CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.2 Background of the Study

This chapter serves as an introduction to the dissertation. It aims to shed more light on the topic, give a concise problem statement, provide a reasonable scope, state clear aims of the research and also outline why this research is significant in today’s society.

Housing provision is one of the major challenges facing mankind in the twenty-first century. Although studies have shown that the problem of housing is universal, it is however more critical in less developed countries (LDCs), including Nigeria. The challenge of housing the poor is particularly acute in the urban areas of LDCs where an explosive expansion of the urban population due to a high population growth rate and massive rural-urban drift has compounded the housing situation (Olotuah and Bobadoye 2009).

Housing is very fundamental to the welfare, survival and health of individuals. This is why international concern has been growing over the deteriorating housing conditions in urban areas of developing nations, Central and Eastern Europe (UN 1996). In view of this, housing provision for all citizens of a nation is not just an indicator of the success of that nation but also a fundamental human right.

The Gbagyi people are the original inhabitants of the land that Abuja occupies today. The challenges they face in the advent of massive transformation of their serene agrarian settlements is immense (Olabode, 2010). In recent times, the rapid development of the city of Abuja has engulfed many of the settlements of the Gbagyi people. Unfortunately this development has always been around these settlements but never within them.  The population of the city of Abuja in the F.C.T. has increased tremendously and is still on the increase due to urbanization. Urbanization refers to the expansion in the proportion of a population living in urban areas to those living in rural areas. It represents the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration. Nigeria has been no exception to this trend as it has one of the highest urban growth rates in the world.

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