AN ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY AND SAFETY OF TALBA HOUSING ESTATE MINNA, NIGER STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

Shelter is one of the basic necessities of life and offers protection against inclement weather to the occupants. One of the problems in the provision of public housing in Nigeria and indeed other developing countries is that of the low quality of housing. Most governments have done well in public housing provision, but still, qualitative housing with attendant safety have continued to clue the populace. Qualitative housing facilitates and ensures housing safety. Attempt was made to examine the flaws in the provision of public housing in terms of quality and safety and explore the quality of construction and materials used in the Talba housing estate along Bida-Minna road, Minna Niger State. The methodology adopted in the study area empirical observation to ascertain the conditions of the housing units. The finding shows that generally many of materials used are substandard and there is poor quality construction of the housing units in the study area. The paper opines that responses to the public housing problems (quality and safety wise) had failed in Nigeria largely due to the use of non-professionals or quacks likewise poor mechanisms of monitoring the implementation and construction process. The paper concludes that the use standard materials and qualitative construction is a major antidote to quality and safe housing provision problems in Nigeria while recommending participatory process involving complex systems of interaction between institutions, professionals, artisans and residents.