HOUSING NIGERIAN URBAN POOR THROUGH SELF-BUILD HOUSING CONCEPT USING COMPRESSED STABILIZED LATERITE BRICKS

Self-build housing methods have been widely used in traditional western Nigeria in housing development. Recently however, there has been a shift to other westernize concepts of housing development which are observed to be more capital intensive than the traditional methods. While these westernized concepts are
beneficial to the few high income earners, the urban poor who are in the majority are left at a  disadvantage. Therefore, the paper qualitatively examined methods of housing provision employed by the urban poor in Nigeria urban centres and its consequences on the urban landscape. The paper further appraised the self-build housing concept employed in the past by the urban poor in providing affordable housing. The study identified that the urban poor employed rudimentary self-build housing methods as an ingenious way of housing provision in a depressed economy. In addition, it was identified that the increase in slums and squatter settlements in Nigeria urban centres was as a result of the weaknesses inherent in the rudimentary traditional self-build housing methods. The paper concluded that decent and affordable housing for the urban poor can be achieved by harnessing self-build housing methods through acquisition of trado-modern construction technology and providing adequate construction monitoring framework policies. The paper recommends the use of compressed stabilized laterite bricks for self-build housing
construction by the urban poor.