Local Building Materials: a Tool Towards Effective Low-Income Housing in Nigeria

Project Abstract

<p>&nbsp;            <b>ABSTARCT&nbsp;</b></p><p>Shelter is primary to human existence. It has been rightly adjudged second to food in the hierarchy of human needs. Its inadequacies pose a great challenge in human well-being and it requires thorough research on housing delivery in Nigeria for effective housing. The housing inadequacy propelled most of the low income earners indulged acquiring land and constructing their desired houses. Thus, the challenges of housing affordability persisted. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors that responsible for the persistent housing inadequacy and unaffordability among the lower income earners. Thus, structured questionnaires were distributed to 97 randomly selected low income earners across the working sectors in Akure in Ondo State. The data collated were analyzed with SPSS. It was observed from the findings that despite government, public and private individual involvement in promoting and meeting the need of low-income earners housing problems in Nigeria, the input are with high technology and imported materials that make the cost of the housing delivery higher and unaffordable for the lower class. This paper thus, canvases the improvement and adoption of local building materials for effective housing for the low income class. Key wordsHousing delivery Adoption local building materials Effective housing Lower class human needs Nigeria <br></p>

Project Overview

<p> INTRODUCTION&nbsp;</p><p>However, Salau [4] describes housing as total residential Considering the health, welfare and productivity of services, facilities and apparatus for the general health man, housing plays a significant role. Akinola [1] submits and social well-being of man. Noting the significance of that Housing is a spatial and material symbol, a housing, most Nigeria Low income classes were living in microcosmic reflection of social and cultural expectation. slum and an environment that run short of essential It reflects the cultural, social and economic values of a needs both in urban and rural settings. In line with this, society and is the best physical and historical evidences the lower class is more affected in a bid to measure up of civilization in a country [2]. The importance of housing with Housing challenge. They constitute a higher to man cannot be over emphasized. Man spends most of percentage of Nigeria populace. Olotuah [5] and his time in the ‘house’. The attitude of man and his urge Abdullahi et. al. [6] Submits that the poor are mostly to work can be influenced by the type of housing affected by the situation as they reside in slum areas provided. Despite the housing policies embarked upon in in urban centers and overcrowded population situated Nigeria, there is still poor and generally deteriorating in unsanitary condition. Housing provided through urban housing condition [1]. Housing is not just shelter various governments was too expensive and fall out of it involves every other facility that could bring about reach of the poor/the lower class. This has always been the comfortability of mankind. Housing quality is the situation. A reconnaissance survey of the housing determined by the proximity of essential facilities, services situation in Nigeria painted a pathetic picture of an and human daily activities. A living environment may not intractable problem [7]. Effective Housing demand relates transform to housing if other essential human needs were to the accommodation for which people are able and absent. People would rather remain in a residential area willing to pay irrespective of social desires or personal due to the facilities provided within the housing area [3]. aspiration that cannot be fulfilled for lack of money [8].</p><p> Table 1: Imported Building Material for Building Construction in Nigeria and the alternative Local Building Materials</p><p><b><u>&nbsp;S/N   BUILDING COMPONENTS  AVAILABLE IMPORTED MATERIALS&nbsp; ALTERNATIVE LOCAL</u></b>                                    <u> </u><b><u> MATERIALS</u></b><u>&nbsp;</u></p><p>1   A- SUBSTRUCTURE    1. Cement – Sandcrete Blocks     1. Stones and rocks     Foundation       2. Mild steel and high tensile steel   2. Stonescrete block unit&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <u>                3. Steel section 4 flat steel sheets&nbsp;              </u></p><p>2  B- SUPER STRUCTURE   &nbsp; &nbsp; 1. Ceramic Tiles             1. Tiber    &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;      Floor     &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 2. Steel reinforcement and structural steel   2. Bamboo floor and foist <u>               3. Concrete                3. Stones and rocks  </u></p><p>3  Structural Frames and Walls  1. Cement sandcrete blocks        1. Plywood                2. Lime                 2. Partial Board                3. Steel beams and column        3. Unstabilized Earth                4. Hardboard               4. Fired/unfired clay bricks                5. Fibre glass              5. Hardwood                6. Bricks                6. Bamboo walls and trusses                7. Fibre glass              7. Stones and rocks                8. Plywood             8. Stabilized laterite earth bricks                9. Steel reinforcement                      &nbsp; <u>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;              10. Particle Board&nbsp;                      </u></p><p>4   Roofing            1. Steel reinforcement       1. Bamboo roof tiles                  &nbsp; 2. Aluminum sheets         2. Timber                  &nbsp; &nbsp;3. Cement concrete roof      3. Aluminium sheets                   4. Fibre glass          &nbsp; &nbsp;4. Zinc sheet                   5. Galvanized zinc sheets     &nbsp; 5. Asbestos sheet                   6. Steel nails structural       6. Steel nails <u>                  7. Steel section                     </u> </p><p>5   Ceiling              1. Steel flat sheet       &nbsp; &nbsp;1. Plywood                    2. Plaster of Paris (P.O.P)    &nbsp; 2. Hardwood                    3. Fibre Boards         3. Fibre matrix ceiling                    4. Timber Boards        5. Plastic sheets <u>                   4. Asbestos sheet      6. Aluminium extrusion sections</u></p><p>&nbsp; This is reflected in the poor income of the lower class that materials as it constitutes over 80% of the building cost as makes it difficult to pay minimum cost of the building unit supported in table 1.0. Also, the reviews of various past areas and rent for decent housing. Consequent upon this, government programs reveal that none of the Housing most of the low income housing was most times hijacked policy and program have been able to achieve up to 20% by the higher and middle class. Olotuah [5] stressed that, success. this led to the growth of squatter settlements in many urban centers with no access to public utilities to public&nbsp;</p><p><b>MATERIALS AND METHOD&nbsp;</b></p><p>utilities and services. This paper acknowledges various government and private individual participation in In carrying out this study, questionnaires were housing delivery and established that the inadequacy distributed to 97 randomly selected low income earners was relatively based on the cost of the building which of below grade level seven (7) across the working sectors traceable to some building construction associated in Akure, Ondo State in the year 2007. The following factors such the building materials, land availability and experimental variables were considered in the study: cost, maintenance and workmanship. Thus, via field Cost of Building construction (CBC), Cost of Land (CL.), survey, this study presented the available imported Cost of Building Materials (CBM) and Cost of building building materials that commonly use in building Maintenance (CM) and Land Scarcity (LS). Hence, it was construction in Nigeria and proffer the alternative local hypotheses that; building materials as applicable (Table 1). Brief Review of Housing: past Governments inadequacy among the lower income earners in the Involvement: Various Governments have addressed study area. housing problems in different ways. Right from the colonial era to the present time. Akingbohungbe [9] H2: Cost of building construction influence the housing submits that a great deal of work has been done and inadequacy among the lower income earners in the documented by successive writers on housing efforts in study area. Nigeria by way of a review of Government policies and programs [7, 8, 2]. Summarily, the earlier effort was traced H3: Cost of land influence the housing inadequacy to 1928; the pre-independent efforts were purely towards among the lower income earners in the study area. provision of housing for senior government officials and in Government Reservation Area (G.R.A.) subsequent H4: Land scarcity influences the housing inadequacy efforts were made in formulating various Federal among the lower income earners in the study area. government for effective housing. It was in the third National Development plan (1975 – 1980) that the low and H5: Cost of building maintenance influence the housing medium housing received much attention Mortgage inadequacy among the lower income earners in the bank was introduced to facilitate the housing policy study area. while town and country planning gives way for an autonomous Ministry of Housing and Environment. Data Processing: The questions in the questionnaire Housing Corporation was introduced in all the 19 States were analyzed on the basis of 5 point Likert-scale type of the Federation. In the fourth National Development that ranges from 5 for strongly agree and 1 for strongly plan (1980-1985) Ministry of Housing becomes an agency disagree. The output of the analysis is presented in for the Federal Housing program and the policy is to Table 2 and 3. enhance the provision of both affordable building A simultaneous multiple regressions were materials and low income housing. Though the housing conducted to ascertain the predicting potentials of the policy witness a serious setback in the fifth national tested variables as indicated above. The adjusted R value development plan (1986-1991). Starting from 1992 various was.39. This implies that 39% of the variance in the governments Housing policy has been promulgated to housing inadequacy was explained by the model which provide specifically for the low and medium income class signifies a large effect [10]. It's important to state that the but the policy suffered a setback owing to several factors. combinations of the tested predicting variable (Table 2) Prominent among the factors is the high cost of housing were significant statistically on the housing inadequacy, </p>