GENDER ACCESS TO LAND AND HOUSING IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Land is an asset that is desirable for social prestige and wealth creation. Its ownership has been the dividing line between the wealthy and the poor in most society while housing is a basic human need after food. The means by which access to land can be gained by males and females vary within different cultures of the world. This study examined how males and females secure access to land and housing in southern Nigeria with a view to engendering appropriate policy response female housing ownership in the selected towns. The study is a survey type conducted in Southern Nigeria, focusing on four selected towns of Akure, Benin – City, Owerri and Calabar representing Yoruba, Benin, Igbo and Efik ethnic groups respectively. The towns were purposively chosen due to their location and uniqueness to adequately represent other towns with the same ethnicity in Southern Nigeria. The target population included all the owners of residential properties in the selected towns. The sampling frame for each town was the 2006 population figures for the LGA in which the town was based from which the number of houses was got. The sample size for each town was determined by using a model of estimating an appropriate sample size of a finite population. This estimate gave sample sizes of 421,431, 396 and 410 for Akure, Benin City, Owerri and Calabar respectively. Moreover, stratified random technique was adopted to obtain the respondents from the core of each town. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire administered on homeowners. The method of data analyses involved both descriptive and inferential statistics. Discriminant Function Analysis was used to examine the factors that determine the means of gaining access to land and housing in the selected towns. It was employed to determine the variables that are best in discriminating between groups of home owners based on how they gained access to land. Two hypotheses were postulated for the study and tested using the Test of Difference between Proportions and Phi Correlation. The study revealed that the best variables for predicting the means through which access to land and housing can be gained in southern Nigeria as a whole were gender, occupation and income. The two hypotheses were rejected in favour of the alternate hypotheses which mean that the difference in the proportion of males and females who secured housing ownership through inheritance in southern Nigeria was significant and that the relationship between gender and inheritance rights was significant. Findings from the study revealed that the greatest means of gaining access to land for females in the study area was through purchase while for males was through inheritance. The inheritance culture in Akure was found to be most favourable to females as the highest percentage of female homeowners was found there. The study recommended the need for affirmative action in allocation of government land in order to make it up for women in access to land. Improved information dissemination to workers in the informal sector to have greater access to government land was recommended as well as joint titling in land ownership by spouses to reduce the incidence of insecurity of women’s tenure in land especially at widowhood among others