By Akanimo Sampson
The ongoing arson across Nigeria is compounding the country’s housing crisis. Generally, housing has not ranked high on the scale of priorities for social spending and state governments have tended to rely upon local authorities to meet the problem.
Efforts at providing low-cost rural housing have been minimal, despite the creation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria in 1977, and shantytowns and slums are common in urban areas.
Overcrowding in urban housing is a serious problem. It has been estimated that around 90% of the urban population live in single rooms, often with eight to 12 persons per room.
Living conditions are poor. In 1996 for instance, only some 30% of urban dwellers had access to piped borne water. Less than 10% of urban dwellers had an indoor toilet.
In spite of the worrisome situation, heartless gangs are busy touching public properties that will forced the affected institutions to spend more of the tax payers money on renting temporary offices. At the moment, the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Achi Street, Independence Layout, Enugu, has been set ablaze by hoodlums.
The fire incident comes three days after the INEC office in Obollo-Afor, Udenu LGA of the state was razed. Mohammed Aliyu, the state commissioner of police who confirmed the incident, said the fire outbreak occurred on Sunday night.
“Yet to be identified armed miscreants on Sunday, May 16, at about 8:30 p.m., attempted to set the Enugu Headquarters of the INEC ablaze but were stiffly resisted by joint security operatives, who swiftly mobilised to the scene,” Aliyu said.
“The Enugu State Fire Service personnel that promptly responded to calls helped in quenching the fire, which had already set on five vehicles and two cushions within the office complex.”
The CP ordered the deployment of adequate security within the precincts of the INEC office complex. He also ordered an investigation into the incident.
Okwudili Ohaa, chief fire officer of the state, said the timely intervention of the fire service saved the INEC headquarters from burning down completely.
Ohaa said five INEC operational vehicles were completely burnt and one was partially burnt.
He added that the firefighters were able to put out the fire by 10:30pm.
“Our timely intervention saved INEC headquarters Enugu from burning completely,” Ohaa said.
“We were able to quench the fire immediately as it tried to spread to the main building of the INEC Headquarters.
“It only gutted two seats, probably visitors’ seats at the corridors upstairs.”The offices of the commission in Akwa Ibom and Abia were also razed earlier in the month.
Whatever the arsonists are fighting for, there is need to reconsider burning public buildings. The logic is that many research findings tend to show that while cities in Nigeria, as in other developing countries, have been growing at a very rapid rate, there has been no commensurable growth in the rate at which social services and infrastructural amenities are provided.
The result has been a gradual decline in the quality of the environment and in the quality of life. educational facilities such as primary and secondary schools, have not been able to accommodate the sharp increase in the number of pupils; the ratio of population to health facilities such as dispensaries, maternity homes and hospitals is unfavourable, health facilities are neither well staffed nor adequately equipped.
The same findings apply to housing, employment opportunities and crime prevention facilities.The pattern, trend and characteristics of urbanization in Nigeria call for measures aimed at : (a) stemming the growth of the cities ; (b) controlling the rate of rural-urban migration; and (c) improving the quality of life in both urban and rural areas.Taking appropriate measures calls for a thorough understanding of the urban sector.
Research is therefore inevitable. Later in this book, we shall examine research that has been carried out on the urban sector in Nigeria with a view to identifying the gaps in knowledge, as a guide to future research needs.
