Ethnicity of households and crowding levels in public housing multifamily apartments in Lagos, Nigeria

Crowded housing is one of the housing stresses that bother policy-makers and housing authorities in Lagos, Nigeria. At the core of the argument is the anthropology of proper and acceptable sleeping arrangements, particularly as it applies to households' ethnic and cultural group. It is claimed that more than 250 ethnic nationalities in Nigeria are represented in Lagos. This study examines the crowding levels among persons of different ethnic and cultural origins occupying Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC)'s apartments. Four housing estates were purposively selected among LSDPC's multifamily categories, comprising 7,764 apartments. A sample of 7.5% was chosen using stratification and systematic random techniques. A pretested questionnaire instrument was used to collect the relevant demographic data of occupants. The ethnic group of the household head was taken as a measure of the ethnicity and cultural background of the household. Apartment occupants were grouped into three: households that harboured 1-2 occupants; households that harboured 3-5 occupants; and households that harboured six or more occupants. Non-parametric statistical techniques were applied to analyse and compare data obtained from questionnaire. The result shows that four ethnic groups of Yoruba, Igbo, Edo and Hausa-Fulani constitute 91.4% of the total number of respondents. The policy implication is that housing provision should be targeted at meeting the harmonized needs of these four ethnic groups. Only 14 ethnic groups were represented among household heads who responded to the questionnaire, contrary to widespread speculation that Nigeria consists of over 250 ethnic nationalities. Households that harbour 3-5 occupants were dominant and no one ethnic group consistently maintained higher or lower crowding level across apartments. Hence, household head’s ethnicity had no significant effect on apartment crowding. This result contrasts with findings from earlier researches in some countries which claim that household crowding varies considerably according to ethnic groups.