INFRASTRUCTURE AUTONOMY IN AKURE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This research work examines the extent of housing infrastructure autonomy in the residential densities of Akure Nigeria, with a view to proposing appropriate strategies to improve general housing condition. It investigates the condition of residential buildings, the sources of basic facilities and the degree of autonomy of housing infrastructure of the residential buildings in Akure as the major objectives of the study. The scope of the study focused on Akure city where the field survey was conducted on the degree of housing infrastructure autonomy in the residential densities at the core, transitional and peripheral zones within the study area. Primary data for the study were generated from the administration of a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on household heads or any adult living in the buildings within the study area. It investigated among other things; the neighbourhoods, socio-economic characteristics of respondents, condition of residential buildings, and provision of basic infrastructure. Secondary data were obtained from the Ministry of Lands and Housing, Ondo State Development and Property Corporation, Physical Planning Department and Survey Department in Ministry of Works, Akure, Ondo State, while Property Maps were obtained from the National Population Commission (NPC) among others. Using the table of random numbers, 24 Enumeration Areas (EAs) were selected on the ratio of 50:35:15 for the core; transition and peripheral zones from the 2006 EAs from the NPC. Twelve (12) EAs were sampled for the core; 9 for the transition zone; and 3 for the peripheral zone. The sample size of 1,134 respondents was allocated in the proportion of 567; 425; and 142 for the core, transition and peripheral zones respectively. A total of 831 representing 73.28% out of the total 1,134 questionnaires administered were retrieved and used for analysis. Furthermore, the choice of respondents was not restricted to the head of household, given that the study was not strictly on household heads. Twenty field assistants were employed to administer the questionnaire. The questionnaire administration lasted for three months. Graphs and tables were used to present, interpret and discuss research findings through SPSS version 21 and Microsoft Excel 2013. Simple correlation techniques and Chi-square ( 2 X ) were employed to test the posited hypotheses. Furthermore, index and regression techniques were also used to discuss the results of degree of autonomy of housing infrastructure of the buildings in the study area. Investigation revealed that for residential buildings in Akure, 62.3% of the buildings were tenement buildings. It shows that at the city core 88.6% of respondents developed their lands above 50% of plot coverage, while at the periphery above 50% plot coverage had 20.0%. Results reveal also that current housing of the people in the study area is inadequate to meet their needs, 7.1% percent of the residential buildings at the core did not meet the required minimum standard setback and the buildings constructed in less than a decade across the entire study area had 19.0%. However, the study further shows that 67.0% of the respondents make use of generators and national grid as their sources of electricity, generators only had 16.6% and 2.9% of the residents had above ten hours power supply per day. The prevailing energy source for cooking in the study area is Kerosene stove. At the core, affordability of the available resources shows 23.2% for not affordable and different categories of affordability had 76.8% while at the transition zone, not affordability had 28.0% and affordability 72.0 percent. Source of domestic water reveals that majority of residents of the city depends on water supply from hand-dug wells. Findings reveal that most of the roads in the study area were provided by the government and only a few were provided independent of government particularly at the transitional and peripheral zones. Provision of electricity by individuals accounted for 17.3%. This result reveals an increasing independence on the national grid from the core to the peripheral zone. Provision of water in the entire study area is almost autonomous. This shows that most of the inhabitants of the study area devised means of supplying water to their buildings independent of public tap and boreholes. At the transitional and peripheral zones, drainage systems were mostly provided independent of government. Only 14.9% of the drainage was provided by government in the entire study area. Moreover, provision of sewage was absolutely autonomous across the residential zones. Furthermore, the degree of housing infrastructure autonomy reveals different levels ranging from very poor to very good at the core, transitional and peripheral zones and the entire study area. Consequently, the research work recommends that development control mechanisms such as building setbacks and building plot coverage should be strictly enforced; stable supply of electricity from the national grid; government at all levels should give consideration to the maintenance of existing housing infrastructure and provision of new ones across the residential areas of Akure and by extension to other towns and cities in Nigeria and public-popular approach; public-private approach; and private-popular approach among others, should be put in place to reduce the autonomy to percentages of affordability