Impact of Urbanisation on Housing Rent: A Study of Kpakungu Community, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria
1Odaudu Ugbede Sunday & 2Sani Solomon A
1Department of Architecture, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Nigeria
2Department of Works and Services, Federal Polytechnics, Idah, Nigeria
Email: arcodauduugbede@yahoo.com; soloidah@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
One of the problems Nigeria is facing is regular increase of housing rent due to increase of housing demand as a result of urbanisation and inadequate building of new houses to meet up with the housing demand. The Federal Government of Nigeria has tried several ways of solving this problem in the country over the years but could not succeed. Housing is one of the basic needs of man and a vigorous/buoyant housing sector is an indication of a strong programme of national investment and is indeed the foundation of and the first step to future economic growth and social development. Urbanisation is the movement of people from rural area to urban area especially in search of jobs and education and it is one of the factors that contribute to the increase of population of any urban area. Continuous construction of buildings by Government and the private sectors in urban areas is one of the surest ways to reduce regular increase of housing rent in Nigeria. The aim of this study is to assess how the housing rent has been increasing since 1991 to 2017, in order to generate an ideal that can reduce housing deficit in Nigeria. The unknown population of Kpakungu in the following years: 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2020 (the projected year) were calculated using Census (1991) unified formula [ Pt = Po ] for projecting the population of any part of Nigeria and the unknown Kpakungu population for the selected years were known. Then, oral interviews were conducted with the inhabitants of the study area that are the owners of residential buildings that contain a 2-bedroom flat. One owner of a 2- bedroom flat represents one inhabitant. The different amounts of the housing rent the tenants have been paying from 1991 till date (2010) were known from 100 owners of a 2-bedroom flat using systematic random sampling method that took in to consideration the total population parameters, which made it possible to calculate the average housing rent per the years 1991, 2006 and the other selected years. Then, the population of Kpakungu was compared with the average housing rent within a particular selected year starting from the year 1991, through the selected years to the projected year 2020 in order to know how the housing rent has been increasing over the years and how will this increase be in future. The results showed a rapid increase of housing rent and suggested that, Government and the private building developers should emphasis on the construction of more buildings, since there is a great need for housing magnitute in urban areas of Nigeria, mostly as a result of urbanisation.
Key Words: Urbanisation, Housing, Housing Demand, Housing Rent.
