HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
4.6 Evolution of the Housing Policy Periods
4.6.2 Colonial Period 1914-1959
Most of the early part of this period experienced the traditional housing delivery systems within the native towns and settlements. Mabogunje (1977) identified three categories of towns
under colonial rule namely: Native city, non-European reservation and the European reservation quarters.
Formal housing delivery systems in this era generally took its origins from the power relations between the British Crown and the Colony based on the need to deliver housing that was adequate for the expatriate and a few indigenes that supported British interests. This was in tandem with a similar working class groups in Britain; the housing provision was through direct government intervention (Pugh, 1994). Therefore, for the British this was a logical approach to cater for their own and so the colonial governments’ launch to create the colonial/European reservation quarters, later to be called government reservation areas (GRA) by the post-colonial ruling class. These neighbourhoods were characterized by their modern architecture (succinct to tropical architecture), and secluded from the indigenes as can be seen all over colonial Africa (See figure 4.13).
Source:www.googlemap.com
Figure 4.13 A-layout of Colonial GRA; B-layout of indigenous estate; C-excised layout for military use; D-layout of traditional/native settlement engulfed by westernized neighbourhoods.
NOTES: A- is Ikeja; GRA,B- is Maryland; C-is Ikeja Military Cantonement; D-is the onigbongbo village. Scenarios like this are all over the city and increases the nucleated divide between neighbourhoods.The GRA’s are gridiron layout strictly based on tropical criterias and western styles,while the native neighbourhoods lack formal planning and the indigenous estates are semi planned driven by profit-motives of the developer.
This further nucleated the existing divide between native settlements and emerging canters of commerce as show in figure 4.13. It was this direct intervention by the colonial government to produce, distribute and consume housing among its expatriate workforce within areas of the city that led to the subtle change in the perception of the natives about the newer meaning of housing and consequently syncretism as a lifestyle (Aradeon, 1991).
The creation of new settings/environment is in total divergence to the communal and patriarchal traditional dwelling units. They set precedence for the future of housing delivery in
colonized territories. European floor plans, imported building materials, and different construction techniques enabled the achievement of housing production.
Implicitly, the general interpretation of Europe’s context of housing in Africa had taken roots in many ways and one of such early interpretation was the elevation of the house foundation/ground floor by about 900mm on stilts to reduce mosquito attack, especially in the Lagos area.
The notion of elevated foundations against mosquito attack although rudimentary originated from the public health theories that mirrored the deep-rooted fears of the colonialist and their need to design against the infestation of Africans and African conditions (Fry & Drew, 1956).
Figure 4.14 shows a typical design approach to mosquito attack, showing elevated foundation and Mosquito proof room on the left and right to the dwelling unit usually screened with perforated sandcrete blocks serving as ‘air bricks’.
Section double Quarters(8th Jan,1914)
Figure 4.14 Design solution to health problems (source: original picture of drawings,NRC drawing archives,1914;field survey)Notes: From figure 4.14 –C, the section shows the elevated bungalow styled house intended to reduce mosquito attack.
A-Floor plan of double quarters;to the frontal-left of plan is the
‘mosquito proof room’ a design solution to health problems.
B-on the extreme left and right are the fenestrations in elevation to the mosquito proof room.
C- Section across building showing the building elevated from the ground level by about 900mm.for the same mosquito reasons.
However, while these design based inputs were been invigorated into the colonial era for housing among expatriates the access to land was facing a revolution that would change housing arrangements for ever in the British colonies. One of such changes was that land tenure, rights, and access to land became formalized through titles that bore allegiance to the British Crown through local administrative institutions. Suddenly, for natives, land could be confisticated for better purposes one of such been the housing needs of the colonialist and this was achieved through local monarchs who were installed and recognized by the colonialist.
The Lagos standard of 29 January 1908 observed the resistance of indigenes when Governor Egerton decided to establish a European reservation (later called government reservation areas) in central Lagos around the race course area, by forcing Lagosians to vacate their homes (Gale1979,Mabogunje1992). Such resistance signaled the need for future legislation through a buildup of ruling class sympathy by way of doctrines and establishment of legislation; one of such was the use of similar urban regulatory frameworks as it obtains in Britain, such as the enactment of the township ordinance in 1917.
Shortly after the amalgamation of the protectorates of 1914, which strengthened both the colonialist and their selected indigenous ruling class alongside colonial pursuits and passage of the township ordinance this gave credence to the classification of towns into three categories namely; first, second and third class towns. Existence of amenities like water and electricity determined the class rating of the town. Therefore, cities in line with government directive needed to work hard to achieve a status that enabled them to improve and benefit from central largesse if they were to remain relevant. Lagos was the only first class town in Nigeria. It was the first to generate and distribute electricity in 1896 (other sources claim 1856 before Munich) and pipe borne water in 1914 (Smith, 1978). This classification thus set the pace for the perception of adequacy and the standards of adequacy for living conditions as a prelude to future institutional regulations, which emanated from internalized realizations of weaknesses and the need for the control of local settlements. Given that formal housing delivery system was for the expatriate community and at best served the interest of those who served the expatriates to an extent, there was a growing need not to ignore this obvious need for housing the emerging indigenous ruling class.
This need and growing commerce attracted more people from the hinterland and consequently more housing and so, more institutional frameworks were introduced in the wake of rapid urbanization of the Lagos protectorate; which led to poor living conditions and poor environmental/health practices and consequently the outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1928
among Lagosians. These institutions include the establishment of the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB) in1929, with the aim of planning formal development for Lagos;
this heralded the concept of public housing after the European order of government, leadership and administration of public affairs (Fadahunsi, 1975).
At this point, the delivery systems by which housing was been initiated and delivered began to change from traditional to various methods depending on need. The emergence of multi- delivery systems for housing emerged from this period. It was logical to note that as the colonial government, increased trade activities (exports to Europe only) more interest in housing relocation began to take roots among the locals. This era began to experience gradual rejection of traditional lifestyles in favor of European lifestyle and the population pressure on the fringes of communities that succored the colonial government continued to increase beyond limits of improvise housing and infrastructure support systems created by indigenes.
Whereas, the colonial government had a policy for housing delivery for its expatriate workers and limited Nigerian junior workers (in the railway) there was no such policy for other indigenous workers and the general public, who actually form the bulk of the society (Fadahunsi, 1975). With transportation as the core focus of transfer of wealth from Nigeria to Europe, the railway lines and associated settlements from across the country terminated in Lagos and by 1930, the railway lines were completed.
Therefore, it was common to see colonial quarters at the end of a commercial town, which is of economic significance to the colonial government, while the larger populations of indigenes remained cramped up in rooming accommodation within the fringes and sometimes the core of traditional settlements. It was the workers strike of 1945 (following the end of the Second World War), that Nigerian nationalists’ agitations forced the colonial government to intervene in housing provision. Fadahunsi (1985) observed that, the majority of the beneficiaries were the nationalist (ruling class) and not the public; from here, it is traceable to note the lopsidedness of government housing interventions until date. This gave rise to the colonial government committing itself to some form of planned housing for indigenes for the first time.
Again, Lagos was at the center, with a proposal for the construction of over 2000 units under this programme. Unfortunately, government was able to achieve less than 1000units and this heralded the tradition of never achieving planned objectives in housing within Lagos.
However, between 1900 and 1945 there was massive reclamation of swamp in the Lagos area and this included Yaba (in Lagos mainland), Oko Awo (in Ikoyi/Lagos Island), and Apapa.
The executed reclamation totaled about 1000acres (See figure 4.15). In effect, this action set the pace for future reclamations, which has now reached points of environmental hazards in the Lagos area (Fadahunsi, 1975).
Therefore, the colonial era birthed three significant institutional failures in housing namely;
lopsided allocation of housing to the privileged and powerful, tradition of not achieving planned objectives in housing production and indiscriminate reclamation of land for housing.
These failures continue until this day in Lagos and are more severe in current arrangements among institutions and organizations.
The Town and Country Planning Ordinance was introduced in 1946; this was fashioned after a similar Act of 1932 in the United Kingdom (Uyanga, 1979). This period was a part of a ten- year plan for the development and welfare of the country (Mabogunje,1992 ).
The Lagos Central Planning Scheme Law of 1955 was enacted just before the independence to engender efforts to face-lift the city before the independence celebrations of 1960. The resettled indigenes from parts of central Lagos were to be housed in Surulere (north of central Lagos as shown in figure 14.5) temporarily; but it became permanent and the clearance remain uncompleted until date. This partial urban resettlement plan remains the nucleus of central Lagos’ urban blight.
Figure 4.15 shows the various urban areas in relation to land reclamation;
Source;www.justmaps.com,2010
However, Mabogunje (1992) described the mass protest associated with the slum clearance of 1955 as the factor that discouraged further efforts at slum clearance in central Lagos. The avoidance of protests continued to shape the attitudes to housing at both the institutional and organizational levels of social Lagos.
In addition, the adoption of the McPherson Constitution in 1954 followed by the internal self- government of the regions in 1956 saw yet another institutional infusion into the already debilitating housing conditions for the majority of the middle-income. This was the enactment of the town and country-planning law in the western region; and this was followed by the establishment of more institutions with the objective of catering for housing delivery that seems to elude all efforts at achieving planned objectives.
In a bid to pacify, yearnings of the ruling class and the disgruntled emerging middle-income group new housing delivery systems began to emerge and targeted at the social groups of society with the most pressure on government. The establishment of Western Nigeria Housing Corporation in 1959 served this purpose and was to improve the mechanism for government interventions in housing delivery. The Eastern Nigeria Housing Corporation followed suit and several others along the same policy lines.
Unfortunately, these bodies were charged with developing high-class residential facilities for those who would financially be able to purchase them (Fadahunsi, 1985). This was in total exclusion of the middle to low income groups that primarily rented rooming apartments in Lagos metropolis. While the policy machinery was strengthening the upper income groups and the ruling class, the poor relation between government and the rest became evident. A faulty financial mechanism was the reason behind inaccessibility of housing for the middle-income that had loan repayment potential but no fiscal assistance from government (Onibokun, 1975, 1986).
To this end, social groups inadvertently formed response mechanisms to circumvent government policies for private surplus accumulation. Therefore, as the demand for housing increased, new towns, and settlements opened for housing development but the arrangements among, social groups/ruling class from the institutions and organizations overtly derailed planned outcomes. Suffice to say that, the emerging ruling class were from the civil service, armed forces, academia, politics and commerce; they formed an heterogeneous social group
(or elite) with diverse viewpoints but, with a consensus on governance and its economic largess to which housing was an integral part.
However, the establishment of the Nigerian Building Society (NBS) in 1956, which was the cradle for financing housing on mortgage basis as an institution, was established (FGN,2006).
The NBS was a limited liability company a joint venture of the British, Federal, and Eastern Nigerian Governments. This was the primary mortgage institution, which granted mortgage loans to individuals financed through savings mobilized from the public. It operated many years in Lagos with little impact. The client base was a small group of economically empowered ruling class and privileged middle-income. They met the conditions of borrowing and understood the relevance and advantage of home ownership and accumulation of surplus value over time.
The value transformation and realization of the economic potential of housing among indigenes gave rise to massive acquisition among households and actors/partners. The replacement of the expatriate workforce due to independence from colonialism and the economic value attached to enlistment with the ruling class in the public sector became the condition for self-aggrandizement and corruption. Housing estates created by housing corporations became exclusive havens and preserve of elite/ruling class alongside the already cited GRA’s.
The regional housing corporations were the earliest form of housing estate developers and providers of mortgage finance; although supported by government, they were producing
“subsidized” housing and planned layouts for those who could afford them directly. The extent of this subsidy was however not clear, neither was the distribution method consistent.
Affordability was in direct relation to employment status; and it was by either government or the organized private sector alone. Especially British entrepreneurial owned companies such as John Holt, Lever Brothers and the definition of income group was relative to comparative earnings among indigenous people in the middle cadre of this workforce. Such definition was in total exclusion of the income groups among indigenous/native workforce, which were agrarian and mostly petty traders; whose housing development was largely informal and the type of housing was rooming apartments that succored the desperate housing need in the Lagos metropolis (Fadahunsi, 1985).
However, this period experienced rapid replication of duties and function of institutions with little capacity as well as real scope for which these operatives were to function. One of such
was the establishment of the Ikeja Town Planning Authority with jurisdiction over those parts of the Metropolitan mainland Lagos and this area was not under the control of LEDB.
Fadahunsi (1985) further pointed out that, the period after 1960 was a period of consolidation by indigenes towards strengthening the housing delivery systems that were emerging. The policy framework from here on revolved around government policy and ad-hoc private sector initiatives. The workings of government agencies at cross-purposes originated from the need to reinforce government resolve at enforcement by creating legislative containment/control agencies; in most cases, elaborate planned objectives were never achieved.
In retrospect, the colonial housing period experienced the introduction of the single-family house form and the conscription of local communities to depend largely on foreign building materials’ consumption. Single-family plots of land emerged from gridiron layouts: From which, the realities of spatial use gave rise to building regulatory contraventions among households and housing development actors/partners and experts. Rules and regulations that are alien to their culture and values that are not economically sustainable for their housing delivery systems were introduced into their socio-economic systems. The outcomes are yet to be fully studied and understood until date (King, 1990, 1976; Abu-Luhod, 1965 in Guggler, 1982; Njoh, 2002, Hunter, 1981). Essentially, the design features for the African staff quarters were distinctively different from those of the expatriate workers.
Figure 4.16 shows a typical African staff quarter for middle-income employees of the colonial government. The Ground floor comprised of the entrance porch, entrance hall, Dining room, Kitchen store, Pantry, Store, and Stairs. The external motor house, kitchen, and fuel room (for firewood). The Upper floor comprises of, two bedrooms, external bath with wash hand basin, and two external WC’s without wash hand basins. The stairs terminates on the first floor in a kiosk (a family lounge/living room). Entertainment on the ground floor, which is the public space, was limited to eating only (Dining). This is in total contrast in terms of luxury, and culture to the typical managers’ quarters for the expatriate community as shown in figure 4.17.
The general manager’s quarters comprises of the ground floor, external kitchen and motor room/garage; study, entrance hall/stair hall, dining room, lounges, visitors WC, Cloak, and the upper floor; bed rooms en-suite with toilets, wardrobes, box-room, dressing room, sewing room. These were typical of the activity-defined spaces of Eurocentric lifestyle as different from the space defined activity design of the courtyard house type as earlier cited.
Ground Floor Plan
Upper Floor Plan ( approximately 120 sqm ground and upper floors)
Figure 4.16 Standard type Single-familyAfrican staff quarters,1929(source: original picture of drawings,NRC drawing archives,1929;field survey)
Note: The middle-income indigenous staff household is about 5-persons or more while that of the expatriate is 3-persons or less.
Ground Floor
Upper Floor (approximately 230sqm ground/upper floors)
Figure 4.17 General Managers Quarters(12th May,1949) (source: original picture of drawings,NRC drawing archives,1929;field survey)