CARITAS UNIVERSITY AMORJI-NIKE, ENUGU NAME: JOSEPH FLORENCE REG NO: URP/2012/064 COURSE: URBAN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING CODE: URP 212 LECTURER: PROF. ARTHUR DATE: FEBRUARY, 2015 URBAN PROBLEMS IN NIGERIA

URBANIZATION IN NIGERIA Spurred by the oil boom prosperity of the 1970s and the massive improvements in roads and the availability of vehicles, Nigeria since independence has become an increasingly urbanized and urban oriented society. In 1970s, Nigeria had possibly the fastest urbanization growth rate in the world as a result of great influx of people into urban areas, in 1986; the growth rate was estimated to be close to 6% per year more than twice that of the rural population. Between 1970 and 1980, the population of Nigerians living in Urban areas was estimated to have grown from 16 to more than 20% and by 2010, urban population was expected to be more than 40% at the nation’s total population. Although Nigeria did not have the highest population or urban population in sub-Saharan Africa. It had larger cities and the highest total urban population at any sub-Saharan African country. Available data reveal that the population of Nigeria has been increasing at an alarming rate. Our towns and cities are growing rapidly. In 1921, the population of Nigeria was only 18.72 million. In 1952, it rose to 30.4 million and in 1963 to 55.67 million. The preliminary census data for 1991 (although the 1991 census figure is still controversial) indicated a population of 80.5 million while the projection for the year 2000 AD suggests a doubling of the population within a period of 20-25 years. In 1931, less than 7 per cent of Nigerians lived in urban centers; that is settlements with populations of 20,000 and above. The proportion rose to 10 per cent in 1952 and to 19.2 per cent in 1963 Reliable estimates put the 1984 and 1991 urban population at 33 and 42 per cent. In 1995, there were seven cities with populations of over one million people; 18 cities with over 500,000 people; 36 with over 200,000 people; 78 cities with over 100,000 people ; and 5,050 towns with over 20,000 people. URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS IN NIGERIA The problems and challenges posed by the rapid urban growth in Nigeria are immense. More easily observable and perhaps very frightening are the general human and environmental poverty, the declining quality of life and the underutilized as well as the untapped wealth of human resources. Housing and associated facilities (such as water, electricity, waste disposal) are grossly inadequate. Millions live in substandard environments called slums, plagued by squalor and grossly inadequate social amenities, such as, a shortage of schools, poor health facilities and lack of opportunities for recreation among others. Juvenile delinquency and crime have become endemic in urban areas as a result of the gradual decline of traditional social values and the breakdown of family cohesiveness and community spirit. Moreover, the capacity of law enforcement institutions to prevent crime is increasingly hampered by technological and resource limitations. Lack of infrastructure is one of the most pressing problems in Nigerian cities. Significant proportions of the houses in major towns and cities have no access to electricity, pipe-borne water or hygienic toilet facilities. The proportion of existing urban housing stock that is dilapidated or is in need of major repairs is estimated at 22.3 per cent nationwide, while about 3 million housing units are required to meet the backlog of housing needs and the replacement of substandard ones. In many Nigerian cities, the city centres are decaying without any programme of rehabilitation while new urban peripheries develop without planning or the necessary infrastructure. Intra-city mobility is greatly hampered by poor planning and inefficient land use. The network capacity of the transportation system is grossly inefficient and structurally defective. The urban economy is characterized by low and marginal productivity and high rates of unemployment and underemployment. The low capacity utilization in the industrial sector also continuously worsens the employment-generating capacity of the urban economy. The World Bank recently carried out a study of the infrastructure situation in Lagos and its impact on productivity. The findings are revealing. The failure of the Nigerian government to respond adequately to the increasing demand for urban infrastructural services has had the following consequences: a. The productivity of the economy of Lagos, and of Nigeria in general, has been seriously affected. b. The quality of life in the city has deteriorated; conditions of living have worsened. c. The inadequate provision of infrastructural services has affected most business firms, as they spend over 20 per cent of their capital outlay on providing their own infrastructure — electricity, water supply, transport, telecommunications, and waste disposal — which, under normal circumstances, should have been provided by the municipal authorities. The World Bank study revealed that the capital value of electric power generating facilities alone was about 10 per cent of the total value of machinery and equipment of most of the large firms operating in Lagos. For the small firms it was worse; about 25 per cent of their total value was committed to electricity generation. The same study also shows that the average cost of producing a firm's own power was N4.61 per kmh, about 9 times the cost in developed countries. The high cost of producing power and other infrastructural services are passed on to the consumers in the form of higher prices. CONCLUSION Many research findings 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 unfavorable, 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.