NATIONAL URBAN DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND THE UNANSWERED DEVELOPMENT QUESTION OF SLUM IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Urbanization itself is not a curse if positively managed. This is due to the current fact that there is a fundamental debate that the mobilization of human resources is critical and unavoidable for the political, socio-economic and technological transformation of any nation. Though successive governments in Nigeria have initiated the National Urban Development Policy however, the reverse is the case because the swelled urban towns and cities’ government have not made decisive efforts to meet the development demands of the city overflow which is referred to as “urban slum” that has created a sharp gap between the urban wealthy and urban poor. This paper, therefore, adopted the content analysis and Poverty-Focused Intervention Approach to analyze its major arguments. Hence, through primary and secondary data, the study presented some findings and recommendations. The research concluded with campaigns for efficient, inclusive and sustainable development of all settings of the urban sector in Nigeria.