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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.7, No.8
Publication Date: August 25, 2020
DOI:10.14738/assrj.77.8744.
Obiadi, B. N. (2020). Architecture Of Cities And The Politics Of Abhorrence In Nigeria: A Case Of Political Neglect, Abandonment And
Homelessness. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(8) 218-236.
Architecture Of Cities And The Politics Of Abhorrence In Nigeria: A
Case Of Political Neglect, Abandonment And Homelessness
Obiadi, Bons N.
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Environmental Sciences,
Nnamdi, Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Architects, planners and engineers anchored firmly in the present, not
able to resist good opportunities presented by the society. They are
impulsive, do not plan or plan for tomorrow, impetient and in most
cases, not caring about the growth, development and the people they are
depriving of the basic needs to survive. The questions are, what are the
reactions of the people in the building industry about Nigeria’s
homelessness as we they no sence of succession and, what would they
do about project abandonment by sitting govenors? This article draws
attention to the colossal failure of the professionals in the building
industry in providing adequate housing to eradicate homelessness and
have not challenged the governors to complete the projects left by their
predecessors. The instrument of more than two research strategies;
quantitative and qualitative research methods and their tactics were
used. Secondary data were based on direct observation and relevant
documents from previous studies on the related matter. Most Nigerian
politicians are idealogically incompetent with questionable competence
executing their legisletive duties that, resulted in housing inadequacy
and homelessness. The medical and psychological conditions of the
homeless people should be the society’s primary concern and the
recommendation of this paper. Architects are known for their graphic
skills and communications, but they are not using them for the growth
and development of the communities and they have derailed in the true
objective and values of what should have been, the growth and
development of the communities devoid of systemic inequality.
Keywords: homelessness, architecture, abandonment, housing, urbanization
INTRODUCTION
Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto did not study architecture neither, did he study
engineering, urban and regional planning, but understands the principles of both urban planning
and architecture more than most architects and planners. At the Lagos 8.0 Conference by the
Nigerian Institute of Architects, Lagos Chapter, at the Eko Hotel, 10-12th, May, 2017, the Bishop, in
his address detailed his mastery of the fields. He has studied the sufferings of both the urban poor
and the people living in rural communities, suffering because of the architects and engineers’
inability to champion and direct their good living irrespective of the fact, that the professions have
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Obiadi, B. N. (2020). Architecture Of Cities And The Politics Of Abhorrence In Nigeria: A Case Of Political Neglect, Abandonment And Homelessness. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(8) 218-236.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.78.8744 219
had good representations in all classes of the government. Be it ministerial, governorship, Vice
Presidents, late Arc Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme, and Arc Alhaji Mohammed N. Sambo, etc.
The Bishop mastered the fundamental sufferings of the people through his orientation and growing
up in impoverished areas as most of us, the architects, plannera and engineers. However, the
professionals are not applying their knowledge and skills as the Bishop, who is not an architect,
engineer or a planner. Given, all of us cannot be architects, engineers and planners, but we can at
least, apply our knowledge and skills in emancipating pains and sufferings in the poor people. We
can come togeher to eradicate homelessness in our communities, make our governors more
responsible and forcee them to carry through, all the project started by their predicessors. In the
words of Corretta Scott King, the wife of Martin Luther King Jnr, the foremost African American civil
rights hero, “the greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate
actions of its members.”
Bishop Kukah, the architect of a speech that I will rename, “the failure of the architects and
engineers : a case of not properly planning, cordinating architectural designs and delivery to brace
the needs of the needy in our communities,”captivated his audience at the 2017 Nigerian Institute
Architects, Lagos State chapter Forum. Bishop Kukah delivered a speech on “The son of man had
nowhere to lay his head: Homelessness as a moral scar on Nigeria’s face.”
The Bishop indicated that the issue of the architects, is a moral one, that homelessness in Nigeria
resulted from the failure of urbanization, the arrogance of the elits and we blame the poor and
homeless without knowing that they have no name, no identity and we make policies without
identifying their issues. They are the result of wars, urban crises, etc.
In his speech, he asked to know what and how the government would or should respond to the
issues of homelessness as we have no sence of succession (continuity in our government)? What
should architects do to to help? Should they be politicins because by their training, architects should
be influential? He indicated that we have political elits that are hostile to intelectual growth. That
we are not a nation of planners and do not have the capacity to complete or generate good data.
Policy planners do not have the capacity to deal with our real issues (socio-economic issues) and
that those in sciences must start dealing with measurable sciences. As a result of these, it appears
intellectialism is banned in Nigeria. For the architects and their training, architects should be more
immaginative. Architects should consider breaking the mold, take challenges and make changes.
The Bishop questioned what he called, “the Architecture of Governance,”dealing with the
abandoned projects (plates 1 to 3), continuity with existing projects in different states and that
projects should not die with the exit of a governor. He alluded and strongly emphasized that
unacceptable qualities of inequalities in the world and especially in Africa is becoming alarming and
that the architects must take charge and take the lead.
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Plate 1. An uncompleted Enugu Conference Center left unattended since the former governor, Dr.
Chimaroke Nnamani let office
Source: Obiadi, 2020
We, the architects, planners and engineers are achored so firmly in the present and our behavior
and motivation are rooted completely in the present, selfish and not able to resist good
opportunities as presented by the society-: self enrishment, power and vernity.We are impulsive,
do not plan or plan for tomorrow, impetient and in most cases, greedy and not caring about the
growth, development and the people we are depriving of the basic needs to survive.While a few
architects and enginers have strong inhibitions about denying others the basic and fundamental
needs to survive and exist, a lot of them do not, resulting in pains and humiliations experienced by
the unpleviledged few in their communites. In the words of Senator John McCain, the late famous
American Senator, “We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patrotism with tribal rivalries
that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the glob.”
We, the profesionals have always blamed the government for our short comings, typical
characteristics of the failed professional responsibilities and the question is, when will that stop?
The truth is that we have proven that we are professionally incompetent. To the poor, we are
emotionless and never available, only interested in our relentless drives to accumulate wealth and
be seen as ambassordors.We have always rationalized our behaviors and form aliance with
interested parties. It is never the collective interest of the Nigerian elected politicians, building team
and technocrats to regenerate their communities, transform the lives of the poor and homeless
rather, to make more money and be worshiped by the poor and homeless.
It is always alignment and realighment in favor of us (figuatively speaking). It should not be
illusionay, but reality and perspective at the Nigerian Institute of Architects. We have always taken
undue advantage of the common expectations of the poor, that our class (educated, sarrvy and
skilled) are presumably trustwordy because of our social and professional credentials. The training
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Obiadi, B. N. (2020). Architecture Of Cities And The Politics Of Abhorrence In Nigeria: A Case Of Political Neglect, Abandonment And Homelessness. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(8) 218-236.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.78.8744 221
we received has given us the skills and credentials to embrace and rejuvenate our communities to
an extent that, homelessness should be comfronted. Challenge the governors to complete projects
started by their predecessors. In Enugu, the uncompleted Enugu Conference Center left unattended
since the former governor, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani let office is still standing and untouched (plate
1). In Anambra State, both the Awka (plate 2) and Nnwei (plate 3) Shoprites (plates 1 to3) are still
there and untouched, indicative of the failed nature of the building industry team in Nigeria that has
not been responsible enough to comfront and challenge sitting governors, to complete projects
started and left by their predecessors.
Plate 2. Awka, Anambra State uncompleted Shoprite project left by Governor Peter Obi
Source: Obiadi (May 21, 2020)
Plate 3. Nnewi, Anambra State uncompleted Shoprite project left by Governor Peter Obi
Source: Obiadi (May 21, 2020)
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Without boring the reader, in a presentation by Bishop Kukah (2017), “the Son of Man had Nowhere
to Lay His Head: Homelessness as a moral scar on Nigeria’s face” out of which a major part of this
section is extracted, Kukah indicated, as we all know, Homelessness has become the face of life in
the third world. It is the poster that welcomes everyone who knocks at the gate of every African city
today. It is pertinent to ask the question as to how Homelessness came upon us and why it has
become the norm and the counter narrative to our failed development strategies. When we ask the
reasons for homelessness in Africa, the elite will give us many reasons and excuses for their colossal
failures in protecting the interest of the poor and homeless.
It is interesting that those who give us the reasons for homelessness are those whose selfishness,
greed, profligacy and neglect have contributed to the tragedy of homelessness in our society. We do
not hear the voices of the homeless themselves. They are not able to say why they are homeless. For
us who deliver the lectures, serve as Consultants, and write long, unreadable seminar papers for the
United Nations and its agencies, for those who design the model buildings, for those who govern,
the homeless are a problem. The Homeless are a social or an economic category in development
literature. They have no names. They are merely a noun or an adjective, an indictment,
embarrassment and irritants on our landscape. They are problems to be resolved, dirt to be cleared,
not excuses to be listed.
The Homeless are presented as their own worst enemies. If we were to describe or give reasons for
homelessness, most of us would naturally say something like:
• They are the products of failed urbanization
• They rushed to the city thinking the roads were paved with gold
• In their poverty, they breed too many children
• They are unemployed, lack skills.
• They are lazy and have bad social habits such as alcoholism
The urban development experts even categorise homelessness into different grades. And of course,
these categories are important for planning, but they are also a form of indictment that often blames
the victim. For example, the homeless are often classified as falling under these categories:
Chronical Homelessness
These ones are beyond redemption and the empty streets and its elements are their permanent
addresses. They roam the streets and have no place to call home. As in the words of the hit song by
the Temptations titled, Papa was a Rolling stone, Wherever he laid his hat was his home.
Cyclical Homelessness
These are persons who suffer loss of abode as a result of temporary tragedies, for example, death of
a bread winner, victim of a fraud, loss of employment, an accident or a misfortune, etc. They could
overcome the circle and climb back if opportunity knocks
Temporary Homeless
These are more or less the same but they could be victims of war as we have today in the Internally
Displaced People (IDP) camps across our country. They often have hope that they could resolve
their problems when conditions change.
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Obiadi, B. N. (2020). Architecture Of Cities And The Politics Of Abhorrence In Nigeria: A Case Of Political Neglect, Abandonment And Homelessness. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(8) 218-236.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.78.8744 223
As I have stated, the popular temptation is the arrogant assumption in which the state and its agents,
who should actually be in the dock turn around to blame the victim. Thus, from the comfort of their
humungous structures often built from the proceeds of corruption, they continue to blame the
homeless for some of the reasons I have mentioned above. However, I believe it is more plausible
to argue that the homeless must be seen as those whom the government left behind. I will argue
that homelessness should not be seen as some sort of inevitability. Like war, it is often the outcome,
the product of planned or unplanned human actions, inactions and decisions. Homelessness is the
failure of politics, the collapse of compassion, a cancer inflicted on the poor by those who are paid
to protect and defend them.
Government policies are often haphazard and lack a coherent design plans that go beyond the
exigencies of political considerations. Successive governments are often reluctant to pursue the
programmes of their successors. There is also an overconcentration on the care and welfare of
government functionaries to the exclusion of the welfare of ordinary citizens. Social behaviours of
office holders in areas such as polygamy have impact on the economy and housing. How many of
the public officers’ wives is the government supposed to pay for? Is it the duty of the federal
government to provide housing for four wives in four different cities for example? There are laws
on paper, but these habits make it impossible for resources to be adequately allocated for the
welfare of citizens.
Homelessness should be considered a moral issue because everything else about our humanity
revolves around the dignity imposed by the need for housing. We can quibble over whether the right
to housing is synonymous with the right to shelter. What is most critical is whether a government
has enough sensitivity to appreciate the needs of its citizens. This is purely based on whether it has
the capacity to plan. And, of course, there can be no planning without data and statistics.
We keep hearing long stories about government planning to educate, feed, create jobs for its
citizens. Most of this is empty talk that is never backed by any serious knowledge on the part of
politicians who know very little about the ethnic, demographic composition or habitats of their
people. They come to power and then discover that with no data, they cannot achieve their goals.
The results of this ignorance are to be found in the white elephant projects that have become part
of our landscape. Due to poor planning and obsession with politics, politicians often end up
abandoning much advertised and popularized problem solving projects.
We have all the various Departments and Institutions in the bureaucracy, created largely to help the
government provide services. Sadly, even these institutions are seething with corruption and
inefficiency. We have Population Commission, we have offices of Statistics, Departments of Weights
and Measures and so on and so forth. Yet, there is very little evidence that government policies are
guided by sound advice and input from these institutions. How can a government deliver services
when it is unsure and knows so little about its own people? How can it plan when it has no accurate
data, has no details of the social, cultural, religious housing needs of its people?
Homelessness is an indictment on those who have pledged to govern us and have custody of all our
resources to be judiciously used for us. Homelessness is one of the greatest definitions of inequality;
it is the greatest scar on our common humanity.
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Clearly, the greatest cause of homelessness is not so much the falsehoods that have been
popularized by policy makers which blame the victims. We blame population explosion among
others. Important as these are, a government should be able to plan and anticipate these
developments and not wait until numbers overwhelms it. And this is where the scientists like you
architects come in. I recall how excited architects were when Alhaji Namadi Sambo was made Vice
President. Architects got a good piece of the action. However, looking back, what can we remember
about that period? Could Architects have taken advantage of this situation to embark on some
memorable project as a legacy?
Today, professionals, especially scientists must not become obsessed with patronage and politics.
Only science can change our landscape. Too many professionals have become ensconced in the
warm embrace of power and as such, there is little room for dreaming and offering solutions to the
nation’s problems. I give you an example that you all know better than myself, that is, the Capsule
Hotels that have emerged in Japan.
The famous Japanese Architect KishoKorukawa (1934-2007) designed the first capsule hotel in
Osaka in 1972 and it was opened in 1979. Apart from Architecture, Korukawa read Philosophy
which changed his worldview and made him a more adventurous Architect. He founded what was
called, the Metabolism movement, a crop of adventurous Japanese Architects who wanted to change
lifestyles through their science. It was this adventure that produced the Nagakin Capsule Tower
hotel. A capsule hotel is made up of just a little bed that looks like a drawer for those who just need
a place to put their head down for the night. It is meant for those who could not afford regular hotels
and they are very cheap. Now, they are scattered in Japan. China, Belgium, India are also
experimenting with the capsule hotel.
This is what imagination does when professionals aim at solving problems rather than designing to
meet the stinking opulence and taste of the rich. Architects should be courageous enough to extend
the frontiers of imagination. Architects and Artists are the closest expressions of God’s gift of
imagination because all the wonderful designs exist in their heads before we finally see them. They
are dreamers and therefore our squalor should be considered an indictment on their ability or
inability to dream and dream big.
What do architects have to say about how to end homelessness? Of course, as a social problem,
homelessness will probably never end. The real challenge is how to revolutionalise the concept of
habitation and dignity to make it work in favor of the poor. You should be the ones to help us provide
housing or shelter for our people at the cheapest cost and based on what we can afford locally. Our
poor people cannot continue to wait for Dangote or to decide their fate on whether they will have a
roof over their heads. Must the future of shelter among our people depend on cement, fans and air
conditioners which we do not produce? Architects should unleash their creative imagination to help
our nation find solution to the problems of homelessness. To do this, a new generation of architects
must be ready to break the mold.
The issue of homelessness is a serious indictment on our leadership. It is a direct byproduct of the
greed of those who have custody of our commonwealth. While they live in mansions and their
children who have contributed nothing to the country drive exotic cars and travel the world in
private jets with our collective resources, homelessness should prick our conscience. For how can
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The complexity of this problem is made manifest in various noticeable attempts (formal and
informal) by urban dwellers (both poor and rich) to provide housing for themselves in the city.
Housing, according to Uji and Okonkwo, 2007:17), Turner (1974), sees ‘housing’ as human dwelling,
a roof over one’s head meant to serve as shelter for human living, interaction and carrying out of
activities away from in clemencies of weather. Uji and Okonkwo (2007) further indicated that,
Turner (1974) associates housing with the process of responding to the needs for shelter and the
associated demands of social services, health and public facilities which go with the physical shelter
in order to ensure congruent living with the environment. Housing generally refers to the social
problem of insuring that members of society have a home to live in, whether this is a house, or some
other kind of dwelling, lodging, or shelter (Housing, 2013).
The process of urbanization of the cities in Nigerian has been seen to rather produce what the
present work could term “spatial dialectics” especially in spatial distribution of objects. The city is
characterized by dual urban spaces: the formal (where all is organized) and informal (undeveloped
squatter settlement). Overtime, both the formal and informal spaces have also developed an
interdependent relationship. While the formal spaces are inhabited by the rich or those who could
afford them, the urban poor and homeless are crowded in the informal urban spaces which dot
mostly the central city areas of Nigeria (plates 4 to 6). Thus the public spaces in these informal
settlements have become or have assumed the function of “housing/shelter” for the Nigeria’s urban
poor and homeless people (plates 4 to 6).
Plate 4. Abuja’s public space (housing/shelter)
Source: Obiadi (May 18, 2020)
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activities, vanderlization and destruction of infrastructure notwithstanding. According to Bukola
Adebayo (2020), a CNN reporter in Lagos, authorities in Nigeria evicted thousands of impoverished
residents from a Lagos slum, leaving many homeless. Residents described scenes of panic and
confusion Tuesday as hundreds of navy personnel pushed into Tarkwa Bay and neighbouring island
communities on the Lagos Lagoon, ordering them to leave within an hour. Navy Cmdr. Thomas Otuji,
a spokesman for the operation launched in December, said the planned demolition of buildings aims
to tackle oil theft along pipelines that run through the coastal city.
Plate 8. Tarkwa Bay residents pack their belongings on boats on Tuesday after military personnel
from the Nigerian navy invaded the community.
Source: Omoregie Osakpolor
Mohammed Zanna, a resident and paralegal, told CNN that the forces shot sporadically in the air as
residents, who said they had no prior notice, scrambled to find their families and pack their
belongings. "Everyone was panicking and packing everything they could carry. The men were
shooting in the air and shouting that people should leave," Zanna told CNN.
Plate 9. A boy looks on as Tarkwa Bay residents pack their belongings on boats on Tuesday.
Source: Omoregie Osakpolor (Retrieved May 21, 2020)
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Obiadi, B. N. (2020). Architecture Of Cities And The Politics Of Abhorrence In Nigeria: A Case Of Political Neglect, Abandonment And Homelessness. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 7(8) 218-236.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.78.8744 233
Many residents queued at the harbor till nightfall (plate 9), trying to secure boats to transport their
families from the island to the city (plate 8), said Megan Chapman, co-director of the Justice &
Empowerment Initiatives, a nonprofit that assists poor communities. She visited neighborhoods
while the evictions were ongoing, Chapman said. "We saw dozens of boats (plate 8) filled with
belongings and families trying to see how they were going to leave the island. Most of them did not
know," Chapman said.
A consortium of advocacy groups, including JEI and the Nigeria Slum/Informal Settlement
Federation, put the number of displaced persons in the thousands. The navy's Otuji said he did not
have an exact figure of those impacted by the eviction, but residents in affected communities had
been told to leave before the exercise began. Residents were still packing their belongings out of the
waterfront settlement (plate 10) on Wednesday, according to Zanna. Tarkwa Bay, home to at least
4,500 people, is among dozens of communities with structures that have been marked for
demolition by the navy. All are accessible only by water. In some communities, bulldozers have
already done their work.
Plate 10. Residents trying to secure a boat ride at the Lagos Island jetty on Tuesday.
Source: JEI (Retrieved May 21, 20202)
Otuji said residents had been advised to leave in December after authorities found that the majority
of homes on the islands were built along pipelines. They also discovered that some structures in the
slum were being used as a disguise for crude oil theft operations (plate 11), he said. "We found at
least 300 illegal spots and dug out pits where oil products were being tapped and sold illegally, even
to neighboring countries," Otuji said. "They have been there doing all sorts of illegalities. This is
dangerous for people to be living in these areas with oil pipelines. What else can we do but to make
sure that we salvage the situation?" he said.
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