Overcoming the obstacles to sustainable housing and urban development in Nigeria: The role of research and innovation

Abstract

The challenges in housing and urban infrastructure development in Nigeria are enormous. This work is aimed at exploring the role of research and innovation in overcoming the challenges. It is indeed captured in Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aims at making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by the year 2030. The methodology used is desk study and the use of secondary data to critically analyze the challenges and proffer solutions. The challenges identified include poor maintenance of infrastructure, bribery and corruption, lack of product-driven research, preference to foreign goods and services over local ones, poor policy formulation and implementation, high cost of building materials, poor compliance to regulations and standards, poor budgeting and budget implementation, lack of commercialization of research findings, poor funding mechanism and lack of skilled manpower. There is a need for government, industry and research institutions to work together. Research and innovation can be used to: formulate good policies, create new materials, improve the efficiency of local building materials, create jobs, understand population dynamics, evolve an integrated approach to housing infrastructure and formulate new functional designs for housing infrastructure. Product-driven research is strongly recommended in order to achieve the desired improvement of the housing and urban development sector. There is also a need for adequate funding for research and innovation by government and private sector. To this end, it is recommended that 1% of the cost of housing and infrastructure projects should be reserved for research and innovation.