ATTEMPTING PROVIDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN ABUJA

With rapidly increasing urbanization and poverty trends in Nigeria, affordable
housing will be a pressing urban challenge. This dissertation is about the provision
of affordable housing in Abuja, Nigeria’s new modern capital city established in
1991. It examines how well the housing scene in Abuja has catered to the needs
of majority of Nigerians currently living in the city. To shed light on the original
intentions behind Abuja, the dissertation looks at the historical context of the new
capital and provides an overview of the implementation process over the past 30
years. It reports on field research findings from Abuja and (re)settlement sites in
Karshi, Nyanya Labour Camp, Apo and Gidan Daya, to determine to what extent the
new capital has succeeded to provide affordable housing to its inhabitants.
The conclusion reached is that Abuja has met its population target of serving as
home to a population of nearly 2 million people (3.2 million including its satellite
towns). However, Abuja has only succeeded to cater for the housing needs of a
privileged few. The findings confirmed that there was never any serious plan by
government to provide affordable housing for the poor; nor to resettle the original
inhabitants of Abuja. Only a handful of junior civil servants were initially catered
for, mainly in the satellite towns of Nyanya, Kubwa and Karu. Even for these few
early affordable housing units provided, the findings were that they were quickly
forgotten and soon turned into slums and health hazards for their residents. Hence,
the dissertation hypothesis is not supported that Abuja offers some examples of
decent affordable housing scheme that could serve as a basis for future housing
policy development.