of Lagos, by day he pretended to be mad and at
nights he carried out his atrocities until the hands of law caught up with him.
Evil men often pretend to be mad or homeless while they lay in the dark to kill
innocent people at nights. Homelessness in Nigeria in the urbanized cities
particularly in Nigeria can go from the genuine to the pathetic and to the
criminal. It can fall into different groups. What about streets kids, known as
Almajiris in the North, many of them have nowhere to stay? Homelessness is real
even some people who you think have proper accommodation are living under
terrible conditions. Many are living in slums’’ he said.
Speaking further, James said,
‘‘Demolition of structures, which is most common in Lagos and Abuja, is another
cause of homelessness in the country. The
Governments have a history of demolition of homes without providing alternatives
for the people who are being displaced. In actual fact, it is enshrined in the constitution
of Nigeria that government shall be responsible for providing basic
accommodation for the people of Nigeria. They say that people are building
illegal structures. Why would they build illegal structures in the first place
if they have the resources to build legal ones? It is lack of resources that
make people build houses wherever they find, ’’ he said.
Investigations revealed that, Twenty-two
plaintiffs had recently commenced a suit against the Lagos state Government
under the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules, on behalf of other
residents. They are claiming N100 billion as damages from the police. The
people claimed that the Lagos state Government had wrongfully demolished their homes
in the Atinporomeh Community in Badagry. The plaintiffs are claiming damages
against the respondents, for alleged wrongful demolition of their houses.
According to reports, nearly 10,000 residents of the community have
now been displaced following the demolition of their homes despite a subsisting
legal suit over the land. The
community’s problems began on December 14, last year, when the police
authority brought a notice of eviction which claimed that the Nigeria Police
Force had become the “rightful owner” of the community’s land, the law
enforcement agencies, accompanied by bulldozers, stormed Atinporomeh
demolishing schools, churches, hotels, shopping complexes, as well as
residential homes.
A report by Amnesty International says, ‘‘over 1.5 million people
have been ejected from their homes and driven into street life following the
wave of ejections and demolition that began all over the country in 1995, similarly,
the Social and Economic Rights Action (SERAC) estimates that in just one
location alone—Ogunbiyi village of Ikeja, Lagos, about 12 thousand people were
forcibly ejected from their homes in December 2005 by the action of the
Nigerian Police, Army, and Federal Task Force on Environment; and that often,
victims of forced evictions have been government workers living in publicly
owned apartment buildings.’’
Investigations by Sunday Mirror reveals the condition of the homeless
in the country, people live like rats and cockroaches in makeshift facilities
under bridges, slums, beaches and at abandoned buildings; some engage in petty
trading for their survival, earning meager amount of money. Others are regular
employees in government or in the commercial sectors, but are homeless because
they were forced out of their homes and cannot afford rent for homes due to
high demand by landlords and Real Estate agents. Reports reveals that the
problem of educated and employed homeless persons is common in the Niger Delta areas
such as Port Harcourt, Warri, Sapele, Agbor, and Ughelli—in these places
landlords are inclined to solicit or court employees of oil companies who can
afford to pay inflated rents from their high salaries. Many are forced into nefarious
activities such as prostitution, pimping, drug peddling, and robbery. In Lagos state
the homeless include young boys and girls scattered over the fifty-two
development areas of the state among which are the marked dangerous zones under
the bridge sections such as Ojeulegba, Orikpako at Ijora, Alaba, Ajegunle,
Badagry, Ojota, and Ikorodu.
Another common feature in many large cities in the
Northern Nigeria is the presence of homeless kids and youth, also known as “Almajiris.
In Lagos, these children work and live
on the streets, mostly with their mothers. They work as beggars puling people’s
clothes are they walk by, though, the federal government have made attempted to
remove these children from the streets in the Northern part if the country. They
have not done so in the southern parts of the nation. Investigations reveal that, the problem of
homeless kids, begging on streets is not limited to the North alone.
Hawking and street trading is usually common with
some of these older children, particularly teenagers or young adults. Many of these children run away from home,
struggling to support themselves through various means. They are often sleeping
beaches at nights after their day’s activities.
In another chat with Mr. Femi Gbolahan, an
educationist, he defined homelessness as the “condition of people who lack
regular legal access to adequate housing”. According to him, many factors could
lead to homelessness. Some of them are local or regional unemployment, war,
racial discrimination, mental or physical disability, terrorism as it is
presently experienced in the North Eastern part of the country.’’
According to the United Nations, the number of
homeless people globally is estimated to be in excess of 1 billion; it says it
is impossible to get the actual number.
This is because of the transitory nature of the homeless. Whereas the
homeless population in the West is largely made up of men, (though the
proportions of women and children are steadily increasing), the homeless in
Nigeria, particularly in Lagos, appear to be mainly children, women and
youth. Reports show that homelessness is
mainly an urban problem. This is partly because of the commercialization of
land and housing markets in the world. Homelessness among families with
children is increasing not only in low income countries but also in high income
countries despite their high level development.
According to report by UNICEF, It has been suggested
that possible reasons for leaving home may include abuse, a desire for
excitement or relief from oppressive home conditions, conflicts within the
family; physical, emotional and sexual abuse; single parenthood, poor
parenting, poverty, termination of education, child labour and peer
influence.
Young people may become vulnerable to all forms of
abuse and hazards on the streets. They are especially harmed by harsh physical
conditions, violence and harassment, labour exploitation, absorption into
criminal activities and denial of their right to receive an education that will
equip them for a better life. Many of these homeless children are usually seen dodging
traffic as they sell goods to passing motorists. While many are engaged in
legitimate work, others are involved in illegal activities including engaging
in crime and theft, pick pocketing, commercial sex or drug trade.
Investigations reveal that, homeless children and
youth in Nigeria are mainly from large families. In this regard, the pursuance
of aggressive family planning programmes to reduce the present high level of
fertility is important. The high degree of extortion and exploitation and abuse
of homeless children testify to the violation of their human rights. This calls
for an urgent need to protect the right of the homeless child. Besides,
poverty, polygamy, marital disruption in family life and large family sizes,
are major background characteristics of the homeless children and youth. The
low status and polygamous family background coupled with the high fertility and
marital disruptions may have created a condition in which homeless youth must
have received inadequate parental care. The street life is such that the
children and youth are exposed to various hazards. They face a number of problems ranging from
financial problems to harassment and extortions from police and miscreants
known as area boys, or Agberos. Insecurity,
severe beatings and fighting, sexual abuse (especially of the females) are
common experience of Nigerian youth facing the problem of homelessness.
In another chat with Mrs. Shola Abimbola, an educationist
she opined that, ‘the judiciary and the law enforcement agencies need to
understand the problems of homeless persons so that their sympathy can be
engaged. The need to improve the access of children to education is important. There is the need to intensify education on the
risk inappropriate sexual behaviour such as having multiple sexual partners, unprotected
sex, and commercial sex.
There is also the need to step up efforts to
eliminate substance abuse. The involvement of governmental and Non Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) as well as religious bodies would be useful in this
regard. Finally, more research should be carried out on homeless people in
Nigerian cities especially in Lagos and Port Harcourt. This would provide the
basic descriptive information that could assist in putting in place the
relevant programmes that would reduce the problem of homelessness among Nigerians
particularly the youths. Support could be sought from national governments and
international bodies such as UNICEF, World Bank, USAID and many others.’’
In a chat with Barrister M. Shittu, Real Estate
Investment Attorney, on the solutions to the problem of homelessness in
Nigeria, he said, ‘‘there are many people that are suffering from homelessness
in Nigeria. In fact the stories can be pathetic. The worst thing is that there
is no relatable statistics on the problem.
We don’t know the actual number of homeless persons in the country. There are numerous Nigerians living in
uncompleted buildings, slums, under the bridge, beaches, badly built homes. My Company
is planning a NGO on the issue. This is to tell you the extent of the problem.
We know the extent of the problem we are stakeholder in the industry. People
come to my office with different tales. This gentleman here, (pointing to a man
in office sitting in front of him),’’ is here because of the same problem. The landlords have just sold his house he
still staying there and he could not raise the money to get another apartment
for his family. The solution is clear; government must step in through private
and public partnership. We need robust policies that can provide comfortable
accommodation for our large population. Some of the things they must do are to
reduce taxation on those that inventing in real estate or building mass
housing. Government must provide an enabling environment for them. They should
also provide land for our people to build. It is very important that government should
return land to the people. Anybody that needs land should just go to the
government and get it. Look at the number of young people on our streets. The government cannot claim ignorance of the
problem. Many of these young ones have no place to lay their heads. You can go
to the beaches at nights. Many sleep there. The problem of land acquisition by government,
demolition of structures without an alternative provision for the people is
completely unacceptable. Government should return land to the true owners; they
should return land to families and communities. The people that actually own them should have
them from the government instead acquiring them and denying the people. The
government will just go to one particular area and declare it as government
acquisition. This is wrong. The
opportunity of developing the land is taking away from the people. We need to completely
minimize the costs of building or contracting homes. How are our fathers
building homes in the olden days? They do it with low cost materials. They do
it with mud bricks, our government should look at ways of building using low
cost materials like our forefathers did. We can use burnt bricks which are far
cheaper for low income earners. Anyone earning N500, 000 in a year should be
able to build his own home. Our mortgage banks also need to look at loans for
low income earners. The government knows what to do. As we are speaking, they
have fantastic polices in place but do not have the political will to implement
these policies. There is also the Nigerian factor, the problem of corruption. We
cannot continue to play lip service to tackling corruption and expect a better
life for the people, add to this, is the problem of collapsed buildings. There are policies and institutions that are
set up to tackle all these problems. Government policies on housing will
continue to remain on paper, and we will never be able to solve our housing
problems if we continue to pay lip service to issues of corruption.’’
Sunday Mirror investigations on recent government
efforts to tackle the problem include, a
major bid to bridge the housing deficit gap in the country, put which the federal
government put at 17million deficit, the Federal Government in a report says it
has embarked on various policy reforms as well as some intervention programmes.
For instance, the idea behind the establishment of the Nigeria
Mortgage Refinance Company, NMRC, by the federal government was to expand the
frontier of funding for housing finance. NMRC was conceived to bridge the funding cost of residential mortgages
and promote the availability as well as the affordability of good housing to
Nigerians by providing increased liquidity in the mortgage market through the
mortgage and commercial banks.
The NMRC is a key component of the Nigeria Housing Finance Programme
which was initiated by the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMOF), the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Ministry of Lands & Urban Development &
Housing and the World Bank/IFC, with the principal objective of addressing the
long-term funding constraints hindering the growth of the primary mortgage
market, and reducing the costs of residential mortgages and available housing
to working Nigerians. Under this programme, the federal government has rolled out 10,000
mortgages for first time home buyers, especially the young people. In order to
achieve a portal was created and prospective house owners have applied and
applications are currently being processes by the Ministry of Finance and the
Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. Making clarification on the first phase of the affordable housing scheme
in Abuja in January, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the
Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala had said “We try to aim this scheme
primarily at the first time home buyer who is on the market to purchase a home
costing between N2 and N20 million. So we try to keep it low to address the
first time buyer and above all, our young people,” the coordinating minister
noted as she unveiled the programme in Abuja. “With the 10,000 mortgage scheme, Nigerians can now begin to realise
their dream of owning a home and looking forward to improving socio-economic
outcomes”, the coordinating minister added. Another laudable programme aimed at addressing homelessness in the
country was the recent flag-off of the N2.4trn Centenary City project and
lately the constitution of three critical committees to push for the
actualisation of housing for all programme. Other institutional
step taking by the government also includes the set up of critical committees
to look at the housing programme of government. Some of the committees
include the Ministerial Committee on Presidential initiative on the
delivery of 10,000 Housing Units under the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company,
Ministerial Committee on Verification and Auditing of Federal Government Lands
and Landed Property in the 36 States of the Federal and the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja and Ministerial Committee on National Housing Survey.
While the committee on the delivery of NMRC 10,000 housing units, headed
by the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi, is
expected to come up with clear action plan, set targets and timelines for the
actualisation of the housing project, propose sound eligibility criteria for
the participation of developers and builders, the Verification committee is set
up to carry out a comprehensive inventory and auditing of Federal Government
Lands and Landed Property across the 36 states of the federation, including FCT,
Abuja, and carry out a review of the current use of the assets with a view to
effectively putting them to use. In this
same vein, the committee on national housing survey, is saddled with the
responsibility of ascertaining the characteristics of the various housing
estates developed by the Ministry, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Federal
Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and Real Estate Developers Association of
Nigeria (REDAN) over the last four years and propose a framework for
undertaking a national housing survey in collaboration with relevant
stakeholders and recommend concrete measures to operationalise it. Efforts are
also being made to review land policy in Nigeria especially as it concerns the
power of the governor under the Land Use Act, to regulate all issues regarding
access to land. Also in order to set standard in the housing sector and prevent
sharp practices that often result in building collapse, a committee set up by
the government to review the National Housing Code has submitted a revised
National Housing Code and ready for the approval of the Federal Executive
Council.
In a chat with our correspondent in Abuja, Mr. Ayoola Ayedogbon, an Abuja
resident, said that although government had begun to show seriousness in
addressing the housing problem in the country, it had not achieved the desired
result because some of the programmes and policies merely operate on paper
rather than in reality. For instance, he said the pocket of interventions of
government, particularly in Abuja has not resulted in housing provision for
those who needed houses. According to him, some of the houses purportedly
conceived for the low income earners are being bought over by moneybags,
politicians and their cronies. "If government is serious about bridging
the housing deficit gap in the country, it must make the process of housing
acquisition, especially those conceived principally for certain segment of the
society, transparent," he said.
