By Maduka Nweke
Spurred by the oil boom of the 1970s and the massive improvements in roads and the availability of vehicles, Nigeria, from independence, has become an increasingly urbanised and urban-oriented society. During the 1970s, Nigeria had possibly the fastest urbanisation growth rate in the world. Because of the great influx of people into urban areas, the growth rate in urban population in Nigeria in 1986 was estimated to be close to 6 per cent per year, more than twice that of the rural population. Between 1970 and 1980, the proportion of Nigerians living in urban areas was estimated to have grown from 16 to more than 20 per cent, and by 2010, urban population was expected to be more than 40 per cent of the nation’s total. Although Nigeria did not have the highest proportion of urban population in sub-Saharan Africa (in several of the countries of francophone Central Africa, for example, close to 50 per cent of the population was in the major city or cities), it had more large cities and the highest total urban population of any sub-Saharan African country.
In 1990, there were 21 state capitals in Nigeria, each estimated to have more than 100,000 inhabitants; 15 of these, plus a number of other cities, probably had populations exceeding 200,000. Virtually all of these were growing at a rate that doubled their size every 15 years. These statistics did not include the new national capital, Abuja, which was planned to have more than one million inhabitants by early in the 21st century, although that milestone might be delayed as construction there stretched out. In 1990, the government was still in the process of moving from Lagos, the historical capital, to Abuja in the middle belt, and most sections of the government were still operating from Lagos. Since 1976, there had been dual capitals in both Lagos and Abuja. If one added the hundreds of smaller towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants, which resembled the larger centres more than the many smaller villages throughout the country, the extent of Nigerian urbanisation was probably more widespread than anywhere else in sub-Saharan Africa.
Last year, the idea of disruptive technology was gaining traction among property developers. Looking ahead, they now feel that real estate firms must take significant steps to adapt to customers’ growing tech needs or risk falling behind. Luckily, some technological advances are getting easier and cheaper to implement.
Nigeria is often referred to as the “Giant of Africa”, owing to its large population and economy. With approximately 186 million inhabitants, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world. Nigeria has one of the largest populations of youth in the world. The country is viewed as a multinational state as it is inhabited by over 500 ethnic groups, of which the three largest are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba; these ethnic groups speak over 500 different languages and are identified with wide variety of cultures. The official language is English. Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Christians, who live mostly in the southern part of the country, and Muslims, who live mostly in the North. A minority of the population practise religions indigenous to Nigeria, such as those native to the Igbo and Yoruba ethnicities.
These ethnic regions from time immemorial have their different city structures as were handed down to them by their ancestors. These peculiar structures have, however, given way to modern buildings and from that to what is today called technology homes. Today, technology has taken over what we call modern houses these days. The most notable ones are what is called fitted apartments where the would-be occupants would ease themselves of the load of buying utensils and other domestic tools as the houses have already been made a home ready to be inhabited.
In some situations, they are called service flats because even if you want to rent the flats as in a hotel, you have everything you need to cook with inside the apartments. Service flats, therefore, are the occasions where those looking for accommodation are shown already furnished apartments in which all they need to live in a house are already fitted. All the tenant needs is to pull his wardrobe and documents and park in as everything to make a home from the living room to the bedroom, to the kitchen, among other things, have been put in place. It has become the in-thing with some hotels now.
This system is now the way to go because the tenant does not have to go to the market to price items as whatever he may need has been provided in the apartment. The system is not popular though it is creeping into the consciousness of those who want to secure apartments in any of these modern cities like Banana Island, Bourdillon, Ikoyi and Lekki axes. It could be a system that has been on for about a decade now but has not got a widespread acceptance because of the financial involvement. The system is good anyway but not affordable to the greater number of the population.
In the mind of Mr. David Obodoeze, an interior decorator, the service flat is good because it saves the tenant the agony of having to load and offload one’s belongings from the old to the new apartment. “In the event of the tenant being a beginner, he will be saved the stress of going to the market and packing all that he may need. In this way, he may be dislodging a lot of things that should ordinarily be fixed in place during the time of building and fitting. He will also be assured of quality materials as he would have checked the apartments before making final decision.
“The advantage is that the tenant who may also be starting life will be intimated of domestic arrangement of one’s loads and luggages. The other side of it is that if one is not financially stable, he may not be able to sustain the living standard he was faced with,” he stated.
According to Mr. Israel Dambaki, a Public Relations professional, the idea of service flats is especially for those who are always on transit. “It is specifically for those who do not want to visit the restaurant or those who have phobia for eating outside. I have an experience to share with you. Once, I travelled to one part of this country and was unable to locate where they cook my local food. I waited with the intention of finding a way out but there was none. If I had seen a service flat where I could cook my local food, I would have preferred that no matter the cost.
But that was not in sight so I had to manage the situation until after the four days I had to stay in the area,” he said.