Demolition worsening housing crisis amid 28m housing deficit — Hipcity

A research, development and advocacy organisation, Hipcity Innovation Centre, has decried the demolition of houses in Nigeria, citing the country’s severe housing shortage of 28 million.

The organisation argued that such actions would worsen the existing housing crisis, emphasising the need for alternative solutions to address the deficit.

Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the launch of a web-based demolition reporting tool, the Executive Director of the Centre, Bassey Bassey, called on governments at federal and state levels to have a human face in their demolition exercises by offering support, safety nets, and legal protection to displaced persons.

Bassey expressed concern that, in most cases, low-income communities are often targeted for evictions and demolitions, rendering many families homeless, displacing children, leading many to destitution, loss of livelihood, property, and social ties, further widening the social inequality gap in our society and denying many the right to housing as enshrined in the sustainable development goals.

The Executive Director pointed out that the exercise was launched in partnership with the Heinrich Boell Foundation, adding that the reporting tool tracks evictions and demolitions across Nigeria, especially in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He said the tool will provide empirical data on the rationale for evictions and demolitions across Nigeria, frequency, as well as capture citizen voices.

“These data will inform our engagement with the government and guide our policy recommendations to the government on issues of urban integration, urban governance, inclusive cities, etc.,” he said.