Land accessibility and implications for housing development in Kano Metropolis, Nigeria.

The thesis explores access to land with particular reference to implications for housing development in Kano metropolitan area, Nigeria. It specifically addresses access for the urban low-income groups who are more likely to experience housing difficulties because of their socioeconomic disadvantages. The thesis provides an in-depth empirical and theoretical analysis of policy formulation and implementation with respect to land and housing in Nigeria. Two research methods are utilised to generate the required data for the study; a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews. The thesis is divided into two parts; the first part addresses the philosophical and methodological issues employed in the research and introduces the contextual background of the study. The second part presents the major empirical findings of the study. Chapter Five discusses past and present access to land in Kano metropolis. It explores how policies relate to the operation of an illegal land market and explains the implications of this for the proliferation of informal settlements. Analysis has shown that state policies have benefited most members of the Kano community. Chapter Six discusses the policy process concerning land and housing in Kano and considers the interface between policy guidelines, policy implementation and the success of the state housing programmes especially in the metropolitan area. The chapter shows that there is a wide gap between policy formulation and policy implementation, a reason that has affected the success of government land housing policies in Kano. Lapses in policy formulation, unnecessary bureaucracy, government officials playing the role of 'gatekeepers', corruption and shortages of basic working equipment were identified as major obstacles to achieving effective and efficient land allocation and housing development in Kano. Chapter Seven unravels the housing experiences of Kano residents concerning how they acquired or built their residences, the type of moral or financial assistance they utilised and their satisfaction with facilities in their respective residences. It shows how residential and neighbourhood satisfaction varies among different socio-economic groups and among households residing in different neighbourhoods. The study notes a general dissatisfaction with the government's provision of services and infrastructure in the entire metropolis.