STRATEGY FOR COPING WITH NIGERIA’S HOUSING NEEDS

Abstract

The paper blames Nigeria’s complete reliance on the conventional methods of construction as the root of her inability to provide adequate number of housing units for her people. While recommending industrialisation of the building delivery system as the method most likely to enable the country overcome her housing shortfall, the paper warns against any attempt at full-scale importation of sophisticated factory-oriented, capital-intensive systems from the developed countries. It rather sees great merit in partial prefabrication tailored specifically to the nation’s level of technology and infrastructural development, and which as skills, market, economy, infrastructure and know-how also develops until the standards of prefabrication enjoyed by the developed countries is achieved, the housing needs  met and perhaps surpassed.