Homelessness is a global problem, with millions of people around the world living without a safe and stable place to call home.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, grapples with a significant homeless population due to several intertwined factors.
One of the main issues in Nigeria today is homelessness. In every neighborhood across the country, housing is crucial to the welfare of families and children. Stable housing is essential for the healthy development of children and young people. Unfortunately, the lack of affordable accommodation has led to an increase in the number of homeless families with kids in recent years.
According to development aid, (2023), Nigeria has the highest number of homeless persons globally with an estimated 24.4 million homeless people.
On any given night, more than 500,000 people are homeless in the richest country on the planet. Do you know that there are 108 million homeless people in Nigeria who need special care?
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According to observations, the majority of them are dispersed randomly throughout the country’s urban centers.
Nigeria currently has one of the largest homeless populations in the entire world. The reasons for this are numerous and complex, but there are many solutions to rectify the situation. This article presents 10 important facts concerning the issue of homelessness in Nigeria.
Approximately 24.4 million homeless people live in Nigeria. This accounts for roughly 13 percent of the nation’s overall population. The issue is particularly egregious in the capital of Lagos, where 70 percent reside in “informal settlements.”
Housing poverty and homelessness are crises that call for immediate federal, state, and municipal action in many places. People primarily become homeless because they are unable to locate homes at an affordable price.
A country without an adequate and dignified housing program stemming and streaming out of proper planning is one which enlists for homelessness. With the rainy season gradually setting in, the rain, wind, cold and living things the season shakes out of their abode will abundantly remind the homeless that they lack one of life's basics.
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In Nigeria, drawing from global indicators, the markers of poverty are many. Put simply, they manifest more in chronic lack of the basics of life, which are food, clothing, and shelter. About a hundred million Nigerians who live below the international poverty line lack these basics in addition to coming short on education, healthcare and financial inclusion.
Why are many Nigerians still homeless or living in houses that are ordinarily unfit for human habitation? Nigeria's housing crisis has been around for a while. It is a much an infrastructure crisis as it is a social and human crisis.
Nigeria's largest city faces homeless challenge amid surging population
Causes of Homelessness in Nigeria
Several factors contribute to homelessness in Nigeria:
- Rapid Population Growth: Rapid population growth, at around 2.6% annually, strains the country’s resources, including housing.
- Economic Downturn and Housing Crisis: In addition, the current economic downturn and housing crisis make it more likely for children and young people to become homeless.
- Lack of Affordable Housing: In Nigeria, the shortage of housing units poses a significant challenge, particularly in urban areas, affecting millions of people. According to the World Bank, the country needs about 700,000 housing units annually to meet the demand of its growing population, but only 100,000 are provided. The causes of this crisis are multifaceted and complex. They include factors such as rapid urbanization, poverty, inequality, land tenure issues, inadequate infrastructure, lack of finance, corruption, and weak policy and regulatory frameworks.
Other contributing factors include:
- Lack of Positive Social Support: Unaccompanied teenagers and homeless families frequently have limited or unstable social supports. According to research, they have fewer social networks and less social support. Even homeless families who have broader social networks do not view these networks as sources of helpful support or as a foundation for enduring connections. Youths who are alone are prone to mention family issues.
- Behavioral Health: Young people who have behavioral health issues are more likely to run away from home or end up homeless. Children and teenagers who are homeless are more likely to experience violence or trauma which may contribute to mental health issues. Compared to housed adolescents, unaccompanied youth are more likely to experience depression, mental health issues, or drug misuse issues.
- Participation in the Child Welfare System: Youths in foster care are more likely to become homeless. Youths in foster care report having run away from home 49% of the time. Indian-American youths in comparison to their white peers, and children in foster care are twice as likely to flee.
- Force Eviction: Force eviction exacerbates the homelessness problem. This happens by the threat of violence, in the hopes of making Lagos an international business center. Around 1 million people had to leave their homes in the last 15 years alone. Government officials in Lagos typically give no warning before forcibly removing residents. For example, men wielding machetes cleared out an entire neighborhood. As a result, this made 30,000 Nigerians homeless instantly. In some cases, government officials are using children to do their bidding. Area boys are gangs of children and teenagers who the government employs to assist in demolitions. They also steal the belongings of those they are displacing. The government perceives these forced evacuations much differently. The Lagos state commissioner for housing insists that residents received plenty of notice and that they cleared the “shanties” to make way for new housing developments. However, the residents begged to differ and pointed out that they will not be able to afford the new housing units. Forced removals largely target the nation’s poor. This accounts for a staggering 70 percent of Nigeria’s population. This includes the 60 percent living in absolute poverty, or those only able to afford basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter.
- Terrorist Activities: Terrorist activities uprooted many Nigerians. Boko Haram is a radical Islamist terrorist organization based in Northeast Nigeria. Ten years after its uprising in 2009, over 2 million are still displaced from their homes in the region.
- Natural Disasters: Natural disasters have also impacted homelessness in Nigeria. A flood in 2018 killed nearly 200 people and left almost 300,000 Nigerians homeless. Additionally, the flood spread diseases such as cholera, which killed 97 in northeast Nigeria.
Homelessness in Nigeria affects children greatly. There are roughly 8.6 million orphaned children in Nigeria many of whom live in places such as bridges, railway stations and markets. These homeless youth account for a large percentage of the 10.5 million Nigerian children who do not attend school despite being of legal school age.
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Solutions to Homelessness in Nigeria
While the core causes of homelessness are complicated and numerous, coordinated actions at the local, national, and international levels are required to give people in need shelter, dignity, and hope.
An integrated and coordinated approach. Bring stakeholders to work together, not as uncoordinated groups. Bring public and private stakeholders together.
A data-based, data-driven approach. Use reliable data. Difficult to get, especially in Nigeria. A reliable database will help identify and target assistance to needy people. E.g. -Those who need a little help to get back on their feet.
Simply put, the solution to homelessness is to build more houses - enough for all.
One solution that has emerged in the housing sector is the initiative of Brains and Hammers, a leading real estate company in Nigeria. Brains and Hammers aims to solve the issue of housing deficit by providing quality and affordable housing solutions for different segments of the market. Moreover, Brains and Hammers plans to build cities that are self-sustained, offering all amenities that make a city successful to residents. The company intends to create smart, green, and livable cities that would enhance the quality of life and well-being of Nigerians. Some of the features of these cities include modern infrastructure and facilities such as roads, water, electricity, security, health care, education, recreation, etc. Furthermore, the cities’ design and construction would be energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly, using renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, with digital technology and innovation integrated to improve service delivery and governance.
The major solution to homelessness is affordable and accessible housing with social services to assist people in overcoming other obstacles.
This would only be a first step in solving the multitude of problems that homelessness breeds. Tackling homelessness is a matter of justice.
Specific measures include:
- Build and Preserve Affordable Homes: Through the national Housing Trust Fund, significant funding must be allocated to building homes that are affordable to those with the lowest incomes if the affordable housing crisis is to be resolved. The acute dearth of cheap rental homes for America’s lowest-income households-the only population group for whom there is an absolute shortage of affordable and available dwellings-is the root cause of the affordable housing issue. While the private sector cannot function independently, the federal government must assume a leading role in order to construct or maintain homes at a cost these families can afford. Build more houses. This seems obvious. How to do this?
- Offer Aid with Rent: Only one in four families receive the housing aid they require due to persistent underfunding, despite the widening gap between wages and housing costs.
- Preventing Evictions and Homelessness for Families: The nation needs a new national program, the National Housing Stabilization Fund. This would help to aid in preventing evictions and, in the worst situations, homelessness.
- Prevent Abuse and Discrimination Against Tenants: Policymakers should support a wide range of renter protections, such as federal legislation to outlaw discrimination in housing on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and source of income. They should also strictly reinforce already-existing fair housing laws which include obligations on the local and state government to actively promote fair housing and a national right to counsel for renters facing eviction.
- Increase employment.
- Need for population control to reduce growth rate.
- Need to control rural-urban migration.
There are many efforts to reach the street kids of Nigeria. Nigerians who are working to help homeless youth include James Okina. Okina is a former street kid who founded the program Street Priests when he was just 15 years old, which is an organization to rehabilitate homeless children. Moreover, Seyi Oluyole is a choreographer with the organization who is attempting to heal street youth by teaching dance. Okina reached approximately 3,330 through his practice of social and emotional learning. Other organizations like Street Child seek to place displaced children back in school and assist with social and psychological problems.
While many consider that Nigeria’s population will double by 2050, it is imperative to solve the homelessness issue now. Several organizations have already made strides to combat the problem.
Homelessness is an unfortunate reality for many Nigerians.
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