Nwogbo, N.

In almost all the developing countries of the world, Nigeria inclusive, housing the urban poor has become a thorny issue due mainly to a long history of neglect of the sector by successive governments. This has given rise to squatter settlements and slums in many cities of the developing countries. This problem has been compounded by population explosion, rapid urbanization and global increases in the prices of conventional building materials such as steel, cement, and timber. In Nigeria, in particular, land speculation and inappropriate legislations have combined with the factors enumerated above to take construction costs of conventional houses out of the reach of the poor and made rents chargeable on them unaffordable by the urban poor. House ownership has become a mere dream to many. Sites-and-services, as an alternative approach to mass housing, has not quite succeeded in effectively addressing the problem of shelter provision, as the urban poor have been found to be unable to cope with the financial burden of developing their sites and owning their own houses.The alternative being advocated here is development of satellite settlements around our cities that will, among other things, permit the urban poor the use of improved local building materials and technology in building affordable houses in well laid-out settlements, having all basic infrastructure. Also advocated is a pursuit of land reforms that will make land more accessible to and affordable by the urban poor.