ANALYSIS OF THE CHALLENGES FACING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SITE AND SERVICES SCHEME IN SOUTH EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

The rapid urbanization and the high rate of population growth prevalent in the country created the need for an approach known as Site and Services Scheme to promote and enhance rapid housing provision to solve the housing problem in Nigeria. The Federal Government under the then Federal Ministry of Works and Housing introduced this scheme as a means of solving housing shortage in the country. The underlying principle of Site and Services Scheme is that the authorities would provide the land and the infrastructural facilities, while the individual allottee proceeds to build their houses in accordance with the approved building plan (National Housing Policy, 1991).The aim of this study is to analyse the challenges facing the Federal Government Site and Services Scheme in South East Geopolitical zone of Nigeria. In order to achieve the aim of the study, questionnaires backed with interviews were used to elicit information from 143 respondents namely Land officers, Estate Officers, Town Planners, Surveyors, Architects, Builders and Quantity Surveyors. These respondents are professional staff of Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in South East, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics comprising tables, mean, variance and standard deviation was used in the data presentation and analysis. One–sample T–Test was used for the hypothesis. The findings reveal that lack of infrastructure, poor/ inadequate allocation of funds for Federal Government Site and Services Scheme, delay in payment of compensation on acquired land for Federal Government Site and Services Scheme, encroachment into Federal Government sites by State Government/Individuals, double allocation of  plots, fraudulent land allocations, allocation of  land to incapable allottees and litigations on some Federal Government Site and Services Scheme are the challenges facing the Federal Government Site and Services Scheme in South East, Nigeria. Strategies such as adequate funding of Site and Services Scheme by the Federal Government to ensure timely provision of infrastructure, execution of necessary survey and other works, prompt payment of compensation and well equipped site monitoring and development control team for effective control and management of the schemes, among others were proposed to enhance the performance of Federal Government Site and Services Scheme in South East, Nigeria.

Keywords: Analysis, Challenges, Federal Government, Site, Services Scheme