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This is to certify that the
thesis entitled
" Policy Implications of Rural- Urban Migrat1on
1n Calabar, N1ger1a:
Relat1ve Effects on Housing"
presented by

Maurice O. Ebong

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph -D- degree in Mam

 

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POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF RURAL-URBAN
MIGRATION IN CALABAR, NIGERIA: THE RELATIVE
EFFECTS ON HOUSING

By

Maurice Okon Ebong

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Geography

1978

ABSTRACT
POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF RURAL-URBAN

~MIGRATION IN CALABAR, NIGERIA: THE RELATIVE
EFFECTS ON HOUSING

By

Maurice Okon Ebong

This study concerns the migration of people in Calabar Division
from rural areas to Calabar City, and the impact of the migration
process on housing. The historical significance of migration in this
Division has been well recognized. Migration in the area dates back to
the pre-colonial era. The major differences today, especially after the
Civil War which marked the constitution of Calabar as the State Capital,
are that the volume of the people involved, the diversity of motives
behind the movement, and the magnitude of problems generated by migra-
tion have greatly increased.

To facilitate understanding of the phenomenon of migration and its
effects on housing, this study involved the collection of data on the
demography, economy, housing conditions, the social and environmental
contexts of a sampled population of the city and its rural hinterland,
using formal interview schedules. The analysis reveals that of the
numerous and complex combination of causal factors, economic factors
represent the major lure to Calabar. Lack of employment opportunities
was the most frequently mentioned (by 73.0 percent of the respondents)

of the four major reasons why people are migrating from rural Calabar to_

Maurice Okon Ebong

the city. The spatial disparities in the distribution of amenities and
economic growth, therefore, represent the single most potent force in
the selective drift of largely the ambitious, the educated, and young
people to Calabar City.

Rural-urban migration and its impact on housing was found to con-
stitute a threat on the human, social and economic well-being of the
Calabar environment. Because of the unabated influx of rural people to
the city, the housing shortage has become more an urban than a rural
problem. Although the physical structure of housing in the city was
found to be closely and positively correlated with the degree of
migrant's satisfaction in their urban housing, housing density showed
no well-defined pattern or direction of correlation.‘ The level of
migrant's education was found to be positively related to housing qual-
ity; that is, the educated householders are most likely to live in the
permanent, well-furnished dwellings, rather than in the thatch and
poorly-furnished ones. The extended family plays a role in the resi-
dential absorption of migrants. Thus, even as late comers in a tight
housing market, recent migrants still have an equal chance as permanent
residents to high quality housing.

A wide range of migration and housing policy options already tried
in other countries exists. But since it is unbalanced development which
largely results in rural-urban migration, the conclusion was that only
policies which are perceived within a systems framework, and are
directed to both the rural and urban sub-systems, have the greatest
potential for controlling migration and providing decent housing for the

bulk of the population.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is true that no human being is a world to himself in motiva-
tion, knowledge, assurance, financial resources, skills, faith, or
whatever. without the patience, guidance, advice, criticisms, encour-
agement, and shared ideas of many persons this dissertation would not
have been completed.

Particularly, I wish to thank the African American Scholars
Council Inc. for offering me the financial support without which it
would have been impossible to undertake this research in Nigeria. I am
particularly thankful to Dr. Bill Burr, the Secretary of the Council
for his valuable suggestions, and excellent administration of the
finances.

For the many hours of dedicated, intellectual advice and counsel
since my arrival at Michigan State University, sincere and warm appreci-
ation is extended to my academic advisor, Professor John M. Hunter.

For their time and professional expertise in helping me during
the whole period of my academic program at Michigan State University,
thanks are also due to the following members of my Guidance Committee:
Professor Allan J. Beegle, Professor R. Thomas, Dr. Joe T. Darden and
Dr. John R. Mullin. Their helpful suggestions, comments, criticisms
and encouragements have contributed immensely to improve and make this

dissertation a reality.

ii

My gratitude is due to Mr. M. U. Essen of the Cross River State
Newspaper Corporation for his material and moral support throughout the
research period in Calabar. I wish also to express my gratitude to the
officials of the C.R.S. Housing Corporation and the Calabar Municipal
Town Planning Division, and to all the people interviewed in Calabar
Division, for their cooperation.

Finally, I wish to dedicate this work to my wife, Margaret, for
her patience, understanding, encouragement, and hard work in typing the
manuscript while at the same time taking care of her domestic chores;
and to my parents for providing the initial motivation, and support to

enhance my academic development.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER Page
I. INTRODUCTION ............................................. 1
Statement of the Problem .............................. 3

Study Area: Calabar Division ......................... 5
Organization of the Study ............................. 9

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ..................................... ll
Introduction .......................................... ll
Definition of Migration ............................... 12
Historical Movements of People in Africa .............. l4
Typologies of Migration ............................... 17
Theoretical and Methodological Studies ................ 25
Recent Rural-Urban Migration Studies .................. 32
Migration Studies in Calabar .......................... 35
Housing-Related Studies ............................... 37
Research Design and Method of Analysis ................ 45
Rationale for Using Survey Methodology ............. 45

Data Limitations ...................................... 46

Field Research Strategies ............................. 48
Reconnaissance Survey and Research Assistants ...... 48

Sample Design ...................................... 49

Rural Survey ....................................... 50

Urban Data Collection .............................. 5l

Special Interviews ................................. 52

Methods of Analysis ................................... 52

III. THE MIGRATION PROCESS IN CALABAR ......................... 54
Historical Background ................................. 54

The Importance of Calabar .......................... 54

People and Migration History ....................... 57
Determinants of Migration ............................. 61
Rural-Urban Push and Pull .......................... 6l
Rural-Urban Imbalance .............................. 7l
Socio-economic Characteristics of Migrants ............ 76

Age and Sex ........................................ 76

Marital Status ..................................... 78

Education .......................................... 78
Occupation. ........................................ 81

Ethnic Distribution ................................ 82

Migration Flows to Calabar ............................ 83
Rural-Urban Linkages .................................. 93
Summary ............................................... 97

iv

CHAPTER Page

IV. THE IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON HOUSING ....................... 99
Introduction .......................................... 99
Migration and Impact on Housing ....................... 100

A Scheme of the Impact of Rural-Urban Migration on
Urban Housing ................................... 100
Need and Demand for Housing ........................... 104
Urban and Rural Housing Shortages .................. 105
Demographic Consideration .......................... 111
Economic Consideration ............................. 113
Residential Analysis of Migrants ...................... 115
Spatial Distribution of Quality Housing ............... 119
Ethnic Considerations .............................. 135
The Role of Extended Family in Migrant Housing ........ 139
Government Response to Housing ........................ 141
Federal Government ................................. 141
1. Historical Role .............................. 141
2. Present Role ................................. 142
3. Shortcomings ................................. 144
State Government ................................... 145
1. Historical Role .............................. 145
2. Present Role ................................. 146
3. Shortcomings ................................. 147
Housing Policy Alternatives ........................... 148
Conclusions ........................................... 159
V. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ................................... 161
Migration Policies .................................... 161
Migrant Stream Control ............................. 165
Rural-Urban Imbalances ............................. 167
Rural Development .................................. 168
Education .......................................... 177
Housing Policies ...................................... 179
Federal Responsibility ............................. 181
1. Social Housing ............................... 181
State Responsibility ............................... 182
1. Cost of Housing and Rent ..................... 182
2. Environmental Quality ........................ 187
Local Responsibility ............................... 191
1. Blight Prevention ............................ 191
2. Code Enforcement ............................. 194
Systems Approach to Migration and Housing Problems.... 195
VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .................................. 201
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................... 212
APPENDIX ........................................................ 227

TABLE

3.1

3.12

LIST OF TABLES

Percent distribution of responses to the question:
Nhy are people moving from this village to Calabar? .......

Percent distribution of responses to the question:
What were your reasons for migrating to Calabar? ..........

Percent distribution to the question: What do you
dislike about Calabar? ....................................

Percent distribution of responses to the question:
Where do people worry more about having money to care for
themselves and their families? (Rural and urban surveys)

Percent distribution of responses to the question:
Do migrants in towns generally find town life as
satisfactory as they had hoped? ...........................

Percent distribution responses to the question:
Where are better living conditions? (Urban and rural
surveys) ..................................................

Percent distribution responses to the question:
Is it a good thing for village youths to move to town?....

Percent distribution of age of rural outmigrants (Rural
survey) ...................................................

Percent distribution of years of education by years of
migration (Urban survey) ..................................

Percent distribution of responses to the question:
How many years of education have you? .....................

Urban and rural occupational distributions ................
Ethnic distribution in Calabar ............................

Cross River State and Calabar divisional population dis-
tribution and projections-~1975-1985 ......................

Percent distribution of responses to the question:
Who most influenced your principal reason for migrating to
Calabar? ..................................................

Percent distribution of responses to the question:

With whom did you first stay in this town on arrival
(mention relationship)? ...................................

vi

Page

65

65

67

68

69

7O

7O

77

80

80
82
83

84

87

87

TABLE

3.16 Percent distribution responses to the question:

#hh-D-P-

.19

.20

.21

.8
.9
.10
.11
.12

How did you find your first job? ..........................

.17 Percent distribution of sources of information about job..

.18

Percent distribution of responses to the question:
How many years since you first moved to Calabar? ..........

Percent distribution responses to the question:

Hill you ever permanently return to your village? If yes,
why? ......................................................
Percent distribution of responses to the questions:

How often do you visit your village home? (Urban survey)
How often do members of your household who live in town
visit home? (Rural survey) ................................
Percent distribution of responses to the question:

How much money do you send to your family in the village
annually? .................................................
Room density and housing units required ...................
Rural room density and housing requirement ................

Projected population and households for Calabar Division
and the City--1975-85 .....................................

Percent distribution of roofing material for housing ......
Percent distribution of wall types for housing ............

Percent distribution of roofing material by post-civil war
and pre—war migration periods .............................

What is the roofing material made of? Controlling for
five time periods .........................................

R-mode varimax rotated factor loadings ....................
Eigenvalue summary ........................................
The important variables and communality ...................
Summary of multiple R and R square ........................

Summary multiple R and R square ...........................

vii

Page

88
90

92

93

95

97
109
111

112
117
117

118

118
122
123
124
131
132

TABLE Page

4.13 Percent expressing degree of satisfaction with housing by
ethnic group .............................................. 137

4.14 Percent expressing satisfaction with housing by ethnic
groups, and by service .................................... 138

4.15 Distribution of responses to the question:
How would you describe the willingness of your urban host
to accommodate you? ....................................... 141

5.1 Percent distribution of responses to the question:

What should the government do to improve the quality of
housing? .................................................. 180

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE Page
2-1 Typology of population mobility in Africa: examples ....... 22
2-2 A typology of African mobility ............................. 24
3-1 Palm oil exports from old Calabar 1812-1887 ................ 56
3-2 The original inhabitants of Calabar ........................ 58
3-3 Major destination areas of migrants in Nigeria ............. 62
4-1 Schema of impact of migration on housing ................... 101
4-2 Calabar residential distribution ........................... 116
4-3 Calabar R-mode factors ..................................... 125
4-4 Degree of satisfaction and housing quality ................. 128
4-5 Calabar regression residuals ............................... 133
4-6 Calabar distribution of ethnic groups ...................... 136
4-7 The national budget ........................................ 143

5-1 The role of investment in housing in curtailing migration
and promoting economic development ......................... 198

ix

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

In both colonial and recent times migration has played an impor-

tant role in the development process and social change. It is generally
theorized that by ensuring the mobility of labor and its associated
human capital between regions and occupations, migration accelerates
economic growth. Initially migration in Africa was largely a response
to the pressures of colonial taxation. The need to earn money to pay
the taxes introduced by colonial governments served as the major driving
force behind movements of people to centers with "money economies“.
Such labor movements can be considered a form of spatial interaction in
which regions of varying levels of social and economic development are
connected by streams of persons moving from one locality to another in
search of real or perceived opportunities.

This pattern of labor flow from the less developed areas to eco-
nomic growth points is a common characteristic of rural-urban migration.
More recently, rural-urban migration with its increasing complex motiva-
tions and concomitant social and economic problems, has become the most
visible and dramatic phenomenon affecting African cities. Nigerian
cities are now growing only slowly through natural increase, the excess
of births over deaths; most of their great population increase comes

from rural-urban migration. Although accurate statistical data on

the overall rate are not available, it is estimated that more than half
of the growth rate of most Nigerian cities may be attributed to imnigra-
tion from the less developed rural areas (Byerlee: 1974, and Abasiekong:
1977).

Calabar is no exception. The rapid rate of urban growth results
largely from the influx of people from underdeveloped rural areas.
According to Mabogunje (1970), Calabar grew at an annual rate of 4.5
percent in 1953, and now, 24 years later, due primarily to the change in
status of the city from a Provincial to a State Capital as well as the
concentration of government and private development programs, the rate
has increased to over 5.0 percent. Compared with the world average rate
of 2.9 percent for urban areas, Calabar represents one of the faster
growing cities of the world.

Clearly the change in status of Calabar is a major source of its
unchallenged attraction to rural migrants. As the state capital,
Calabar is undergoing a remarkable transformation. Major infrastructural
investments have been proposed, roads are being reconstructed and
widened, modern and imposing office buildings have been erected, indus-
trial, educational, commercial and administrative activities with their
attendant job opportunities have increased. These and other factors
help to raise the attractiveness to potential migrants of Calabar over
other possible receiving centers in the Cross River State. Evidently
modern Calabar has inherited what Berry (1973: 78) describes as an
intentionally centralized administration in which government involvement

is more likely in the urban than in the rural area.

Obviously, the rate of rural exodus generated by the attractive
force of Calabar is too great for both economic and social realities of
the city. In this context, migration can be seen not only as a drain
from the rural areas, but also as a waste of potential talents in a
city deficient in job opportunities. Hence, although migration has been
recognized as a distinguishing feature of the development process, the
planners and policy makers in Calabar have come to view it with consider-
able anxiety; and an awareness of the importance of migration for
economic development and social change will ever continue to precipitate
research activity. It appears to be man's fate to live in cities, and
the people of Calabar are no exception. But, the important question is
what form the cities shall take and under what conditions man shall make
his home in them. Because of its political status and consequent
attractive force, rapidity of its development, and the paucity of
detailed demographic analysis of migratory process in this area, Calabar
is an ideal location for the study of such population movement and

particularly its impact on housing.

Statement of the Problem

 

The thesis of this study is that rural-urban migration has aggra-
vated urban housing problems, producing an increasing lack of adequate
housing, overcrowding with corollary health problems, deterioration of
existing housing stock, and high rental and purchase costs. Calabar
exactly fits the description of Laison et a1. (1969) of African cities

as "... growing much too fast in the slum sectors." As a basic human

need housing represents an important element in the health, welfare and
efficient productivity of migrants. Yet, the Cross River State has
neither adequate research on the pervasive phenomenon of uncontrolled
urban growth, and the relationships between the migration process and
the housing delivery system, nor definite government policies to miti-
gate the mounting housing problems resulting from the influx of people
to the cities. It should be noted that the location, quantities, quali-
ties, and functions of housing should have an impact on the welfare, not
only of the migrants, but of the community at large.

Generally this study seeks to facilitate understanding of the
problems of urbanization and its impact on housing as well as rural/
urban development in the Calabar region. The need for a 'new' geography
of development which integrates population movements and progressive
rural development in Calabar is timely. This study which focuses on the
needs to monitor the quality and quantity of housing in this study area
should aid in the formulation of national policies about the provision
of programs capable of promoting human welfare. Such policies should
contribute to planners' efforts of utilizing migration to benefit rather
than retard socio-economic development in the area. Since the basic
human drive is to improve one's welfare, a strategy of balanced develop-
ment should ensure the participation and welfare of all able citizens,
irrespective of their spatial location.

Specifically, the study seeks to:

1. Identify and analyze the significant spatial, social, economic,

psychological, political features and processes associated with

rural-urban migration in the Calabar region.

2. Determine the impact of internal migration on urban and rural
housing supply.

3. Determine the quantity, quality and spatial distribution of
housing among migrants of different ethnic origin and educa-
tional level in the study area.

4. Investigate alternative housing policies, and the role of
governments, institution, and the extended family system in
monitoring the quality and quantity of housing in the area.

5. Recommend policies for the solutions of migration and housing

problems.

Study Area: Calabar Division

 

This research focuses on Calabar City: the capital of the Cross
River State, and its surrounding rural area. It will embrace the
boundaries of what formerly was known as Calabar Division, an area of
2,850 square miles (Figure 1-1). According to the 1963 census, the
Division as a whole had a population of 267,015, while Berger's (1975:
218) estimate for 1975 puts it at 364,571. The area had an average
density of 94 persons per square mile in 1963, or lower than the State
average density of 331 persons per square mile (Nigeria, 1968:3). While
the greatest population density of the Division can be found on the
southeastern section of the Cross River in the vicinity of Calabar, the
Northwest and the higher parts of Oban Plateau are almost uninhabited.
This low population density, particularly of the rural areas, makes the

region suited for this research because the analysis can be focused on

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specific causes of rural-urban migration, such as unbalanced spatial
development, ruling out the widely postulated argument of "population
pressure" on land and resources as a major force pushing people to the
cities.

Calabar city itself has the highest population of all the other
urban centers in the State. In 1963 its population was 76,418, and
Berger's 1975 estimate put the population at 91,266; as compared with
364,571 for the Division and 3,837,592 for the State in 1975. While
the State's urban population is estimated to be 12.9 percent, Calabar
Division has 25.0 percent of urban population. Furthermore, its 5.4
[percent annual growth rate exceeds that of its rural hinterland (3.0
percent), and that of Cross River State urban areas (3.8 percent).

Generally the physiographical setting of Calabar Division can be
described as a gradual slow ascent from the Cross River estuary in the
Southwest to the Cameroon mountains in the North-East. The mangrove
swamps of the estuary region merge into the coastal plain, followed by
the rolling plateau of over 800 feet towards the North and North-East.
The only steep slopes are found within the crystalline complex of the
Oban hills beyond the rolling plateau. Thus, in his description of the
topographic background of the area, Karmon (1966:18) concludes that
"topographic obstacles to mobility of population and cultivation of
land are minimal."

Agriculture remains the major occupation and mainstay of the
area's economy and Morgan (1959:49-51) pointed to this area of the

"Guinean vegetational zone" as being well suited for the production of

plantation crops for export. Oil palm is a major cash crop of the area.
Food crops such as cassava, yam, maize and plantain are commonly grown,
while chickens, goats and sheep play a minor part in the people's
economy. According to the 1972 general economic survey of the South-
eastern State, about 65 percent of the total employed population were in
agriculture, which sector contributed 62.6 percent of the gross domestic
product (Southeastern State, 1975:55). But the sizes of the farms are
usually under three acres per farming family, due in part to the restric-
tive land tenure, low capacity or a lack of suitable tools, techniques
and equipment for operating large farms. The drudgery and hazards of
agriculture are evidently some of the major repulsive factors in the
rural areas. Agriculture thus tends to repell rather than attract
people, particularly the young "school leavers".1

The administrative status of Calabar is another important factor
in understanding the forces behind rural-urban migration in the Division.
The city started as a trading post set up by the Portugese in 1588.
Owing to its protected position on a hill it became the capital of the
Oil Rivers Province, and the main port on the estuary of the Cross River.
By 1830 the area of the "oil rivers", the area between the Niger and the
Cross, was the largest single trading area in the whole of Africa. From
its inception Calabar, like many colonial cities in Africa, was intended
to serve, not just as a seat of administration but as a principal entre-

pot facilitating the exploitation of human and economic resources of its

 

1A school leaver is one who has completed six or more years of
education.

hinterland. With the choice of Calabar as the capital of the South-
Eastern State, in May 1967, it was obvious that Calabar had the poten-
tial to become the most attractive spot in the State, demanding the
attention of administrators and policy makers, and attracting people

and resources from its hinterland, and beyond.

Organization of the Study

The rest of the study is organized in six inter-related chapters.
Chapter II reviews the pertinent literature on the general concepts, and
theoretical and methodological foundations of the migration process.

The chapter includes a summary of the historical background and typolo-
gies of migration in Africa as well as a discussion of some specific and
current studies of rural-urban migration in Africa as well as Calabar.
The review provides a basis for hypotheses to be tested. Chapter II
also discusses research design, data limitations, methods of collection
and analysis of the data.

Chapter III provides an historical background of migration in
Calabar Division, followed by a discussion of the determinants of migra-
tion, and an examination of rural-urban linkages. Chapter III also
includes the exploration of the migration process in Calabar, with de-
tailed information about the socio-economic characteristics of the
migrants.

In Chapter IV the focus is turned to the impact of migration on
housing. Ongoing Federal and State government housing policies are

presented, and their relevance to migration problems evaluated.

10

Also explored in this chapter are the various variables associated with
housing supply and demand in the study area. After an analysis of the
qualities and spatial distribution of housing among migrants and non-
migrants, some housing policy alternatives for solving rural and urban
housing problems are discussed.

Chapter V presents a two-pronged policy recommendation arising
from the study. Policy affecting both the migration process and the
housing delivery system in the Division is outlined. Finally, in

Chapter VI, concluding statements on this study are presented.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Introduction

Though a formidable bibliography can be compiled of African migra-
tion studies in general, relatively little work has been done on rural-
urban movement per se. Besides, research has so far tended to be
largely descriptive rather than analytical, providing knowledge of
migrant characteristics but little understanding of why they move.

The literature on migration also demonstrates the paucity of
detailed analysis of the migratory process in the Cross River State
(C.R.S.) of Nigeria, suggesting the need to expand demographic research
in all parts of the State. Pool's observation is no less instructive
to the C.R.S. than to Africa as a whole:

. the study of migration in Africa is piecemeal which creates
problems for basic demographic analysis.... Thus among the
priorities in African demography should be listed the collection
and analysis of data on the volume and nature of migration flows
(1969:168).

The general literature on migration is quite enormous. As Reul
(1974) puts it, migration affects all people regardless of where they
live or their economic situation. Therefore, migration has given rise
to a relevant body of literature which is both widely dispersed and

highly varied in the nature and level of the problems, concepts and

methods discussed. To provide the foundation for this study, this

11

12

review will focus on some specific aspects of migration studies.
Materials related to the following seven categories will receive atten—
tion: (1) Definitions of migration; (2) Historical movements of people
in Africa; (3) Typologies of migration in Africa; (4) Theoretical and
methodological studies; (5) Studies by social scientists; (6) Recent

rural-urban migration studies; and (7) Migration studies in Calabar.

Definition of Migration

The word migration derives from the Latin migrare, meaning to
change one's residence. By current definition however, it means more
than that, since a person who moves from one home to another in the same
neighborhood and thus retains the same social framework is not deemed a
migrant. Therefore, migration is generally defined as "a relatively
permanent movement of persons over a significant distance from one
geographic place to another" (Peterson, 1968). To distinguish migra-
tion from other types of movement the United Nations (1971:l) postu-
lates that it is mobility that involves a sustained or permanent sojourn
in the place of destination that is envisaged by the concept of migra-
tion. The United Nations, considers removal for one year or more as
"permanent“ and thus as migration, while a stay for a shorter period is
classified as a visit. But because no particular specification of dura-
tion of stay suits all purpose, Sills (1968:286) points out that the
exact meaning of "permanent" and "significant" remains to be specified.
It should, however, be noted that whether or not short-term mobility

should be included in the concept of migration depends on the purpose

13

of the statistics. In Africa, for instance, the temporary separation
of male industrial or mine workers from village life has been institu-
tionalized into the standard pattern of migration (Mitchell, 1961).
Elaborating on the definition of migration, Mangalam (1968) indi-
cates that "it is often preceded by decision-making on the part of the
migrant that results in change in the interactional system of the
migrant". In his definition, Schwarzweller brings out more clearly
this point of the migration process as a disturbance on the interaction-
al system:
Migration is a relatively permanent moving away of a collectiv-
ity called migrants from one geographical location to another,
preceded by decision-making on the part of the migrants on the
basis of a hierarchically ordered set of values or valued ends
and resulting in changes in the interactional system of the
migrants.... It is, of course, both a tension-manager for the
system where it originates and a tension producer for the sys-
tem where it terminates (ND).
Likewise, Mabogunje states that rural-urban migration represents:
A basic transformation of the modal structure of a society in
which people move from generally smaller, namely agricultural
communities to large, mainly nonagricultural communities (1970).
The significance of these last definitions is in their emphasis on the
impact of the migration process on the society as a whole. Moreover,
looking at migration as a social system process interlinking two sub-
systems at both the Points of origin and destination can better facili-
tate understanding of the migration phenomenon, and otherwise make the
formulation of control policies more feasible.
Two forms of migration are often recognized--internal, that is,

the migration of people within a country; and international, that is,

14

the migration of people among countries. Considered spatially, internal
migration, the focus of this study, can be subdivided into rural to
rural, urban to rural, urban to urban and rural to urban.

Obviously, the list of definitions of migration is inexhaustible.
Each researcher seems to add new insight to the definitions. This dif-
ficulty in finding a universally accepted definition has contributed
to the current lack of generalized theory encompassing migration
phenomenon.

This is a study in rural to urban migration, and migrants were
defined on the basis of both space and time dimensions. A migrant was
defined as a person who had moved from his village or former place of
residence to settle in Calabar for at least six months. Those who moved
from other towns were asked to give reasons why they left their villages.
The limitation of the definition to those who have resided in the town
for at least six months was meant to eliminate the problem of classify-
ing visitors and holiday-makers as migrants. Non-migrants were defined

as individuals who have resided in Calabar all their lives.

Historical Movements of People in Africa

 

Migration in Africa is not a new phenomenon. What is new,
however, is the high rate of rural-urban migration. Hance's (1970)
well-known work on the historical movements of people in Africa traces
the early history of migration in Africa. He discusses early migration

through the precolonial times, such as the Fulani expansion in

15

West Africa, and migration in the colonial period. Giving insight into
the nature of those early movements, Caldwell observed:

Such movements were not individual movements in the sense that

one man could decide upon a very different destination from

his fellows, for it was dangerous in most parts of tropical

Africa to go beyond the bounds of one's own ethnic group.

Hence those who saw beyond their immediate surroundings often

moved in groups (1968:201).

Clearly movements and interaction among the peoples outside their ethnic
areas had been going on as far back as the eighth century A.D. during
the rise of the Ghana empire (Mabogunje, 1972:4).

It should be noted that pioneer studies of African migration were
mainly concerned with sociological questions related to the African
adjustment to city life and to the routine of the industrial, economic
system. Among such early studies, which were concluded before the end
of the Second World War, were those of Hellmann (1937), Wilson (1941),
and Gluckman (1945). Gluckman's observation that the African is
detribalized the moment he leaves the rural area is an evidence of the
orientation of those early studies toward sociological questions.

Other early studies include those by Ibbots (1946:73) in Southern
Rhodesia, Jones (1953:37-44) in South and Central Africa, and Miner
(1953:12) in West Africa. They all emphasized the African adjustment
to urban life.

Another significant point about early migrations is that they too
were economically motivated, becoming moreso in the colonial era.
According to Mabogunje (1972:4) movements of people "involved trading

activities across the desert and within the Sudan." The Landers wrote

in 1832 concerning the town of Kishi in Yorubaland:

16

A great number of emigrants from different countries reside

here: there are not a few from Borgoo, Nonffie, Hausa, Bornou,

and two or three Tuaricks from borders of the Great Desert

(Lander et a1., 18322204).

Colonialism brought many significant changes in African migration.
The imposition of taxes by colonial government has been widely recog-
nized as a major factor which generated new streams of migration. In
addition, by providing more sophisticated institutions and technologies,
colonialism reactivated the movement of people. For instance, in the
colonial period a more permanent situation of peace and order was estab-
lished, and transportation by rail, road, sea and air was improved.

The peaceful conditions expanded opportunities for innovative activites
and migrants came to play a very prominent role in resource development
all over West Africa. Under these conditions migration involved more
individuals as opposed to the group movements of precolonial times.
Thus, by the end of the colonial period, the stage was set for the
continuing pattern of modern migrations in Africa.

The foregoing review demonstrates that even before the colonial
era, migration has been going on in Africa. In some ways, the movements
were similar to those of today. Even then migration involved what
Schwarzweller describes as a "disturbance of the interactional system",
or a basic transformation of the modal structure of a society.

Economic incentives also played a part in the directions, and motiva-
tions behind early movements of people in Africa. The major difference,

however, is that today the volume of people, the complexity of motives,

and the magnitude of problems generated by migration, have increased

17

so considerably that the need to study this complex human phenomenon in

Africa is greater than ever before.

Typologies of Migration

The desire to understand the intriguing issues posed by the migra-
tion process, and to evolve measures of prediction has long occupied
the minds of many social scientists. Classifications of population
mobility have been considered as one step in the direction of under-
standing the ever complex migration phenomenon. For instance, a well-
known scholar interested in typologies of migration, has indicated that
the use of typological methods would enhance our ability to evolve

measures to counteract migration:

. it would increase understanding of the process (of migra-
tion) merely to ask whether this is conservative or innovating
migration: Do these agriculturalists want better conditions
within their present way of life, or do they move to cities
for the sake of urban amenities? (Petersen, 1958:290).

Based on the assumption that migration can best be analyzed on
the bases of cultural, psychological and relevant social factors,
Petersen identified five typologies of migration. These comprise
primitive, forced, impelled, free, and mass migrations. He said that
primitive migration results from such "migratory forces" as ecological
push. Forced migration occurs in situations where, because of
"migration policy", the migrant has no power to decide to stay or move.
But, in impelled migration, the migrant still has the power to decide
whether or not to move. In the case of free migration, "higher apira-

tions" drive the migrant to move. Mass migration is a class in which

individual motivations are no longer relevant. In this type, pioneers

18

blaze the trails, others follow, and emigration becomes a social pattern.
Furthermore, he classified migrants as either "innovating" or
"conservative". Innovators are those who move in order to achieve some-
thing new as in pioneer movements, while "conservative" migrants are
those who move in response to a change in their circumstances, thereby
hoping to retain their way of life in another locus. Nomadic movements

are an example of this latter typology.

Gould et a1. (1973:2) have pointed out the limitations of
Petersen's classification. They note that spatial aspects are implied
in the classification but that they are not explicitly considered.
Furthermore, Petersen does not take account of temporal dimensions in
his classification.

Beltramone (1965) elaborated a typology of geographical mobility
which takes into account both spatial and temporal dimensions.

The bases of his differentiation was a major distinction between

"deplacements definitifs", that is, permanent movements involving

departures from one place to another; and “deplacements temporaires",
that is, temporary movements where there is a retaining of attachment
to a particular place with periodic return to it. In the category of
temporary movements he distinguished between those which are regular in
time (daily, weekly, seasonal) and also in space, as well as those
which are irregular in both time and space.

Many other scholars (Fairchild, 1925; Kant, 1943; Isaac, 1947;
Gupta, 1959; Herbele, 1955) have attempted to construct typologies of

migration. Kant, for example, has reviewed a number of classifications,

19

including one of his own, which are all of a generalized nature. He
identified two broad categories of migrations: intra-local, and inter-
local migrations. Such generalized categories of migration, it should
be noted, are of little assistance in understanding the complexity of
human mobility.

Fairchild differentiated four typologies of migration; namely,
invasion, conquest, colonization, and immigration. The best example of
invasion is the Visigoth's sack of Rome. Conquest was defined as a
type in which the people of a higher culture uses its technical and
organizational superiority to subjugate relatively less advanced
peoples. In the colonization type a well-established, progressive and
physically vigorous State settles what to them are newly discovered
countries. Immigration is characterized by individually motivated move-
ments between well-established countries at approximately the same
stage of civilization. While Fairchild's classification and explana-
tions illustrate international migrations, it is Isaac's fourfold
classification: invasion, conquest, colonization, and migration (basic-
ally derived from Fairchild's typologies), which provide relevant
explanations and examples to illustrate an internal migration pattern.

In tropical Africa the desire to increase knowledge of the migra-
tion process through a systematic appraisal of mobility phenomena has
also generated interest in the formulation of migration typologies in
recent years. Contemporary migration flows in Africa have been classi-
fied mainly in temporal and spatial dimensions. According to Byerlee:

In the temporal dimension, African migrations include

(a) seasonal migration, (b) short-term migration for a period
of two to five years, and (c) long term or permanent

20

migrations. Spatially, migration may be rural to rural, rural
to urban or urban to urban (l972:1).

Gould et a1. (1972) have given a detailed description of the
typologies of migration in Africa, basing their classifications on the
temporal and spatial dimensions. They point out that the fundamental
points in the dimension of time are the distinctions between mobility,
migration and circulation. Mobility is a sufficiently broad term and
includes all movements of those which are repeated several times each
day to inter-continental movements over several thousand miles;
whereas, movements which do not involve permanent change are usually
designated as circulation. The principal difference between migration
and circulation lies in the permanence of the former and the non-
permanence of the latter.

It should be noted, however, that because no broad specification
of duration of stay suits all purposes, "the period of time implied by
the term permanence cannot be generalized in all instances of migration,
but has to be considered individually in each specific case" (Mangalam,
1968:8). But as Gould et a1. go on to explain, if there is a specifica-
tion on the part of the individual or group of individuals who are mov-
ing to return to their place of origin, and when before leaving in the
first place this intension is clear, then the movements may be consid-
ered circulation rather than migration. They also emphasized that this
distinction between circulation and migration is not directly related
to the duration of each movement, for circulatory movement may last

longer than migratory ones. The distinction is rather directly related

21

to the long-term changes in distribution of population that result from
the movements. For instance, "circulation” changes in the distribution
of population in the long-term are not significantly different from
those in the short-term; whereas, with "migration", changes in the long-
term are quite different from changes in the short-term.

The basic framework for typology of population mobility, as pro-
vided by Gould et a1. considers space in four categories of rural/urban
relationships and time in the span of each movement (Figure 2-1). This
typology indicates that all African population movements--such as move-
ments associated with cultivation, pastoralism, fishing, laborers,
traders, pilgrims and refugees, can be accommodated in one of six major
time categories, and within the framework, each movement type can be
identified by one of the four spatial components. Taking rural-urban
movement as an example, on the time sacle, commuters are identified with
daily movements, pilgrims with periodic, laborers with seasonal, labor-
ers with long-term, refugees with irregular, and laborers with permanent
migrations.

Gould et al. describe seasonal mobility as a particular type of
periodic movement which is rigidly defined by marked seasonality in phy-

sical and/or economic environment. Seasonal movement from rural to urban

areas involves mainly laborers. But seasonal migration between rural
areas, involving pastoralists, laborers and cultivators has been import-
ant in areas of Africa with a pronounced dry season. Beals and Menezes
(1970) have analyzed this phenomenon in Ghana, using a inter-regional

programming model to demonstrate the role of seasonal migration in

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23

augmenting incomes of farmers of the Savanah Zone in the dry season and
peak labor demands in the tree crop zones.

While seasonal migration is particularly important in West Africa,
long-term migrations occur throughout tropical Africa, particularly in
East and Central Africa (Gould et al., 1973:53). Long-term movements
involve absence from home for longer than one year.

Perhaps the most comprehensive typology of African mobility is
the one offered by R. M. Prothero (1967). He distinguished between
economic and non—economic migratory movements (Figure 2-2). Of the non-
economic movements, he listed religious pilgrims, and political and
ethnic refugees. The economic category comprised pastoralists, fisher-
men, farmers and traders, all of which he carefully identified with the
different types of movements; such as, seasonal, short-term, long-term,
etc. For instance, the pastoralists engage in long-term, seasonal-
cyclic, or short-term movements, while farmers traverse long distances
in search of new lands or new employments, to escape the impact of the
deleterious effects of shifting cultivation or overpopulation.

The diversity of patterns and points of emphasis in the foregoing
classifications indicate that no generally accepted typology of migra-
tion exists. It is clear, however, that the construction of typologies
of migration can enhance our understanding of the phenomenon, by provid-

ing the framework for the provision of migration policies. Though work

has only recently begun in the construction of typologies of migration
in Africa, the emphases on spatial and temporal, as well as economic

and non-economic dimensions, will not only clarify our knowledge of

24

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migration flows, in the different African countries, but will be sig-

nificant for policy implications.

Theoretical and Methodological Studies

Until now, migration studies in Africa have tended to be largely
descriptive rather than analytical, thus failing to "yield an estab-
lished theory for analyzing rural-urban migration in Africa" (Byerlee,
1974). However, a large number of migration models and theoretical
formulations; such as, the deterministic and probalistic models
(summarized by Morrill, l965), and the pull-push theory (Lee, 1966) have
been developed outside Africa. Generally, these formulations have been
applied to the developed countries of the world. Yet, as Mabogunje
(l970) points out, in Africa: "Their relevance for handling movements
' from rural and urban areas has hardly been considered."

The "pull and push" theory is often used in explaining the causes
of migration. According to the theory, the push results from deteriora-
ting conditions in rural areas forcing migrants to seek a better life
in towns, and the pull is exerted by the towns, which attract rural
migrants because of increasing job opportunities. In his A Theorygof
Migration Everett Lee observed that:

No matter how short, or how long, how easy or how difficult,

every act of migration involves origin, a destination and

intervening obstacles, among these is the distance of the

move which is always present (l965:48).

He went on to classify the factors influencing migration as: (l) pull

factors or those associated with the destination area; (2) push factors

or those associated with the source area; (3) intervening obstacles,

26

such as, ethnic barriers, distance from other possible receiving centers
and cost; and (4) personal factors.

But, indicating that we should use the pull and push concept with
caution, Essang and Mabawonku have argued that "pull" or "bright
light" factors may attract the "curious" but not the "economic man" in
Nigeria. Clearly, the source and destination areas are both likely to
have a mixture of attractive and repulsive elements; and rarely can a
single reason explain the variations in a phenomenon as complex and
changing as migration. Thus Mitchell (l961:262) states that "single
factor explanations of migrations are totally inadequate and that
listings of possible motivations are also not very helpful".

Yet classification of factors influencing migration such as the
"pull-push" factors can aid in identifying the dominant of the numerous
causes of migration in individual cases. Cyprian Ekwensi provides an
example of uneconomic motivation, or the so-called "pull effect" on
migration in Nigeria. He notes that, to a typical migrant, the city, no
matter what conditions, is a symbol of power and high standard of
living--a center of civilization better than any level of rural life:

Better for her point of view, the squabble of Lagos slum so

long as there are sophisticated people around her, the bright

lights of a night spot, a 'high life' band-~she would be glad

to walk about the city hotels--rather than marry a farmer with

a thousand pounds a year for his income, and no spice of

life.... (1965:57).

An analysis of migration conducted by McCain (l972) reveals
"push effect“ as the dominant cause of migration in Nigeria. The study

indicated that regions of Nigeria characterized by a small active

population with a large inactive population produce higher dependency

27

ratios and serve to push individuals to migrate to other regions where
the prospects of employment may be better. Thus, the Northern Region
of Nigeria, with a dependency ratio of 20.6 in 1963, was interpreted as
a region which pushed out more of its people than the Western Region
with an 11.1 dependency ratio.

The concept of intervening opportunities mentioned in Lee's theory
was first propounded by Samuel Stouffer, who in 1940 introduced the con-
cept of intervening opportunities to provide an explanation for the
observed spatial mobility of people. He hypothesized that the number of
people going a given distance from a point was not a function of
distance directly but rather a function of the spatial distribution of
intervening opportunities (Stouffer, 1940). In testing the hypothesis,
Stouffer encountered problems of measuring "opportunities". To improve
on his model, in 1960, he proposed the concept of "intervening opportuni-
ties and competing migrants" and suggested that distance scale should
not necessarily be measured in terms of miles but rather in terms of
"economic distanCe“ (Stouffer, 1960).

Ravenstein (1885:1889) was the first to offer "Laws of Migration"
most of which still form the foundation for migration studies today.

His seven laws of migration can be summarized as follows: (1) most
migrants move a short distance, those who move a long distance proceed
to large commercial and industrial centers; (2) migrants move by stages,
growing cities absorb surrounding population, leaving gaps in villages
and small cities to be filled by people from far areas; (3) there are

streams and counter streams of migration, in which each main current of

28

migration produces a compensating counter current; (4) there are urban-
rural differences in propensity to migrate, as natives of towns are
less migratory than those of rural areas; (5) there is a predominance
of females among short distance migrants; (6) an increase in the level
of technology leads to an increase in the rate of migration; and

(7) there is a dominance of economic motives in migration.

It has been argued that "not all of these findings are very true
today even among industrial societies" (Nabila, 1974:20), and he doubts,
for example, if in the African context it can be said with certainty
that most migrations are only short distances. But some researchers
have proved that several of Ravenstein's hypotheses are still relevant
in contemporary migration studies (Redford, 1926; Sjaastad, 1962;
Stiglitz, 1969). Sjaastad's findings that "gross migration in one
direction is the best single indicator of the amount of backflow" sup-
ports Ravenstein's theory of “streams and counter streams" in migration.
Stiglitz's analysis revealed that “migration results from mainly per-
ceived differences in economic opportunity in the rural and urban
sectors and it continues until these differences are eliminated". This
and other such findings support Ravenstein's theory of the "dominance
of economic motives" in migration.

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the formulation of
theories and methodologies of migration in Africa. Considering migra-
tion from a sociological perspective. Gugler (1969) demonstrated that
while economic motives dominate, it is the interaction of economic and

non-economic factors which most affect the decision to migrate.

29

He attached key importance to strong rural-urban ties in explaining
African rural-urban migration.

Nhile sociologists, demographers, geographers and anthropoligists
have long dominated migration studies in Africa, economists have only
recently pursued systematic research on the subject in an attempt to
formulate a theory of migration in developing countries. Their studies
focus on the impact of migration on employment problems and the economic
motive behind migration. Studies by Lewis (1967); Frank (1968); Eicher
et al. (1970); Todaro (1973); Rouke et a1. (1971); and Byerlee (1975)
demonstrate the existence of a large gap between urban and rural earn-
ings as a common feature of several African countries. The Todaro Theory
explicitly treats economic variables to explain rural-urban migration ‘
in the face of urban unemployment. He hypothesizes that rural-urban
migration is determined by the rural-urban differential in the present
value of expected earnings, computed from the probability that some
migrants will be unemployed in the urban area. That is, he took into
consideration the fact that not all who move in search of higher urban
earnings will find any job at all.

The essential elements of the Todaro model of migration have been
empirically tested in the United States and other developing countries
(Bishop, 1961; Johnson, 1971; Rempel, 1970; Godfrey, 1973;66-78). The
empirical evidence from Africa is rather inconclusive. For instance,
Rempel's test of the model in Kenya showed no consistent evidence of
the importance of a rural-urban expected income differential as an

attractive force in urban centers. Johnson refined the model to include

30

the rate of urban job turnover and the rate of creation of new jobs as
additional factors affecting the probability of obtaining a job.

Other studies have indicated that economic variables may not be
the only important ones influencing rural-urban migration. In his
review of Todaro's hypothesis,Godfrey drew some interesting conclusions.
He noted that by excluding certain important variables Todaro has mis-
specified the economic variables. The fact of having been to school
may indeed be more important than what is taught there, as far as
schools‘ influence on migration is concerned. For a variety of reasons
parents want their children to escape from the traditional/rural into
the modern/urban environment. Godfrey points out that the means of
_escape is the educational system,and that education itself has an effect
on migration quite separate from its influence on expected income.
According to Byerlee (1974:553) the Todaro's model still needs to address
such questions as the determinants of rural incomes, the role of rural
education and information, as well as non-economic variables--a11 of
which are important in policy analysis. In an attempt to fill this gap
in Todaro's model, Byerlee provides "a theoretical schema of the deci-
sion to migrate" which takes into consideration noneconomic variables
with particular emphasis on the rural environment in which that decision
is made.

Another contribution along the same line as Todaro is Harris'
(1970) “two-sector“ model of rural-urban migration. He recognizes the
existence of politically determined minimum urban wages at levels sub~

stantially higher than agricultural earnings as a major factor in the

31

decision to migrate. He notes that migration will continue so long as
the expected urban real income exceeds real agricultural product. Hence,
Narimer (1970) concludes that "migrants go to cities to find jobs,
irrespective of employment situation in urban areas".

Perhaps the best known work on the methodology of migration in
Africa is the one offered by Akin L. Mabogunje (1970). In his "Systems
Approach To a Theory of Rural-Urban Migration" he treats migration as
the result of the aggregate of collective forces. Viewing migration as
a spatial process with dynamic spatial impact, he states that it "can
best be understood within the framework of a general systems theory".

He defines a system as an entity consisting of specialized interde-
pendent parts, with subsystems. Rural-urban migration is, therefore,
concerned not only with why people migrate but all the implications and
ramifications of the process. As a very complex phenomenon involving
not only the migrants but a number of institutional agencies, there
exist highly varied adjustments everywhere in a region, and a complex
interaction between the migrant and the system. Thus, he concludes
that in studying migration, attention must be focused not only on the
migrant but also on the various institutions and the social, economic
and other relationships which are an integral part of the process of the
migrants' transformation. Likewise Nabila (1974:19) regards the migra-
tion process “as a continum with highly interrelated or interconnected
parameters". Clearly, an approach which sees migration not as unidirec-
tional, but as "a circular interdependent, progressively complex and.

self-modifying system in which changes in one part generates changes in

32

another", is needed to formulate meaningful migration policies in

Africa.

Recent Rural-Urban Migration Studies

Migration studies which deal strictly with movements from rural
to urban areas are only beginning to gain momentum in modern Africa.
Most of the studies focus on the selective nature of rural-urban migra-
tion with respect to education and age of migrants, and the resultant
burden on the rural as well as the urban centers (Callaway, 1969:58-68;
Rempel, 1970; 0minde, 1968; Sabot, 1972; Imoagene, 1975; Abasiekong,
1976). According to Callaway, three quarters of the migrants to Ibadan
in Nigeria are school-leavers between 15 and 25 years of age, while
Abasiekong‘s study reveals a modular age of 25-34 years and 82.2 per-
cent "functional literates" of the migrants in Calabar. In Kenya,
Rempel estimates a peak in the 20-25 age group. A survey in Ghana re-
vealed that 65 percent of respondents with no education had never
migrated and did not intend to migrate, compared to only 17 percent for
those respondents with some secondary schooling (Caldwell, 1969:62).

Selectivity is considered an important concept in understanding
the impact of migration on the economy (Mabogunje, 1968:212). As
Browning and Feindt (1969:72) observed, "the degree of selectivity is
of obvious relevance in the interpretation of the effect of migration
on the community of origin and on the potential success of the migrant
at his destination." Because migrants are often young and motivated

people, imbalance between rural and urban human resources is often

33

intensified. A massive exodus of the young, abler, brighter, more
courageous, venturesome, and creative individuals can drain the rural
population of entrepreneurs and innovators needed to pioneer new tech-
niques in the rural areas (Byerlee et al., 1975:6; Green et al., 1972:
14). Todaro (1969:138) also associates selective migration with

“a possible reduction of agricultural output". In examining the conse-
quences of migration on the Urban Revolution in Nigeria, Imoagene also
demonstrates how "the huge exodus of the most productive age-groups
from the rural hinterland to towns causes further disorganization and
poverty which in turn constitutes push factors from rural to urban
areas". Other researchers have commented on the extent of aggregate
aging of rural populations and imbalance of sex ratio (Hunter, 1967;
Dema, 1968; Van Velsen, 1961; Henin, 1969; Lorimer, 1960; 1L0, 1970;
0minde, 1965). For instance, in his studies of population movements to
the main urban areas of Kenya, 0minde (1965) concluded that because the
age group 20-45 forms an important proportion of the rural population,
their absence in the source regions constitutes a burden on those left
behind. In the light of these observations, one can wonder to what
extent Berg's (1960) idea of migration as an effective adaptation to
the economies of West Africa is valid.

Among other contributors to the current literature on rural-urban
migration in Africa are Little (1965), Page (1965), Kuper (1965),
Skinner (1965), Wallerstein (1965), McNulty (1966), and Gulliver (1965).
They all see economic motivation as the most impelling force behind

rural-urban migration in Africa. Little entitles his first chapter

34

"The Lure of Town" in which he emphasizes the effect of social and
economic change on migration. He comments: "In the main, however,
Western contact having erected needs and aspirations impossible to
satisfy in the countryside, migration means a flight from land ... in
many areas the town was the obvious place to earn cash.”

Since rural-urban migration has given birth to organized groups of
people in the urban areas, "organized groups" have also attracted the
attention of many African urban scholars (see for example: Little,
1965; Southall, 1966; Richards, 1963; Epstein, 1958; and Nolpe, 1974).
Little has provided a very comprehensive description of the role of
voluntary associations as adaptive mechanisms linking social relation-
ships which arose from pre-colonial subsistence economies with those
evolving in contemporary West African societies based on the market
economy. He sees voluntary associations; that is, formally organized
ethnic groups, as the most unique core feature of urban social organiza-
tion, social change and modernization. He draws attention to how volun-
tary associations in various West African cities function to integrate
recent migrants from rural areas and give economic and social assistance
to urban dwellers. Also contributing to the issue of migration and
ethnic groups, Southhall made the interesting observation that the towns-
man passes through three stages: First, his "tribal" ties are stronger
than any other ties; then, he begins to form urban tribal associations;
and thirdly, he joins new associations based entirely on his new work
in the urban area.

Conditions in modern African towns are such that the network of

ties are still mainly based on ethnic affiliation in the rural areas,

35

in the urban areas, and also between the two. As Richards (1963:49)
noted: "... we find everywhere a variety of forms of social groupings

and social ties which could be loosely classified as "multi-tribalism".

Migration Studies in Calabar

Though extensive studies of African migration exist, there have
been only very few descriptive studies of migrants into Calabar city in
recent years. In 1973, Udofot examined the impact of migration from the
mainland part of the South Eastern State of Nigeria to Calabar. Among
other relevant observations, he found a decline in supply, and a rise
in the price of building materials such as mats (locally hand-made
roof covers) in the villages, as a result of marked migration of
youths to cities. This finding is in keeping with Udo's (1970) conclu-
sion that as "a result of selective migrations, jobs formerly done by
young men have suffered in several regions". That Udofot also found in
the city "overcrowded schools and unemployed youths" underline the fact
that uncontrolled rural-urban migration to a city yet unprepared to
accept the migrants can exasparate problems both at the city and at the
already poor rural areas.

Other migration studies which relate to Calabar include:
(1) Ekanem's (n.d.) study of the characteristics of migrants to Calabar
from the surrounding areas; (2) Udo Amanam's (1971) study of the impact
of migration and unemployment on the economic development of the three
Eastern States; (3) Udo's (1970) analysis of migration in Nigeria,
which focused on the economic, social and demographic aspects of move-

ments of people from one rural to another rural area;

36

(4) Mabogunje's (1970) study which found Calabar as one of the major
regions in Nigeria "taking more migrants than expected"; and

(5) Abasiekong's (1977) two studies which focus on daily paid migrant
workers, and the rural-urban socio-economic links of urban workers in
Calabar. Abasiekong sees the constitution of Calabar as a State capital
during the Civil War as a major attractive force in "the unprecedented
migration of people from rural to urban areas notably to the state
capital ... with attendant problems of housing, water and electricity
supplies, roads, schools, and health facilities." In recognition of the
imminent policy implications of this "unusual influx of migrants" to

Calabar, he concludes:

To avert this continuous, and undesirable influx of migrants

into Calabar with its attendant social, political and economic

problems, it is suggested that efforts be made to develop Local

Government Headquarters, other smaller cities and rural areas in

general to attract migrants, thereby relieving Calabar of its

present and future burden of overpopulation and its negative

impacts on the general development and planning (1977:21).

One limitation of Abasiekong's suggestions is that they fail to
indicate what should be done to ameliorate the problems created by
migration at Calabar. The unanswered question still remains: Should
social and economic planners intensify the exodus of people from rural
areas or should a balanced policy of investment be encouraged to reduce
the pressure of job seekers in the urban centers? Nobody seems to
be sure as yet. Perhaps the answer is most likely to depend on a
systematic analysis of the entire migration process. It will, therefore,
depend to what extent planners can handle not only employment problems
but the mounting urban housing deficits, and congestions that have

resulted from rural-urban migration (Harrison, 1967; Harvey, 1968,1969).

37

HousingrRelated Studies

Ne shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings
will shape us (Winston Churchill).

One thorny problem of rapidly growing urban centers in Africa is
housing. On arrival in the urban center, one of the most critical
questions is where the migrant shall stay. This matter is important
because (1) housing is a basic human need which serves as a significant
point from which its occupants interact with different social and
economic scenes; and (2) most migrants on arrival, have neither property
nor job, nor even a clear idea about the labor and urban housing market.
As Grimes (l976:3) puts it, "Housing not only provides shelter for a
family but also serves as a center for its total residential environ-
ment.“' Thus, the Eastern Nigeria Housing Corporation (1964) recognized
that “the provision of adequate housing is essential to the vital
development of the social, political and economic progress of the Region
and the inculcation of healthy and sanitary habits among the people of
the Region."

Because the housing deficit is closely related to rural-urban
migration, it is a problem more in the urban than in rural areas.

Dwyer (1975) directs attention to the "squatter hut" as the most strik-
ing physical symptom of the general housing problem in the Third World.
Another report described the types of housing commonly found in urban
areas in Africa. They are:

(1) Large, low—cost housing estates provided by municipal and

governmental authorities; (2) houses built by Africans with local

38

material on plots made available by municipal authorities; (3) camp or
barrack-type houses, consisting largely of dormitories built for transi-
ent workers; and (4) slums, overcrowded settlements which have grown up
without any particular plan or street layout (United Nations, 1957).

In his study of Lagos, Sada (197l:9) identified three grades of
residential land use: (1) the high-grade residential districts which
fell into 4 groups: government housing, and private housing, quasi-
government housing and private housing; (2) the medium-grade residential
districts--characterized by a higher density of housing, a higher
occupancy ratio, and a lower percentage of houses with social amenities
than in the higher-grade districts; and (3) the lower-grade residential
districts-~found in two areas: the blighted area in the central city,
and a ring of newly developed areas immediately outside of the city
boundary.

The shortage of housing, with its corollary overcrowdedness, is
widely known as the most serious urban problem in Africa (Sutherland,
1958; Koenigsberge, 1970; and Abrams, 1966). Nalsh (l974:8) notes that
Ajeromi, a typical slum in Lagos "is crowded with migrants." Nolpe
(1974:20) reports how in 1965 over 80,000 persons were crowded into a
space of less than one square mile in Diobo, Port-Harcourt, while newly
arrived immigrants were still moving into the area. According to
Adeleye (1976) the high demand for good housing, both industrial and
domestic, "has been aggravated in recent times by the rising tempo of
our socio-economic development, and has no doubt resulted in urban con-

gestion, slums and rising house rents."

39

Problems of slum clearance and rehousing have been raised. Marris
(1962) contends that effective rehousing programs must fulfill two con-
ditions: (l) the people must be able to afford the cost of new housing
whether for rent or for purchase; and (2) they must be able to re-
establish their patterns of life in the new surroundings. Turner (1967
and 1968), however, presented a forceful case for a different approach
to physical planning and slum clearance. "The basic problem of slums,"
he maintained, “is not how to eradicate them but how to make them
liveable." He, therefore, advocated the abandonment of the current
orthodox modern "project approach to urban development and the substi-
tution of a service approach." In other words, "government influence on
development will be proportional to its understanding of ordinary
people's needs,and its ability to work, not for them but with them."

Other recommendations have been suggested to improve housing and
general living conditions. Attention is called to the need for more
research and interchange of ideas between the social researcher and the
town planner (Report 1959: and Inter-American Labor Institute, 1959).
Hazemann (1958) stressed the importance of psychological factors in the
planning of urban housing, while other authors (Sutherland, 1956, and
Grime, 1976) suggest that more houses be built at different income
levels, more loans be made available, more firms be encouraged to house
their employees, and more regulations be effected to define and control
overcrowding in large rooming houses. The literature on housing condi-
tions in Africa demonstrates the needs for research in this aspect of

the urbanization process.

40

One pertinent question that often receives only passing attention
in migration studies is: What role does the extended family play in
ameliorating the problems of the tight urban housing market? It is
sometimes hypothesized that the extended family is incompatible with
urban living and values (Brown, 1963), but Eames (1967) provides a
counter hypothesis which indicates that the "joint family is the facili-
tating mechanism in the process of rural-urban migration. This hypothe-
sis is supported by many scholars (Litwark, 1960; Caldwell, 1969; Firth,
1956), who have contributed to the concept of migration and the extended
family. Historically the extended family has been known to encourage
migration as a means of extending the opportunities of the family or
kinship group. Because of the recent mounting urban housing problems,
the role of the extended family to provide housing to migrants deserves
very close attention.

In Africa, the extended family has played a notable role in urban
housing since the inception of cities. As Mabogunje (1962) pointed out,
"Before the 20th century the extended family was the unit of town
settlement...." Crooke also indicated how in Yoruba land, "emigrant
populations traditionally maintained their urban residential rights even
when conditions allowed them to settle closer to their farmlands."

Today the long-established Yoruba towns still contain the “compounds" of
large extended family groups, whose members and descendants regard the
compound as "home" even though they may live mainly in the town's rural
area or elsewhere. Thus, to a migrant from a Yoruba village, securing

a place to live with relatives in the urban‘center is more an assured

traditional privilege than a mere uncertain expectation.

41

This Yoruba example is a special case of urban housing in which
migrants can claim rights to living quarters by means of kinship ties.
Even in areas where there are no such claims to ancestral urban houses,
most African migrants still rely on the extended family to house and
feed them, free of charge, until they find jobs. In his extensive
survey of both migrants and extended families in the villages and towns
of Ghana, Caldwell found a significant level of reliance on the extended
family for providing accommodation and housing information to migrants.
For instance, he related:

More often than not the migrant already knows when he dis-

mounts from the mammy lorry in the lorry park, with whom he

will be staying. Often he does not know how to get there.

He will seek advice from bystanders, often from people from

his own area (Caldwell, 1969:129).

His rural survey indicated that over half the potential migrants
expected initially to stay with relatives, and most rural households
agree that town relatives are happy to help the new arrivals from the
village; whereas, in the urban survey, of all types of help, housing
ranked highest.

The dominant role of the extended family over other sources of
assistance is in keeping with the norm of the African family system
where one's perception of who should help in time of need is in the
form of a hierarchy. Often the order is from parents to immediate rela-
tives, to friends, ethnic members, and others (Nabila, 1974:193-198).
This system of providing accommodation by extended family can be held

accountable for the spatial allocation of migrants in easily definable

ethnic clusters in African Cities.

42

The point to note is that the absorption of the migrant at the
urban end is not only "occupational" but ”residential" (Mabogunje,
1970). Calabar is blessed with housing studies and programs such as:
(l) the Louis Berger‘s (1975) ”Study of Housing Needs and Demand
in Urban Development in the South Eastern State of Nigeria"; (2) the
Cross River State of Nigeria (1975) "Housing Enquiry“; (3) the South
Eastern State of Nigeria (1973) "Staff Housing Rules"; and (4) the
Cross River State Housing Corporation. But none of these studies and/or
programs have any specific policies that deal with the "residential
absorption" of migrants in Calabar.

Policy on migration should be directed not only to alleviating
employment problems, as has more often been the case, but to the
solving of urban housing problems. Over-crowded and inadequate
urban housing means that policies toward rural-urban migration should‘
be accompanied by efforts not only to improve urban housing conditions
and supply, but to stem the uncontrolled rural-urban migration. "The
city administration can ensure availability of relatively cheap and
adequate housing in quantities which could make the transition of the
rural migrant either difficult or easy" (Mabogunje, 1970).

Finally, it must be remembered that such a combination of forces
is involved in the migration process that housing policies
should not be considered in isolation but as part of a system of inter-
related parameters in the planning of population distribution and
economic development. For instance, efforts to provide adequate urban

housing should be coordinated with well-planned rural development

43

programs which aim at restricting the rural exodus. Job opportunities
in rural areas must be accompanied by amenities to satisfy both the
curious and the "economic“ man. Unless rural inhabitants have jobs and
income, amenities such as hospitals, schools, cinemas and electricity,
will exert little attraction. On the other hand, an urban job and
income without decent urban housing is a degradation.

There is also a need for careful coordination and administration
of the urban housing suppliers, namely: (1) private house owners and
landlords; (2) private employers; and (3) government employers and
government housing programs. These sources along with the "popular"
government housing program have been inadequate in solving the growing
urban housing problems. As Harrison (1967) observes, the Libyan govern-
ment's low-cost housing project is "not enough to solve the housing
problem." The Nigerian government has earmarked 2.7 billion dollars
for attacking the housing issue. Of the 60,000 residential units pro-
posed to be built for middle and low income groups, only 15,000 units
are ready for use; and, considering the acute housing problem,
this has been described as "a drop in an ocean."

Clearly, any government housing program which is not integrated
with private efforts to stimulate the private housing market will con-
tinue to be "a drop in the ocean." Also, due to the high rate of
African rural-urban migration, even the grandest urban housing scheme
which does not consider the impact of individual migration would be

self-defeating.

44

The literature review has stressed the role of education in migra-
tion as the aspect of social life which relates most closely to the
quality of housing in which a man lives. According to Jilly (1961)
since education is a process that includes tastes and standards of
judgment, it is no surprise to find that quality of housing is a varia-
ble affected by degree of exposure to education. Other points of empha-
sis in the literature review included the role of the extended family
in the migration process and housing, and the acute housing deficiencies
resulting from rural-urban migration in the developing countries. Based
on the literature review and research objectives previously stated, the
following hypotheses are, therefore, derived:

H: 1 There is a positive relationship between the size of house-

hold and the number of migrants from the family.

H: 2 In the rural areas, there is a POSlthE relationship be-

tween the number of migrants from a household and the level
of education; that is, the higher the education level of a
household, the more the number of migrants from it.

H: 3 There is a positive relationship between a migrants' level

of education and the quality of his housing.

H: 4 In the urban area, the duration of a migrant's stay in the

city is positively related to housing quality; that is,
the longer the duration in years of a migrants' stay in
the city, the better the quality of his housing. This is
derived from the hypothesis that since migrants are often

late-comers in a competitive housing market, they have to

45

take poor quality accommodations which are left over by
permanent residents.

H: 5 Kinship is positively related to the provision of
accommodations for migrants. The closer the relationships
of the urban host the more willing he or she is to provide
accommodation to a migrant.

H: 6 Room density is negatively related to satisfaction in
housing; that is, the higher the room density of a house,

the less satisfaction such a house gives to its residents.

Research Design and Method of Analysis

Rationale for Using Survey Methodology

 

The research involved the collection of data on demography,
economy, housing conditions, and the social and environmental context of
a sampled population of Calabar and its rural hinterland. In the ab-
sence of adequate and accurate data on migration and housing in the
study area, a sample survey methodology was used for the bulk of the
data. Specifically, the following methods were used in obtaining data
on which this study is based: (1) field observation, (2) field inter-
viewing, (3) questioning officials and other authorities, and (4) con-
sulting published materials.

The basic research instrument was, therefore, a formal interview
schedule (Appendix 1). Open interview schedules which allowed respond-
ents to provide their own answers were largely used, instead of ques-
tionnaires. The main difference between interview schedules and
questionnaires is that while schedules are administered by an interview-

er who asks the question and writes down the answers, questionnaires

46

are self-administered; that is, they are completed by the respondents
(Peil, 1972).

There are other special advantages for using the survey method
for the study. Consideration of the objectives of research are critical
for the methods used in collecting data; in this case, the survey method
provided an opportunity for in-depth probing and examination of problems
related to the objectives of this research. Donald Bogue (1959) has
emphasized the need to "expand the list of factors affecting migration
... little, if any of this information is available from official
sources." Wilkie (1971) adds that in "expanding this list of variables
through a case study method, factors are placed in the context of a
real situation and not left out of context as most frequently happens."
He describes the interview schedule method as "... participant observa-
tion where the researcher knows the subjects personally, and helps the
investigator to eliminate random erroneous results in the interpreta-
tion of the data." It is specially quite relevant and pragmatic, as
Hance (1970) concluded: "Emphasis in migration should be placed on the
design of studies to collect data not available from census and other
administrative sources, and to exploit new opportunities that are aris-

ing as by-products of human population study."

Data Limitations
It should be noted that data, especially on migration, are not
easy to come by in Nigeria. Although “conventional population censuses
provide the most accessible source of data for demographic research"

(Robertson, 1969), their adequacy, accuracy and reliability for purposes

47

of migration studies in African countries have been questioned by many
demographic and development scholars such as Hance (1970), Stolper
(1967), Adepoju and Ekanem (1975), and Uyanga (1975). Nigeria, for
instance, has had up to three well-known censuses in the last quarter
of the century, but none of them has been of sufficient level of relia-
bility to enable one to make accurate statements about the general
population characteristics of the country, let alone, about migration

in specific localities. As Mabogunje (1970:248) puts it: "The Nigerian
censuses are never set up to collect migration data." The faults of

the 1963 Nigerian census have been critically discussed by Ekanem (1972).
Chief among the errors of the census include: (1) inflated settlement
population; (2) the Creation, or pseudo-creation of fictitious settle-

ments; and (3) omission of some settlements altogether. Clearly, the
use of lists of settlements in such census reports for sampling can

be quite misleading. The deficiencies of census and survey data

have imposed such considerable limitations on the systematic analysis

of migration that Pool (1969:169) argues that "for migration ... we have
skeleton, and some flesh." On the grounds of the inadequacy and in-
accuracy of the Nigerian censuses on the whole range of information
needed for research on migration, many migration experts in Nigeria--
Prothero (1959), Ejiogu (1968), Olusanga (1969), Adepoju (1974), and
Abasiekong (1976) have resorted to ag_hgg_sample surveys for data on

migration. The research presented here is no exception; that is, it

also relies on the survey method for the bulk of the data.

48

Field Research Strategies

 

Reconnaissance Survey and Research Assistants

 

The first part of the field work was used for a reconnaissance
survey of the study area and the hiring of research assistants.
Considerable time was spent on studying maps, basic documents and
directories of the study area, to detennine the routes, and villages,
parts of the town, and persons to visit. Then, one week was spent
travelling through the town and villages observing the general physical
and socio-economic conditions of the area. During that time conversa-
tions were held with different classes of rural and urban people. In
the town different institutions were visited, including the University
of Calabar. Some members of the staff in the Geography and Sociology
departments of the University were quite willing to read through the
interview schedule and offer useful criticisms and suggestions on the
basis of their experience in the area. As a result of such input, as
well as the observations, casual encounters, and informal interviews,
some modifications were made to the interview schedules. Talking to the
traditional chiefs, teachers, and peasants in the rural areas also gave
an idea of possible problems to be expected in the rural survey.

It would have been difficult to carry out a research project of
this type and magnitude without assistance. Field assistants were
therefore used for interviewing purposes. The selection of such assist-
ants was critical for the success of the study. Especially in the rural
area, where research of this nature is still largely unknown, it was

necessary to hire assistants with ability, interest, and familiarity

49

with the local people. Grade 11 teachers working in the rural areas

were found to be especially suitable for the rural survey. Their famil-
iarity with the local people and environment was considered an important
qualification for the maintenance of a rapport with typically rather
suspicious rural peasants. With the help of different headmasters of
primary schools, in the villages visited during the reconnaisance survey,
it was possible to recruit such teachers.

The selection of assistants for the urban survey was on the basis
of their familiarity with the assigned sectors of the city, as well as
personal interest and experience at census data collection. All of the
four assistants finally selected for the research were Efik speaking men
with a good knowledge of the English language. Their duties involved
interpreting and explaining (where necessary), and completing the inter-
view schedules.

Prior to the actual field work an intensive interviewer training
session was conducted. The assistants were introduced to both the
principles of interviewing, and the purpose of the sample survey. They
were given detailed instructions, and practice on how to translate and
complete the schedules properly. Before starting them on their own, I
visited and supervised each assistant as he interviewed a few house-

holders in the respective sectors.

Sample Design

 

Given the spatial variations of migrants and other phenomena under
study, to obtain an adequate sample in the various sectors of the study

area, a stratified random sample design was used to select householders

50

for the research. A stratified sample is one in which the study area
is subdivided into strata. Sampling points within each stratum are
then chosen randomly, systematically or in an aligned fashion (Berry
and Baker, 1968). Stratification of the study area has the advantage
of ensuring the representation of specified sub-groups within the over-
all sample (Sjoberg and Nett, 1968).

The first step in the sampling was to examine a street map of
Calabar city, and also a map of Calabar Division. The divisional map
is sub-divided into Development Areas and Villages. The sub-divisions
were used as the basis for the stratification of the study area.
Secondly, a list of the villages in the 13 Development Areas which make
up the study area was made. The map of Calabar city, showing streets
and residential density, was used for the urban sample. The city was
divided into zones, and the zones were subdivided into 22 blocks for a
systematic sampling of the householders on the selected streets.

Since exclusive emphasis on studying migration at either the rural
or urban end of the process alone gives only a one-side picture, data
were collected in both rural and urban areas. This procedure was
intended to facilitate direct comparison of rural and urban responses,

and also attitudinal characteristics.

Rural Survey

A simple random number table was used systematically to select
20.3 percent of the villages in the 13 Development Areas. Thus, out of
a total 334 villages, 63 were selected. From these selected villages

about 10 householders per village were chosen for interviewing.

51

Because of the diversity in both village size and the spatial distribu-
tion of houses within the villages, no fixed number, or uniform selec-
tion technique was used in selecting houses or householders. However,
the guiding principle was to interview a cross-section of the sampled
village, selecting only one household per house. For instance, large
villages were divided into sectors, and householders selected randomly
from the different sectors. In some cases, a system of selecting house-
holders in every other house, or in every two houses, etc., was adopted.
Up to 20 householders were interviewed in a very large village; whereas,
about 5 interviews were considered enough in a small village. The rural

survey covered a total of 729 respondents.

Urban Data Collection

Using a simple random numbers table, thirty percent of the city
blocks were selected. Then a list of the streets in the sampled blocks
was made for a systematic sampling of thirty percent of the streets in
each block. In each of the selected residential buildings on the
sampled streets one householder within it was interviewed. Altogether
896 householders were interviewed in the urban survey, thus covering
4.7 percent of the estimated urban households.

The interview schedule for the urban survey contained items rang-
ing from background questions, to questions regarding migration history,
housing conditions, perception of rural and urban life, and policy sug-
gestions. The rural survey questions were, in most parts, consistent

with those of the urban survey, though they included specific questions

52

about the destinations of rural migrants, and about return migrants in

the households (see Appendix 2).

Special Interviews

 

In order to obtain information of specific policy significance it
was necessary to conduct special interviews with persons in some key
decision-making positions in the study area. Among such persons who
provided expert, policy-relevant information on migration and housing
problems were: (1) Dr. P. E. B. Inyang, Head, Department of Geography,
University of Calabar; (2) Dr. Edet Abasiekong, Department of Sociology,
University of Calabar; (3) Mr. E. A. Etuk, Chief Town Planning Officer,
Urban Development Division, Calabar; (4) Mr. D. E. Udo, Chief Statisti-
cian, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development; (5) Mr. A. Deb,
Chief Architect, Cross River State Housing Corporation; and (6) Mr. Uko

Inoyo, Assistant General Manager, Cross River State Housing Corporation.

Methods of Analysis

 

Three statistical techniques are used to analyze the data:
(1) the chi square, (2) multiple regression, and (3) incidence factor
analysis. The chi square statistic is particularly useful in the test
of difference between the rural and urban responses. Multiple regres-
sion is useful in testing the relationship between the independent and
the dependent variables of the hypotheses. Incidence factor analysis,
using ones to denote the presence, and zeros the absence, of 27 housing

characteristics (Appendix 1), is used to determine housing categories

53

and their spatial distribution in Calabar. These selected statistical

techniques are further explained where they are used in the text.

CHAPTER III

THE MIGRATION PROCESS IN CALABAR

Historical Background

The Importance of Calabar

The importance of Calabar lies in its past which can help both in
the understanding of the present, and in the planning of the future.
Owing to its favorable location on the east bank of the Cross River
which forms the major drainage system of the area, Calabar was naturally
well placed to control trade over a large area, in the days when long
distance trade in Nigeria was carried on by water. In the 18th and 19th
centuries, Old Calabar, as it was then known, controlled the trade of
the whole of the Cross River Basin (Jennings, 1966). By the 1830's the
palm oil trade had made Calabar famous. For twenty years, 1885-1906,
°it was the capital of the Oil Rivers Protectorate (then of the Niger
Coast Protectorate) and of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. During
that period, the whole of Southern Nigeria was administered from Calabar.
The Cross River had then become a busy commercial highway, as
"exports via Calabar port constituted a major part of the total Nigerian
exports up to and including the First World War" (Ekong, 1974:5).

Writing on the impact of the international economy upon a tradi-
tional society (that is, old Calabar from 1600 to 1891), Latham (1973)

indicates how in those early days the palm oil trade in Calabar expanded

54

55

from 1,000 tons per annum to over 7,000 tons in about eighty years(Figure
3-1). He also cites the demands of the expanding international economy as
the main force which acted to change Calabar society. Until the arrival
of the Europeans the inhabitants of this area were fishermen. But the
advent of the Europeans radically changed the social and economic life

of the people. The people of Calabar quickly adapted to the English

ways of life, acting as middlemen in the flourishing trade. Concerning
such trade connections, the former Military Governor of the South

Eastern State concluded:

The ancient City of Calabar has had over four centuries of

connections with what is usually called the Modern World.

Traders, missionaries, colonial agents, and administrators

did flourishing business (Esuene, 1976).

But thereafter, Calabar underwent a systematic decline, falling
from its historical, political and economic position of pre-eminence to
a position in the background. Its future was initially ruined by the
amalgamation of Southern Nigeria and Lagos in 1906, as Lagos became the
new seat of government. Between 1920 and 1966 Calabar passed through
three stages into complete stagnation. The first stage began after the
First World War, when a period of stagnation set in. During and after
the Second World War, from 1939 to 1954, the area passed through another
critical stage in which major economic shifts were made by traders to
areas west of Calabar. As Latham (1973:150) put it: I'During the
forties and fifties, Calabar remained a backwater." But between 1954
and 1966, it was in its last stage of decline in which little if any of

the export-import trade passed through the Cross River waterways. "The

port (thus) became almost a ghost town“ (Ekong, 1974).

56

 

 

PALM OIL EXPORTS FROM OLD CALABAR
M812! - lEfli?

Tons

of

Thousands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

' u ‘ b
. , , -_ .
.‘ ', . . ‘.
.‘ ‘ ' ’
. .0 n '. ,'
t. ‘- . :_ .
. - ..

 

 

1800 1840 1860 1880

Sourcv Latham, 1973, p.65.

 

Figure 3-1

 

57

Latham attributes this utter decline of Calabar to the "political
wranglings of the post-independence era of the sixties which made
matters worse. Because Calabar chose to back the Action Group rather
than the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon, it was largely
excluded from the latter's economic policy." The growth in the impor-
tance of land transport was another significant factor in the decline
of Calabar. Prior to the establishment of the South Eastern State,
this area was part of Nigeria's Eastern Region, whose capital was in
Enugu, and Calabar's connection with other parts of the region was based
on river transportation. Its few road connections are impeded by the
spurs of the granite mountains that reach the Cross River and the absence
of bridges over that river. Its main contact with the rest of the
region is by a ferry to Oron where a road leads to centers of population
in the mainland areas. With the discovery of a deep-water harbor at
Port Harcourt in 1913, and the decision to develop it as the railway
terminal for the country east of the Niger, Calabar's hopes of develop-
ment as an entreport were destroyed. Thus, the development and improve-
ment of railways and highways in other parts of the region, and the
neglect of Calabar in such road improvement supplanted the river as a
primary means of communication, contributing to the decline of Calabar

as a port city and center of commerce.

People and Migration History

 

Ethno-linguistically, Calabar is regarded as semi-bantu. The orig-
inal inhabitants of the region comprise the Efik, the Qua and the Efut

(Figure 3-2). Although they are known to have arrived at different times,

58

T

 

 

THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS
OF CALABAR

/ ,
O
o /
‘ 6‘
° 4’
mm 0 I
. s"
\
a Q~
.. .‘
‘ 6
° ‘0

3
0
0“ .
a
.\ o
\3/
J
o
o
I
o
000
0,",

’0
1’ c
Q U A
F I
Creek Town 4'
c 0 puke Town E F U T
Henshow Town
0

 

 — 0&9

 

' 3° 30'
I | souncs' Afigbo, 1965.

s°oo‘ _—

5° 30’ —-

5° 00' —

4°oo' --4

9° 00'

 

 

Figure 3-2

59

the main settlement pattern was established before the end of the six-
teenth century (Lathan, 1973:5). In the 18th and 19th centuries Old
Calabar consisted of the trading republics of Henshaw Town, Duke Town
and Greek Town.

It is still uncertain which of the three groups first settled in
Calabar. Sometimes it is assumed that the Qua and the Efut arrived
before the Efik. As one report puts it:

The Qua people were the original holders of Kalabar.... The

Kalabar (Efik) authorities pay a yearly tribute to the Qua

peOple for permission to reside in their territory ... the

whole territory on the east of the Cross River belonged to the

people of Qua (Hutchinson, 1858:128-99).

Afigbo (1965) offers a comprehensive discussion of the controversy
about the origin and settlement of the three groups. His review mere-
ly underlies the "vehement disagreement which exists between assumptions
and surviving Efik traditions" about the Efik origin and migrations.

But in spite of this controversy, it is generally recognized that
while the Qua and Efut are essential elements that constitute the
original inhabitants of Calabar, "the Efik are the dominant ethnic
group" (Ogar, 1976). Besides, the Efik has had a reputation for oppress-
ing their neighbors; the very word "Efik" means "oppressors".

According to oral Efik tradition and some written documents
(Waddell, 1863); Goldie, 1901), the Efik came out of Ibibio, a territory
which extends from the Cross River to the Ibo land on the Niger, to
settle at Calabar. Though the Efik admit that their last place of

settlement before they moved to Calabar was Uruan, an Ibibio Clan, they

deny that they are Ibibio. In the words of a prominent Efik man:

60

We the Efik settled first at Ibom in Aro District and for this
reason the name "Ibom" has been used by the Efik man to
describe whatever to him is mighty.... Owing to defeat in war
we left Ibom and settled in Uruan from where we were driven
again by the Uruan who said we oppressed them. It was after
this that we split into two main groups, one of which came
down to Calabar (Henshaw, 1965:269).

Internal wars of the 17th century also sent the Qua and the Efut
fleeing to Calabar. The Qua are a segment of the Ekoi people who were
driven to Calabar by the Mbokang War. The Efut were linked with the
Cameroon until they migrated to their present home to escape an internal
war.

The outcome of the Nigerian civil war has resulted in marked
improvement in the position of modern Calabar. With the constitution
of Calabar as the capital of the new State the area has entered another
stage in its development, assuming new forces of attraction. "There
seems to be every reason to suppose that now that the development of
South Eastern State is in its own hands, Calabar will recover its former
prominence" (Afigbo, 1965:150). Clearly, for more numerous and complex
reasons than just the drive of internal wars, Calabar is now destined to
attract more than three ethnic groups. Already the area is reputed as
one of the major destination regions in Nigeria taking more migrants
than expected (Udo, 1970:Figure 6). The remaining section of this
chapter will, therefore, attempt to identify the main causal factors

that help to explain the magnitude of rural-urban migration in Calabar.

61

Determinants of Migration

 

Attempts at understanding causative factors are an essential step
in any study of policy implications of rural-urban migration. The
search for the causes of migration is not a search for the obvious, as
it appears on the surface. It is true that "Behind the simplicity of
the causes of migration lies a complexity which has not yielded easily
to analysis" (Mitchell, 1959:13). People decide to move or stay at home
for diverse, interconnected reasons. No two individuals, for instance,
arrive at the decision to migrate or stay at home by the same combina-
tion of reasons. Clearly, the causes of migration are complicated,
ranging from economic opportunities to mere curiosity to move, with
various mixes of motives. Thus, in order to appreciate the process of
causality in migration, we must attempt to identify and link together
the salient multiple causes and relate them in some framework. The
search for the causes of migration is important, especially from the
policy point of view, because uncovering the root causes of migration is
one way in which to ameliorate the undesirable consequences of the

phenomenon.

Rural-Urban Push and Pull

A recurring question in migration is: Why do migrants pour into
urban areas when the chances of their finding jobs and adequate housing
for their families are quite limited? The answer to this question gen-
erally takes the forms often referred to as "push" and "pull" (Ross,
1973:39). Because the interrelationship of many factors are involved in

migration decisions, Morse (1965) has pointed out that push factors

62

 

 

MAJOR DESTINATION AREAS

OF

 

 

 

 

/’-'~-... .
/ \_ ’ I
. Sok.oto u’.-. . I, ..M ~. ~ /. Lm
./ \.~,/ '

MIGRANTS IN NIGERIA

   

\ 4 MILES

Direction of migrant labor movements.

Major destination areas of migrants.

Adapted from Prothero, 1962. plSl.

 

Figure 3-3

 

63

alone cannot explain the whole migration process. To him, migration is
not necessarily a demographic response to specific social and economic
conditions, but a direct and an overt behavioral response. This observ-
ation suggests the need to tie push-pull factors to attitudes and
decisions of individuals.

The push-pull theory is still a useful framework for discussing
the determinants of rural-urban migration. The push factors suggest
that life is so bad in the rural areas that individuals know there is no
chance for improvement. This condition was obvious during the present
rural survey in Calabar. Such push factors include all the negative
aspects of rural life--the low productivity, resulting from, among other
factors, lack of modern farm tools and use of poor methods of cultivation;
limited job opportunities and the attendant poverty; the lack of infra-
structure, social amenities, medical facilities, water and good housing;
family difficulties, hatred and witchcraft. These push factors operate
by pushing people out of the rural areas to towns. Thus people leave
the rural areas for the following categories of reasons:

1. When it becomes impossible to earn enough for subsistence on

their land. This may be due to diminishing productivity of
farmland, division of farmland into unproductive units through

inheritance, economic reversals, or natural disasters.

2. When it becomes impossible to earn enough money for subsistence
as individuals working as laborers on large farms or planta-

tions are displaced by technological innovations.

64

3. If they are deviants in the local social structure. They may
be women who are barren, or men who have been branded publicly

as thieves or outlaws.

4. If they are victims of the social distortion caused by wars,
revolution or social ferment. The last Nigerian civil war
helped to push people seeking protection and means of subsist-

ence into Calabar.

5. If they want to escape traditional tribal obligations and and
taxes.

Respondents in the sampled villages were asked to give reasons
why people are moving from their villages to Calabar. Lack of employment
opportunities represents the most frequently mentioned (73.0 percent of
the respondents) of reasons offered as the major causes of rural-urban
migration (Table 3.1).

A question seeking reasons for migration was also directed to the
migrants in Calabar city. Various combinations of reasons selected
from eight factors were given by the respondents as the factors which
pushed them to the city (Table 3.2). It should be noted that transfer
cannot be considered as strictly a push factor, as it refers mainly to
people who moved as a result of official or institutional transfers with
little or no personal input by the mover in the major decision to move.
As in the rural survey, lack of employment opportunities (with 46.6 per-
cent) was the most popular in the mixes of reasons given by the urban

respondents. Table 3.2 also indicates that about 5 percent of the

65

Table 3.1. Percent distribution of responses to the question:
Why are people moving from this village to Calabar?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Percent

Responses Distribution N

Lack of employment opportunities 73.0 529
Lack of amenities 10.7 78
Lack of trading facilities 9.8 71
Lack of educational facilities 6.5 47
Total 100.0 725
Table 3.2. Percent distribution of responses to the question:

What were your reasons for migrating to Calabar?
Percent

Responses Distribution N

Lack of employment opportunities 46.6 368
Lack of educational facilities 12.4 98
Transfer 9.8 78
Lack of trading facilities 9.4 74
To get civilized 7.9 62
Lack of amenities 4.9 39
To avoid hatred 4.6 36
War 4.4 35
Total 100.0 790

 

 

66

respondents left the rural area to avoid hatred. Apart from the general
conflict between individuals, ”ifot", that is, witchcraft, was mentioned
as part of the rural conflict which pushes some people to Calabar. It
should be noted that the study area has had a notorious history of
witchcraft. There is no wonder that "ifot" also plays some part in
rural-urban migration in this part of Nigeria.

The "pull" answer looks at the causes of migration from the urban
angle and emphasizes reasons why the city attracts immigrants. The
focus is on the prospects for a steady cash income, the existence of
better schools, all those necessities of life that are lacking in the
rural areas, or simply the "bright lights" theory. Briefly, the
"bright lights" theory as postulated by Gulliver (1957:58) stresses the
excitement of being "where the action is". It describes the exciting
attractions of city life, with its brightly lit shop windows, the hustle
and bustle of urban living, the cinemas, the entertainment, the sporting
and welfare facilities, as against the dull, dark and boring rural
areas. Though economic factors play an important role, bright lights
still play a part in the decision to migrate.

People are attracted to the city for the following reasons:

1. They believe they can earn income that is higher than that

available in the rural areas.

2. They feel that there will be better opportunities for

education and employment for their children.

3. They have heard stories of urban life from relatives and

friends and want to experience it themselves.

67

4. They wish to enjoy the technological features of modern

society which are mainly confined to the urban areas.

Thus, Ross (1973:39) describes the city as "a magnet". The pull-
ing effect of Calabar is so great that though migrants to the city may
not generally be under the illusion that they will become rich by living
in town, they generally contend that while only a few "make it" in the
city, almost no one in their position in the rural community will see
any change in his life at all. Consequently, regardless of its numer-
ous problems and repulsive features, as perceived by most respondents
(Tables 3.3; 3.4; 3.5), Calabar still stands out as the most attractive

spot in the region.

Table 3.3. Percent distribution to the question: What do you dislike
about Calabar?

 

 

 

 

Percent Urban Percent Rural

Responses Respondents Respondents

1. High cost of living 37.5 58.6

2. Housing problems 18.5 13.5

3. Unemployment 17.2 4.1

4. High rent . 10.4 8.8

5. Other (pollution, thieves, etc.) 16.0 14.8

6. No answer 0.4 0.2
Total 100.0 (895) 100.0(725)

 

 

 

Chi Square = 15.814 4 df Sig. = 9.001

68

Table 3.3 shows that both urban and rural respondents recognize
high cost of living as the most outstanding source of hardship in
Calabar. But rural respondents dread high cost of living in Calabar
more than the urbanites. Other reasons why they dislike Calabar in—
clude housing problems such as congestion; unemployment; high house
rent; prevalence of thieves; accidents and pollution. Table 3.4 reveals
that up to 73.1 percent of urban respondents and a lower proportion of
rural respondents (62.2 percent) perceive Calabar as the place where
people worry more about having money to care for themselves and their
families. Very few respondents (1.2 percent in the urban and 0.1 per-
cent in the rural areas) are not sure where people experience more

financial hardships.

Table 3.4. Percent distribution of responses to the question:
Where do people worry more about having money to care for
themselves and their families? (Rural and urban surveys)

 

 

 

 

Percent Urban Percent Rural
Responses Respondents Respondents
Town 73.1 62.2
Village 25.7 37.7
Not sure 1.2 0.1
Total 100.0 100.0

 

 

 

As Table 3.5 indicates, to most migrants the realities of town

life do not match their hopes. Up to 81.8 percent of urban respondents

69

are not as satisfied with town life as they had hoped; whereas, only
54.8 percent of rural respondents think that migrants in towns are not
satisfied. This indicates that rural people with lack of personal
experience still have a more inflated opinion about urban life than the

urbanites.

Table 3.5. Percent distribution of responses to the question:
Do migrants in towns generally find town life as satisfac-
tory as they had hoped?

 

 

 

 

Percent
Yes No Uncertain Total
Urban responses 16.1 81.8 2.1 100.0
Rural responses 45.1 54.8 0.1 100.0

 

 

 

 

 

However, in spite of the foregoing negative aspects of city life,
most respondents still admit that in comparison with the rural area,
Calabar city has such better living conditions that village youths are
better off in town than in the rural areas (Tables 3.6 and 3.7).

Over 80 percent of the urban and rural respondents indicated that
in terms of economic, social, and physical facilities, Calabar provides
better living conditions than rural areas. Consequently, as Table 3.7
shows, 62.8 percent of the urban and 56.0 percent of the rural respond-
ents are in favor of village youths moving to towns. Mayer's (1963)
idea of "cities as paradoxes" is true of Calabar. The city may produce
from its growth poor local environment for its inhabitants, but it\

still has more in-migrants than out-migrants.

70

Table 3.6. Percent distribution responses to the question:
Where are better living conditions? (Urban and rural

 

 

 

 

surveys)
Percent Urban Percent Rural
Responses Respondents Respondents
Town 81.2 88.3
Village 18.0 11.3
No difference 0.8 0.4
Total 100.0 100.0

 

 

 

Table 3.7. Percent distribution responses to the question:
Is it a good thing for village youths to move to town?

 

 

 

 

Percent
Yes No Uncertain Total
Urban responses 62.8 35.5 1.7 100.0
Rural responses 56.0 44.0 0.0 100.0

 

 

 

 

 

One problem with the push-pull theory is that it fails to consider
town and country as one socio-economic field in which to analyze the
forces operating within it. However, it is still useful to look at the
sources and destination areas of migrants to identify the attractive
and repulsive elements which operate to push, pull or retain people.

As outlined by the members of the Inter-African Conference on Housing

and Urbanization (C.S.A. 1959:30), it is easy to sum up the many causes

71

of migration into two segments: (1)"Unattractiveness of the rural
areas"; and (2) "attractiveness of the town"; and these are not too

dissimilar from Lee's theoretical factors.

Rural-Urban Imbalance

 

The foregoing section viewed causal factors in migration from the
source-destination perspectives. It thus set the stage for another
significant feature in the determinants of rural-urban migration in
Calabar-~that is, the role of rural-urban imbalance. This, a visible
characteristic of Calabar and its hinterland, describes the disparities
in the spatial distribution of physical, social and economic facilities
in the region. If people in Calabar city are poor, those in rural areas
are poverty stricken. If urban infrastructure, education, health and
social facilities are inadequate, in the rural areas they are almost
nonexistent. "Even when conditions are seen as bad in the city, rural
alternatives are perceived as worse" (Leeds, 1970), and Calabar region
is no exception.

Rural-urban imbalance, is basically a symptom of economic under-
development. It is not only a major factor in the decision to migrate
but can have a paralytic effect on the development of the less fortu-
nate sectors of the economy. The writings of Boeke (1953), Furnivall
(1956), and Singer (1964) on dual economies analyze the mutual inter-
action of economic and noneconomic forces under the special condition
of colonialism the transactions between the European, commercial-
industrial sector and the traditional tribal or peasant hinterland.

It should be noted that much of this analysis remains relevant for the

72

post-colonial period in those underdeveloped regions where there exists
sharp dichotomy between the urban-commercial-export sector and tradi-
tional, village subsistence economies. Porter's observation is also
relevant for Calabar:

Maldistribution is the central fact in underdevelopment.

Distortions in resource use have been increasing ... between

the already wealthy and the poor (1974:18).

Clearly, the underdeveloped nature of the socio-economic system of
African rural areas on the one hand, and the existence of "exploding",
"parasitic" cities on the other hand is greatly perpetuated by the
maintenance of the structure of inequalities.

In Nigeria the limited structure of privileges has been known to
be accessible to a very small percentage of the population. Speaking
of inequalities at the University of Ife, Chief Awolowo (1973) declared:
"Poverty, ignorance, and disease are in evidence everywhere, more
particularly in the rural areas!‘ Professor F. Olu Okedji (1974) also
pointed to the existence of: "... urban-rural differentials to the
extent that students from the better secondary schools in the urban
areas are more represented proportionately than students from rural
areas." Calabar finds itself in this situation where the good things
of life are assured to a small minority and usually denied to the vast
majority, the consequence of which is the drift of people to the town,
in the struggle for the limited privileges.

Agricultural practice and management also contribute to rural-
urban imbalance. Though over 63 percent of the rural, and less than 2

percent of the urban population, are employed in agriculture, the tools

73

and methods used are not conducive to high productivity. Hence, agri-
culture fails to appeal to ambitious, progressive youths. Crude,
primitive tools such as matchets, axes, hoes and sticks are still used
in clearing the bush and digging the ground.

Shifting agriculture, or slash and burn, is the popular technique;
the bush is cleared and left to dry, and fire is set to the cleared
bush before various crops are inter-planted. After harvesting, the
area is left fallow for a set number of years during which time cultiva-
tion process is shifted to other areas. Though Gourou (1965) has
described shifting agriculture as an excellent adaptation to tropical
environment, its problems and limitations are many: (1) since the
technique invests nothing in the form of manure in the soil, the result
is often low yield and subsistence level of production; (2) it seldom
succeeds for more than a few years in one spot, because of erosion,
declining soil fertility, rapid increase of weeds and pests; (3) diffi-
culties of clearing the bush and weeding with crude tools; (4) the
absence of draft animals to aid human efforts; (5) the lack of insect
and rodent control; and (6) as a result of the above limitations, the
general law status of agriculture and its unpopularity among youths and
the educated elements of the Nigerian society.

Furthermore, the wealth generated by the agricultural sector has
been known to be largely gravitated to urban areas. Even the very
marketing boards, which should have served as a vehicle for agricultural
price stabilization as well as reducing rural-urban income gap, are

known for promoting the spatial disparities in economic development by

74

"investing a substantial proportion of the funds they accumulate in
projects which largely benefit the nonfarm sector" (Essen, 1971).
Though they were originally established for the benefit of the producers,
marketing boards have become what Prest (1962:19) calls: "... a perman-
ent instrument of taxation of the producer group it is supposed to
represent." The poor conditions of Nigerian rural areas, particularly
of the peasant farmers, were recognized as a factor in migration by the
respondents to Essang's (1972) interview with sampled policy makers.
They, therefore, suggested the need to provide specific projects to
raise the standard of agricultural practice and the well-being of
farmers while at the same time reducing the concentration of amenities
in towns, as one means of "arresting the tide of rural-urban migration."
The relatively poorer conditions of the rural areas in Calabarare
strikingly evident in the rural-urban income differentials. According
to the surveys the mean annual income for rural respondents was only
$508; whereas, for the urban respondents it averaged $1756--over three
times higher than that of rural respondents. Though cost of living is
relatively lower in the rural areas, considering the opportunity costs
of foregoing many urban amenities, rural inhabitants are still worse
off than the urbanites in terms of income. Because of the difficulties
in obtaining detailed, accurate data on rural income, one has to be
careful in using rural-urban income differentials as an index of rural-
urban migration. The basic problems include: (1) measurement of the
relevant rural income, (2) measurement of the relevant urban income,

and (3) comparing the two incomes (Byerlee, 1972). Also demonstrating

75

the problems involved in comparing rural and urban incomes in developing
countries, Knight observed:

... we need a fine classification of rural and urban incomes

by all the socio-economic characteristics which distinguish

migrants and nonmigrants; both for rural and urban popula-

tions as a whole, and also for intending rural and recent

(urban) migrants (1972:208).

In spite of the difficulties in measuring the degree of differentials,
the low income earning capacity of people in rural Calabar whether in
paid jobs (which are very few) or full-time farming is well documented
(Udo, 1971; Udo, 1964; Udofot, 1973).

The dwindling interest in rural life and the growing interest in
urban life was well brought out by a migrants answer to the question:
"Why do you think people are moving from villages to Calabar?" He de-
clared: "People are losing interest in farm work whereas interest in
town work is soaring. In the villages one has to wait for farm products
to grow until harvesting seasons. The mad rush for Naira means that
one has to know where to go for regular income." .Another migrant
succinctly replied to the same question: "Town conditions generate
progress faster than rural conditions." The town conditions referred
to here include facilities such as better educational institutions,
better housing, more and better medical facilities, a better transporta-
tion system and means of communication, a good water supply, electricity,
better market facilities, and social and entertainment facilities such as
bars, cinemas, dance clubs, sporting facilities, and so on. The lure of

Calabar will remain quite irresistable to a great number of rural people

until the wide gap between rural and urban conditions is reduced.

76

Socio-economic Characteristics of Migrants

An analysis of the forces affecting migration requires information
about who the migrants are and usually leads to the realization that
there is a great deal of diversity within the migrant population. In
the African migration literature it is generally agreed that migration
is highly selective with regard to age, sex, education, occupational
contrasts and marital status (Hance, 1970; Southhall, 1961; Hunter,
1965:280). This section will, therefore, focus on these diverse charac-

teristics of migrants in Calabar.

Age and Sex

 

Age and sex have long been known as prime determinants of propen-
sity to migrate. The rural survey shows that a majority of migrants
from rural areas are young (Table 3.8), most between the ages of 20 and
35. Over 80 percent of the migrants are below 34 years of age; whereas,
only 5 percent are above 45 years. Only 1.4 percent of the migrants
are over 55 years old. The urban survey also reveals that it is pre-
dominantly young adults who make up the recent migrants. Of those who
moved to Calabar during the last ten years, 48.1 percent of them
are in the 20 to 29 age group. Thomilson's (1965) explanation for the
predominance of the young in migration streams is that mobility is
easier for the young because their social ties are usually not well-
established, their commitments are fewer and weaker, and the spirit of
independence prevails.

Concerning migration selectivity by sex, males have historically

dominated migration streams in Africa. As ascertained by the present

77

Table 3.8. Percent distribution of age of rural outmigrants (Rural

 

 

 

survey).
Distribution Cumulative
Age Group Percent Percent
10-19 years 31.9 31.9
20-24 years 26.4 58.3
25-34 years 25.8 84.1
35-44 years 10.8 94.9
45-54 years 3.7 98.6
55 and over 1.4 100.0

 

 

 

*
The 276 outmigrants comprise those born in the sampled villages but
reported by the rural respondents to have migrated from the sampled
households to different Nigerian towns.

survey a large proportion of the urban respondents, over 70 percent, are
males. This large percentage of males among the migrants in Calabar
should be interpreted with caution, for it reflects the higher degree of
willingness by males to participate in the author's research. Nigeria

is a male dominant society, where females still refer important deci-
sions to the males. Even in this study many females referred the inter-
viewer to the male members of their household. However, the rural survey
data which contains no such bias, still reveals the predominance of males

(58.7 percent) in the migration stream.

78

Marital Status

 

Of the 78.4 recent migrants interviewed in Calabar city, 63.3
percent were single, 34.6 percent married, 1.9 percent widows, and only
0.3 percent divorced. The proportion of single migrants would be even
greater if the number of married migrants who moved without other mem-
bers of their families were added. Part of the reason for this predomi-
nance of single migrants is that they are more flexible and capable of
dealing with the difficult urban milieu such as high cost of food, rent
and other housing problems. The large number of single migrants points
out the magnitude of the urban housing needs; for most likely they will

place greater strain on urban housing when they marry.

Education

The role of education in inducing rural-urban migration has re-
ceived wide attention in African migration studies (Caldwell, 1969;
Sabot, 1972; Rempel, 1970; Hurd, 1967:226-9; Imoagene, 1975:14; Callaway,
1967). Callaway estimates that three-quarters of the migrants to Ibadan
in Nigeria are school-leavers. In their study of the Western region of
Nigeria, Essang et a1. (1974) found education as an important factor in
the rate of rural-urban migration. Rather than prepare people for their
diverse occupations and lives, education in Nigeria has been largely
about foreign ways of life or about aspects of life found only in towns.
Education, is, therefore, looked upon as a passport to clerical and non-
farm occupations which are identified with towns. Thus, in many aspects

of his life, the educated Nigerian becomes a misfit in the rural setting.

79

Table 3.9 reveals the higher propensity to migrate of educated
persons, especially in recent years. Though a majority of the
migrants have moved to Calabar in the last ten years, the proportion
of such recent migrants is higher (ranging from 86 percent to over 90
percent) among migrants with over six years of education than among
illiterate migrants. The propensity to migrate of literate persons is
steadily increasing over time as primary and secondary school-leavers
come to form a higher total proportion of rural-urban migrants. When
the proportions of rural and urban illiterates; that is, those with
less than five years of formal education, are compared, it becomes
obvious that migration is selective in terms of education. While 77.8
percent of rural respondents are illiterates, only 18.3 percent of
urban respondents fall under this category (Table 3.10). Up to 46 per-
cent of rural respondents, as compared to only 10 percent of urban
respondents, have never been to school.

This large proportion of illiterates in the rural population
reflects migration selectivity by education. However, since a rela-
tively large number of these illiterates are also moving to Calabar,
this indicates that the effect of education is not the only driving
force behind migration. Many forces, including poverty and the need for
"civilization" push and/or pull migrants, and the uneducated, still move
to town even though opportunities for higher paying jobs obviously
favor those with educational qualifications.

To test the effect of education on migration a correlation analy-

sis of migration with education was run. The result showed no

80

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3.9. Percent distribution of years of education by years of
migration (Urban survey).

Recency of Years of Education

Migration 0-5 6F10 511115 16 and over

Recent 77.4 86.6 93. 93.8

Intermediate 14.6 9.7 5.8 4.2

01d 4.3 3.2 0.4 0.0

Very old 3.7 0.5 0.0 2.0

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
(164) (403) (278) (50)

 

 

 

 

 

Key: Recent = 0-10 years; Intermediate

11-20 years; Old = 21-30

years; Very Old = 31 years and over.

Chi Square = 39.728 «igdf .0001

Sig.

Table 3.10. Percent distribution of responses to the question: How

many years of education have you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rural Urban
Years of Percent Cumfilative Percent Cumu1ative
Education Distribution Percent Distribution Percent
0 46.3 46.3 9.7 9.7
1-5 31.5 77.8 8.5 18.2
6 and over 22.2 100.0 81.8 100.0
Chi ngare = 71.301 .2 df Sig, = .001

 

81

correlation (R = 0.1510--urban data). Though an analysis of the "very
old" to "recent" migrants (Table 3.9) indicates an increasing propensity
to migrate of literate persons over time, this lack of correlation be-
tween migration and education reflects the existence of a large propor-
tion of rural illiterates in the migrant stream. But with the introduc-
tion of the Free Primary Education Program which went into effect in
1977 throughout Nigeria, the effect of education is likely to change.
Unmatched, as the program is, with efforts to improve rural living con-
ditions and re-orient education to also suit rural life, or increase and
diversify rural job opportunities, not only will the future rate of
rural-urban migration increase considerably but the effect of education
will become more pronounced, as the proportion of rural illiterates is
dramatically reduced. However, if properly planned the program should
serve not only as a source of manpower for both farm and non-farm jobs
but also as a means of regulating the spatial distribution of population.

This observation will be discussed further in Chapter V.

chgpation

 

An important aspect of rural-urban migration in Calabar is the
occupational contrast between village and town. In the village most
people (63.7 percent) are farmers, while town occupations comprise a
wide variety of jobs, with farming as an insignificant (1.8 percent)
activity occupation (see Table 3.11).

The larger proportion (49.9 percent) of urban as compared with
11.2 percent of rural activities under "other" in Table 3.11 means that

urban occupations can be further deduced into many other categories of

82

Table 3.11. Urban and rural occupational distributions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urban Rural

Occupation N Percent N lPercent
Civil servant 194 21.7 - -
Trading 116 13.0 103 14.2
Teaching 37 4.1 20 2.8
Driving 30 3.4 - -
Tailoring 26 2.9 19 2.6
Farming l6 1.8 462 63.7
Fishing 16 1.8 39 5.4
Nursing 11 1.2 - -
Lawyer 3 0.3 - -
Other 446 49.8 81 11.2
Total 895 100.0 725 100.0

 

 

 

 

 

Chi Square = 27.877 9 df Sig. = .001

workers such as doctors, builders, washermen, typists, printers, shoe
repairers, etc. Clearly, while the paucity of opportunities push people
from rural areas, because of the diversity of its occupational types the

urban center attracts all types of rural people from all occupations.

Ethnic Distribution

 

Ethnic group is an essential element of African demography
(Blanc, N.D.). As was discussed previously in this chapter, originally
the ethnic composition of Calabar comprised only three groups, but due
to the continuous influx of migrants, the number and distribution of

its ethnic composition has considerably changed (Table 3.12).

83

Table 3.12. Ethnic distribution in Calabar.

 

 

 

 

 

Percent
Ethnic Group N Distribution
1. Ibibio/Annang 605 67.6
2. Efik/Qua/Efut 166 18.5
3. Ekoi/Ejagham/Etung 41 4.6
4. Oron 34 3.8
5. Other 49 5.5
Total 895 100.0

 

 

 

 

 

Today the Ibibio and Annang, from the mainland part of the Cross
River State, constitute 67.6 percent, and form the majority of the ethnic
groups in Calabar, pushing the original ethnic groups to a second place.
The "other" ethnic groups, 5.5 percent, are migrants from other parts of
Nigeria. It will be seen in the next section of this chapter, and in
Chapter IV, that allegiance to one's ethnic origin and clan remains
psychologically so strong that it is an important factor in the process

of migration, and the search for urban housing.

Migration Flows to Calabar
The historical foundations of migration, the causal factors, and
the characteristics of migrants, as discussed above, are essential for
understanding the process and rate of rural-urban migration in Calabar.
In addition, the size and spatial distribution of the population, with

its elements of change, constitute the basic factors in migration flows.

84

Table 3.13 is an illustration of the State's projected rural and urban
population change, as compared to that of Calabar Division. With a 5.4
percent annual growth rate, Calabar is the fastest growing urban area in
the State, and this demonstrates its unrivalled attractive force. The
lower rates of growth in the rural areas reflect the rural-urban migra-
tion which is expected to continue in the future. Also, the larger
proportion of rural population demonstrates the existence of a seemingly
inexhaustible reserve of potential city dwellers in Calabar. At its
current rate of 5.4 percent annual growth, the city may double its

present population in less than 13 years.

Table 3.13. Cross River State and Calabar divisional population distri-
bution and projections--1975-1985.

 

 

 

 

 

, I Annual Growth
Area 1975 l 1985 Rate (Percent)
Cross River State 3,837,592 4,896,122 2.5
Rural 3,341,078 4,176,762 2.3
Urban 496.514 719.360 3.8
Percent Urban 12.9 14.7 -
Calabar Division 364,571 521,720 3.7
Rural 273,305 367,299 _3.0
Urban 1 91,266 154,471 5.4
I l
Percent Urban 3 25.0 I 29.5 -

 

 

Source: Berger (1975), p. 218.

85

It has already been noted that the establishment of Calabar as
the capital is a factor in the city's resurgence. However, with
the completion in 1977 of the direct highway connection (the Calabar-
Itu road) to the Western part of Calabar, the desirability of the city
as a commercial center is likely to increase.

Another development likely to enhance the commercial function of
Calabar is the proposed modernization of the part. These, and other
innovations, will further accelerate the current rate of migration to
this already "exploding" city.

In the rural areas where rural-urban migration originates it is

often hypothesized that population pressure on land is a major factor

that pushes people to town. As was established in Chapter I, because
of the low population density in rural Calabar, this hypothesis does
not hold true in this study area. We, therefore, turn to the role of
family size in rural-urban migration. In general, the propensity to
migrate increases steadily with family size (Caldwell, 1968:371).
Caldwell explains this as "the probable result of the interaction of
two factors." That is, with the increasing number of siblings the
chance that at least one will have chosen to migrate to town arises,
and once some migration has occurred, the chance of others going is
raised. To test the role of family size in migration flows from rural
Calabar, it was hypothesized that there is a direct relationship between
the size of household and the number of migrants from the family.

A simple correlation coefficient of 0.4377 at the Significance level of

0.01 was revealed (urban data). This reflects the combination of many

factors which operate to push or retain people in all levels of rural

86

homes. Family size is only one of the numerous factors in migration,
but it is clearly important.

The prior presence of relatives and friends in town is not only a
factor in migration flows but is almost essential to the migrants'
successful adjustment to town life. According to Hulton (1970) "migrants
choice of destination is largely influenced by the presence of relatives
and friends already in town." In this study migrants were asked: Who
most influenced your principal reason for migrating to Calabar? Their
responses reveal that relatives (48.2 cumulative percent), and especially
parents in that group (20.1 percent), play a significant role in encour-
aging migrants to move (Table 3.14). While 28.8 percent of the migrants
moved to explore "unknown opportunities", 10.0 percent of them mentioned
their educational background as the main influence behind their reason
for migrating, and 9.4 percent were driven mainly by the Nigerian Civil
War. Friends account for 3.8 percent of those who play a part in the
migration decision process.

In an attempt to assess the importance of relatives and friends
in the successful adjustment of migrants to town life, migrants were
asked: (1) With whom did you first stay upon arrival? (Table 3.15), and
(2) How did you find your first job? (Table 3.16). On arrival, most
migrants (60.9 percent) are likely to stay with close relatives. Some
(26.5 percent) stay with friends, others (4.8 percent) with countrymen,
and only 7.8 percent are able to stay on their own. Those who are able
to stay on their own comprise largely civil servants, some company work-
ers and a few private individuals who had secured jobs and prearranged

accommodations prior to their arrival in Calabar.

87

Table 3.14. Percent distribution of responses to the question:
Who most influenced your principal reason for migrating to
Calabar?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Percent Cumulative
Responses N Distribution Percent
Parents 158 20.1 20.1
Brother or sister 127 16.1 36.2
Other relatives 95 12.0 48.2
Personal exploration 227 28.8 77.0
Educational upbringing 79 _ 10.0 87.0
Friends 28 3.6 90.6
Other--main1y war 74 9.4 100.0
Total 788 [ 100.0 100.0

 

Table 3.15. Percent distribution of responses to the question:
With whom did you first stay in this town on arrival
(mention relationship)?

 

 

 

 

Percent
Responses N Distribution
1. Relative 492 60.9
2. Friend 214 26.5
3. Countryman 39 4.8
4. On my own 62 7.8
Total 808 100.0

 

 

 

88

Since economic factors play a major role in migration flows, it
is important to find out how migrants manage to secure urban jobs.
Apart from providing accommodations, relatives and friends help migrants
in the search for jobs, especially at the initial stage (Table 3.16).
However, friends do better than relatives in helping the migrant search
for a job than in the provision of accommodation. This must occur since
migrants feel freer to approach relatives rather than friends for hous—
ing help. Table 3.16 indicates that some migrants still explore the

urban job market all by themselves.

Table 3.16. Percent distribution responses to the question:
How did you find your first job?

 

 

 

 

Percent
Responses N Distribution
1. By myself 255 37.4
2. Through government 154 22.6
3. Friend 103 15.1
4. Relative 93 13.6
5. Employment agent 77 11.3
Total 682 100.0

 

 

 

The duration of migrants' stay with their urban hosts varies con-
siderably-—ranging from a few months to ten or more years. Often some

migrants are accommodated until they can find employment and are able to

89

pay for rent and food. In return for the free room and board, migrants
render various domestic services such as house cleaning, laundry work,
cooking, baby sitting, gardening, and where able, contribute money for
board and rent. Considering the fact that high cost of living and rent
are the outstanding problems of urban living in Calabar, it must be ob-
served that the act of helping newly arrived migrants is never altogether
a palatable service. However, by the norms of the extended family system,
it is almost mandatory for relatives to provide these services to their
peers in difficult situations. It will be interesting to see how long
urban hosts will continue to assist their migrant relatives as cost of

living continues to skyrocket and accommodations become scarcer.

Another important factor in migration flows is the availability
of information. The primary influence of urban relatives is likely to
be in providing information on urban jobs (Byerlee, 1972:11). To assess
the role of information in migration flows to Calabar, migrants were
asked: Before deciding to move to Calabar did you have any information
about a job? Only 43.5 percent of the respondents had any information

about a job before they left home. In his book, Planning Without Facts,

 

Stolper (1967) has clearly documented the importance but paucity of
basic information in Nigeria. Table 3.17 is a distribution of the
sources through which the respondents gained information about the urban
job situation in Calabar. Again, urban friends (30.5 percent), more
than family members (20.4 percent), serve as a major source of informa-
tion. The other sources of information include newspaper, radio and

others such as countrymen and rumors.

90

Table 3.17. Percent distribution of sources of information about job.

 

 

 

 

Percent
Sources N Distribution
Friends 117 30.5
Newspaper 83 21.7
Relatives 78 20.4
Radio 50 13.1
Other 55 14.4
Total 383 100.0

 

 

 

One remarkable feature of migration flows is that many migrants
follow a step migration pattern, first migrating to the nearest town
and then to a larger urban area (Collins, 1952; Gregory, 1971).
Discussion of this process can be traced back to the late 1800's when
migration was first observed to proceed by stages (Ravenstein, 1895).

In this research 50.7 percent of the respondents have lived in

other towns before moving to Calabar, and the remainder had moved

directly to the city. This rather large proportion of direct rural-
urban movement can be explained as the result of kinship ties, develop-
ment of highway networks in recent years, and the special attraction
of this capital city.

In order to appreciate the increasing magnitude of the problems
arising from migration flows and the need to relate the process with

economic development and human welfare, it is important to examine how

91

the volume of migration has changed through the years. The question
about the number of years since migrants first moved to Calabar reveals
that, on the average, they moved in the last six and a half years.

This period of time coincides with the end of the Nigerian civil war and
the change in status of Calabar which accelerated the movement of people
to the city. Apart from those who directly moved into Calabar as war
victims, many have decided to migrate into the city due to the rising
expectations which marked the creation of the Cross River State during
that war. The people of the State had, since the 19605, yearned for and
struggled to have a separate State of their own. At last, its creation
radically turned their attention away from Enugu as the seat of their
government--the center of their hopes for civilization, modernization,
social and economic progress, and focused it on Calabar.

Though migration to Calabar is an old phenomenon, the sharp in-
crease in its volume in recent years is a new experience. As Table 3.18
shows, only 1 percent of the migrants have over thirty years of resi-
dency; whereas, 86 percent of them are recent migrants; that is, those
who arrived less than ten years ago. It can be argued that return
migrants have helped to reduce the proportion of the very old, old, and
intermediate migrants. But as the rural survey indicates, only 10.6
percent of the interviewed households had any return migrants.

One should, therefore, interpret with care the urban migrants'
hopes to return permanently to their villages. Over 32 percent of them
indicate that they will return to their village for good. Though this
willingness to return underlines migrants' commitment, loyalty, and

interest in their village homes, the realities of rural conditions mean

92

Table 3.18. Percent distribution of responses to the question:
How many years since you first moved to Calabar?

 

 

 

 

Percent
Categories N Distribution
Recent 679 85.9
Intermediate 81 10.3
Old 21 2.7
Very old 9 1.1
Total 790 100.0

 

 

 

that only very few of them will fultill their ambitions of a permanent
return. Of course, to most of them, such a return will be largely con-
tingent upon the materialization of their expressed reasons for planning
to return (Table 3.19).

As Table 3.19 shows, 32.3 percent of the migrants base their hopes
of a permanent return on the eventual availability of a rural job oppor-
tunity, and only 7.9 percent base it on retirement from their urban job.
Preference for village life is the second in importance of the reasons
for permanent return; it reflects the degree of rural-urban interaction
that could very likely become the number one reason. Temporary visits
serve to link the urban and rural areas. Though only few migrants in
the urban area return permanently to their village homes, the volume of
temporary visits is quite large. 0n the whole, of course, there is a

net migration flow from rural to urban areas.

93

Table 3.19. Percent distribution responses to the question:
Will you ever permanently return to your village?
If yes, why?

 

 

 

 

Percent

Responses N Distribution
1. Whenever opportunity offers itself

in the village 217 32.4
2. Preference for village life 153 22.8
3. After completing my building in

the village 91 13.6
4. Lack of success in town 87 13.0
5. After making enough money in town 69. 10.3
6. On retirement 53 ' 7.9
Total 670 100.0

 

 

 

Rural-Urban Linkages

Rural-urban migration involves "spatial interaction processes"
(Soja, 1969:284). That is, migration can be viewed as the ways in which
space is organized and articulated through the circulation of people,
goods, and ideas. According to Gould (1969:281) "The rural areas are
tied over more tightly to the urban nodes as people, goods and messages
flow and grow recursively to feed back information through geographic
space".

Evidently, in Calabar, the migration process is not a "one shot"
operation; for it does not necessarily mean a permanent separation

between those who have moved and their rural kin and environment.

94

Rather, even if firmly established in town, the migrant from the rural
area retains very close ties with the rural area through visits to his
village. The situation is not far different from what Little (1965:21)
described as "constant coming and going of traders, as well as the move-
ment of migrants ... town people frequently visit or are visited by
rural relatives." Besides, as another observer indicates: "It appears
that the level of interaction and movement between rural and urban areas
is higher in Africa and Asia than in Latin America" (Ross, 1973:43).
Calabar Division is unique in the high level of interaction be-
tween the rural and urban areas. Traditionally, the Efik of Calabar
have always claimed that, irrespective of the spatial location of their
homes in the Division, they belong to both the rural and the urban areas.
There is an Efik saying: "mutoho inwang utoho Efik", which means, if you
do not hail from the rural plantation you are not a true Efik. It there-
fore implies that practically all the larger Efik settlements have some
blood links with the vast cultivable lands (inwang) north, east and south-
east of Calabar city and Creek Town. Almost every Efik family in Calabar
is connected with its "inwang", the source of its economic strength; and
the origin of these connections is "buried deep in Calabar history" (Aye,
1967). After the slave trade "inwang" became a place of economic secur-
ity and freedom from political and social molestations of the town.
Consequently, most rural migrants of Efik origin resist the idea of
being "branded" migrants in Calabar. In answer to questions about migra-
tion control, they retorted: ."How can anybody ever restrict one's free-

dom of choice to visit or live in either one's rural or urban home?"

95

Today a vast majority of migrants in Calabar identify themselves

with their rural families through periodic visits. Migrants visit home

frequently, especially during holidays such as Christmas and Easter,
special ceremonial occasions, family and village events, and during
annual leave (see Table 3.20). Over 90 percent of the respondents indi-
cate that migrants in towns visit their rural homes at least once a
year. Over 30 percent of the migrants visit village homes as often as
once every month; whereas, only 5.7 percent of the urban, and 6.6 per-
cent of the rural respondents indicate migrants that never visit village

homes.

Table 3.20. Percent distribution of responses to the questions:
How often do you visit your village home? (Urban survey)
How often do members of your household who live in town
visit home? (Rural survey)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urban Survey Rural Survey
Relative CumulatiVe elative CumulatiVe
Responses .N Percent Percent N Percent Percent
Monthly 284 35.1 35.1 98 38.0 38.0
Twice a year 336 41.6 76.7 126 48.8 86.8
Once a year 142 17.6 94.3 17 6.6 93.4
Never 46 5.7 100.0 . 17 6.6 100.0
Total 1808 100.0 100.0 I 258% 100.0 1 100.0

 

 

Further investigations reveal that incidence of home visits var-

ies with factors such as age--the major variable of migration. The older

96

migrants with no surviving parents or close relatives are less mobile
and are more tied to their present residence by their family responsi-
bilities than the younger ones. Those who migrated from rural areas
because of family quarrels or what they called "rural hatred" scarcely
visit home or plan to return to the village. Some respondents also
hinted that "one cannot expect migrants who moved because of criminal
offences to ever show up in their villages." Among migrants who rarely
visit, or have broken contact with their village homes, can be added the
unemployed or unsuccessful migrants--those who have nothing to show as a
sign of their achievements in town. Migrants in this group, are general-
ly those who scarcely send money or other gift items to their rural
families.

An important aspect of rural-urban linkages is the flow of money
and gifts from urban to rural areas (see Table 3.21). In economic terms,
remittance of money and other items of gift is often considered as the
most important aspect of rural-urban migration (Caldwell, 1968). Urban-
rural remittances in Calabar include not only money but items such as
clothing, trinkets, watches and other imported goods; whereas, rural-
urban remittances are largely food items. Because only money flows are
easy to measure, migrants were asked if they send money home, and 70 per-
cent answered yes. They spend an average of $187, ranging from $8 to
$1527 to rural homes. Table 3.21 is a distribution of financial remit-
tances by migrants in Calabar. A large proportion of the respondents
(over 80 percent) send less than $305 to relatives in rural areas. The
low average amount of remittances from migrants indicate that when the

cost of educating migrants as well as the inestimable counter-flow of

97

gifts from rural areas is considered, the impact of out-migration can be
viewed as a net loss, in both physical and financial terms, to rural

areas .

Table 3.21. Percent distribution of responses to the question:
How much money do you send to your family in the village

 

 

 

 

annually?
Categories
of amount Percent Percent
(in US dollars) N Respondents Cumulative
0-152 268 57.8 57.8
154-304 118 25.6 83.4
306-458 44 9.3 92.7
460—610 19 4.1 96.8
613-764 9 1.9 98.7
766 and over 6 1.3 100.0
Total 464 100.0 . 100.0

 

 

 

 

Summary

Observations in this chapter demonstrate that the dynamic histori-
cal development of Calabar is important in understanding the process of
migration in this study area. In its development, this ancient city
has passed through various stages which affect the aspirations of its
people and, consequently, the volume and direction of migration flows.
Originally, internal wars pushed people into the city, but today the
overriding forces in migration flows to the city are economic, and

employment provides the major lure to Calabar.

98

Pulls and pushes operate in both rural and urban areas. But to
many migrants and nonmigrants the sharp contrast between the dearth of
economic as well as social facilities in the villages, and their pres-
ence in the town, is obvious. Added to this rural-urban imbalance has
been the change in political status of Calabar. These and other factors
have led to a remarkable increase in the volume of migration flow, as
well as changes in the ethnic and socio-economic make-up of the migrants,
especially since the last Nigerian Civil War. To most of these migrants
"home is sweet home", and though their remittances have no net benefit
to rural development, town dwellers' loyalties are to their village
places of birth rather than to the town where they earn a living. The
close ties which migrants maintain between the city and their villages
mean that instead of being confined to the city , ideas and practices are
diffused over a much wider area, thus making the city "a pace setter
for the society" (Little, 1965). These observations are critical in
both rural and urban planning policies.

Ironically the Civil War led to the destruction of many houses
in Calabar. But its end marked the resurgence of the city. We now
turn to the impact of migration, which has been dramatic since that War,

on housing in Calabar.

CHAPTER IV

THE IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON HOUSING

Introduction

The people of old Calabar showed early interest in "modern"
European buildings. Their rulers asked for the erection of "solid"
type of buildings to replace their mud and wattle houses. As far back
as 1785 some of the chiefs possessed European built storey houses.
Nearly all of these were prefabricated in Britain and shipped to Calabar.
Notable among such buildings are those of the old Consulate now used as
the State Governor's Residence, the Old Residency, and the Chief
Justice's Residence. However, during the Civil War of 1966-9 some
80,500 residential buildings were destroyed in the Cross River State;
Calabar suffering the heaviest toll.

In Nigeria as a whole, adequate and appropriate shelter has be-
come a primary problem especially in the rapidly urbanizing areas, and
Calabar is no exception. As a result, "no ready-made accommodation
awaits those who come into these urban areas" (Sabowale, 1977). Thus,
before migration, and on arrival in town, the primary concern of the
migrant is often where he will live. The search for housing, therefore,
presents a greater challenge to migrants on arrival than the search for

jobs. In this study, about 60 percent of the respondents indicate

99

100

that finding an accommodation, rather than a job, was their number one
problem on arrival.

More to the point, rural-urban migration is a persistent cause of
the urban housing deficit. Many authors and researchers support the view
that it is largely the influx of rural migrants that aggravates urban
housing problems (Harvey, 1968; Asika, 1974; Inoyo, 1974; Ebong, 1975;
Honsby-Odi, 1975:7; Achunine, 1977:3; Grimes, 1976:91). Grimes' remark
is instructive:

SOME HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES have found housing--and more

generally urban development--difficu1t to organize efficiently

and equitably, even though they have not had to deal with the

same explosive city growth as developing countries. It is
therefore not surprising that most developing countries, with

low incomes and limited resources, find housing a nearly

intractable policy area (1976:91).

Because rural-urban migration and its impact on urban and rural housing
constitute a threat on the human, social, and economic wellbeing of the
Calabar environment, this chapter will analyze these features as a

means of establishing a framework for policy recommendations on migra-

tion and housing.

Migration and Impact on Housing

A Scheme of the Impact of Rural-Urban Migration
on Urban Housing

The intricate nature of the impact of rural-urban migration on
housing is best portrayed in model farm (Figure 4.1). No matter where
he resides, every individual is influenced by the environment where he
lives. The degree of such influence is dependent upon the individual's

personal characteristics. In this model, the rural environment is

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102

segmented into (l) wage differentials or the monetary conditions in the
rural, as compared with urban environment; (2) socio-cultural, economic,
and educational structures; and (3) the personal traits of the potential
migrant. These environmental features provide continuous stimuli to
which individuals respond. At times the response can be one of stress
(Whitelaw et al.; l972). Geographers often use the concept of "Place
Utility", borrowed from economists, to explain the stress situation in
which an individual migrates in response to stress exerted by his envi-
ronment. Place utility is based on the notion that an individual can
subjectively place a utility rank on alternatives available and known to
him. The concept "may be expressed as a positive or negative quantity,
expressing respectively the individual's satisfaction or dissatisfaction
with respect to that place" (Wolpert, 1965:162). Place utility is,
therefore, the measure of attractiveness or unattractiveness of an area,
relative to alternative locations as perceived by the potential migrant.
The motivation to migrate often becomes manifest when the environmental
stimuli cause place utility to fall below a certain critical level
generally known as the "threshold level". In rural-urban migration the
threshold of utility defines the degree of differentiation of place util-
ity between the place of origin and all possible destinations. This
concept of place utility is reminiscent of the concepts of push-pull, as
well as rural-urban imbalances as causal factors in migration.

The model shows that the individual's reaction to stress is one

of the factors in his assessment of the value of migration.

103

Because the utility of site varies with the demographic and socio-
economic characteristics of the individual, depending on the personal
traits of that potential migrant, he can either: (1) adjust his needs
to effect compatibility with the stress imposing stimuli; (2) restruc-
ture the environment to overcome the stress; or (3) migrate to avoid
the stress imposing environment. These alternative responses corre-
spond to Nolpert's (1965) "adaptation" and "adjustment" to perceived
changes in the environment. An individual who cannot adapt or adjust to
the rural environmental stress has reached the threshold level where he
perceives greater value in migration than rural life.

Whether or not a potential migrant will reach that level depends
not only on his reaction to rural environmental stress but also on his
assessment of the urban environment. By providing information about
jobs and urban housing, as well as through visits to rural areas, the
extended family members and friends in urban areas serve as models and
links in the potential migrant's perception of the value of migration.
Other external factors such as public or government policies on develop-
ment, investments, spatial locations of job opportunities and amenities
affect the expectations of a potential migrant, and consequently, his
assessment of the value of migration. The higher the expectations the
greater the value (real or imagined) he is likely to associate with
migration. The model recognizes the complex combination of factors
which lead to the decision to migrate. As was discussed in Chapter III
the dichotomy between rural and urban Calabar is so sharp that powerful

push and pull factors exist to drive many rural people below the

104

threshold level of satisfaction in rural life to the city. The effect
of this on the volume of rural migrants is obvious.

The impact of migration on urban housing depends on the volume of
rural migrants resulting from the decisions to migrate. But the actual
urban housing shortage is a function of the needs, demand and supply of
urban housing. The size of urban housing demand is derived from three
sources: (I) the volume of rural migrants; (2) the volume of migrants
from other urban areas; and (3) urban population increase, excluding out-
migrants. Whereas, the size of urban housing supply comes from
(1) private owners and landlords; (2) government employers and govern-
ment housing projects; and (3) private employers. Urban housing short-
age results where the supply of housing falls below the rate of urban
housing needs and demand. When this occurs popular solutions such as
the increase of housing supply by private persons, companies and the
government are called for, otherwise a lack of solutions result in slums
and degradation. In time, a few rich and fortunate people continue to
enjoy real satisfaction in housing, while the poorly housed people are
forced to adapt to the harsh and inescapable housing conditions in which

they find themselves.

Need and Demand for Housing
Need relates to the requirement for housing regardless of house-
holds' ability to pay. Need, therefore, implies a social consideration
in the acquisition of shelter under conditions of minimum, but humanly
acceptable standards. The term need has many connotations. It refers

to a shelter unit in which a given household should be housed, based on

105

household size and the number of rooms required to accommodate its
members at a given room occupancy norm. Need, as a description of hous-
ing inventory, defines overcrowding. Since room density is a handy
yardstick for determining the degree of congestion or overcrowding,

this method will be used to estimate housing need.

But, opposed to mere need, demand for housing is determined by
the ability of the household to pay the market rate of housing. Demand
for housing can be derived by applying the purchasing power (annual
income) of households to total need. Such an exercise is useful in
deriving subsets showing the need groups that can afford market priced
housing. A knowledge of the demographic and socio-economic variables
is necessary to objectively estimate housing needs and demand; the next
sections deal with these factors and the major constraints in the hous-

ing delivery system in Calabar.

Urban and Rural Housing Shortages

 

As is reported in the Cross River State Housing Enquiry: "There
had been acute shortage of accommodation in the urban centres" (1975).
In Calabar, as in most fast growing cities of the developing countries,
population growth through migration produces significant urban concen-
tration. Consequently, many people lose their capacity to produce
shelter in their traditional manner.

Apart from the role of migration, major constraints in residen-
tial construction in Calabar can be cited. First, it is difficult for

potential builders to secure land with a clear title. In the

106

Cross River State there is no land registry.1 The right to the control
and disposal of native land is traditionally held by villages or village
groups and within these by the lineages. The traditional land tenure
system recognizes several classes of land, among them are: sacred,
lineage, personal, borrowed and pledged land. The parceling out of lots
by village councils and lineage heads is a complex procedure which must
take account of this intricate mosaic of established rights and tradi-

tions of land.

Government land acquisition in Calabar is so difficult that often
negotiations for land break down and the government unilaterally en-
forces a solution. With the gradual breakdown of the traditional land
tenure system, caused, in part, by the proliferation of private owner-
ship, this method of acquiring public land from communal bodies will
become more difficult, as private "land speculators" will come to domi-
nate the land market. Though Nigeria has an enabling legislation for
the purpose of land acquisition for public uses, the compensations
claimed by land owners have generally been much higher than the real
"opportunity costs" and the "use value" of such land. Scarcity and
exorbitant land prices will compound the problem of bridging the gap
between supply and demand for housing, unless a redefinition of land
property rights is undertaken to tackle the increasing incidence of

land speculation.

 

1The Calabar Master Plan contains a land use map which does not
delineate any government land, even though the government has some land
in the city.

107

The second constraint to residential housing construction relates
to the erratic supply and high cost of building materials. The most
important building material is cement. While the Cross River State is
fortunate in having its own cement industry, the production capacity of
the Calabar Cement Company is limited and cannot at present satisfy the
total demand for cement in the State. Furthermore, to circumvent the
Price Control Policy, the distributors artificially create scarcity,
thereby encouraging an illegal market system where they are able to sell
their products at triple or more the factory price. While many building
materials are now produced in Nigeria, it is still necessary to import
re-inforcing steel, non-ferrous metal products, sanitary fittings,
electrical fixtures and sheet glass--all of which add to the cost of
construction materials.

The third is the delay involved in securing approval for residen-
tial construction and renovation. A lengthy submittal and approval
process is required by the planning authorities. This includes submis-
sion of lot surveys and building plans to various authorities. All
information must be complete, and in the proper form before action is
taken. The lack of standard plans, the low literacy level of potential
builders and the rigid enforcement of regulations extends the approval
process. Yet construction may not begin until approvals are received.-
Planning authorities estimate that even when the submission is generally
in order, the approval process may take up to six months. When the
construction begins, there are a series of inspections by various

ministries to ensure compliance with the regulations. The same

108

”red tape" is applicable in the process of housing renovation. The
author met one householder in a dilapidated building who complained that
he had waited over one year for an approval to renovate the crumbling
walls and the sagging roof of his house. It should be noted that a rigid
enforcement policy by the government is neither fair nor practicable,
especially if that government cannot alleviate the housing problem by
actively participating in the construction of houses.

Lack of finance is the fourth major constraint in residential
construction. Both the government and the governed are frustrated by
this problem. Since finance is a critical factor in the delivery of
housing and housing services it will be discussed in greater details in
another section of this chapter.

Another significant point of the housing delivery system in Calabar
is that the general shortage of housing units has forced many rural
migrants into overcrowded quarters. Overcrowding is an index of housing
shortage and needs. Many authors have defined optimum room requirements;
for instance, Dr. Sofoluwe and Margaret Peil (1972:l65) consider a room
to be overcrowded if there are more than 2.5 persons, counting children
under five years as half. The United Nations Mission to Kenya (1964:15)
describes overcrowding as just any room density above 3 persons.
According to Duncan (1967) and Berger (l975) overcrowded units are those
which house more than 2 persons per room. This definition will be used
in the estimation of housing shortage in this study.

Using the two persons per room as the threshold density, a major-

ity of housing units in Calabar, 60.3 percent, are overcrowded (Table4.l).

109

Some 24.9 percent of the housing units have 2 persons per room, while

only l4.8 percent have 1 person per room.

Table 4.1. Room density and housing units required.

 

 

 

 

Room Housing Percent Required Housing

Density Units Distribution Units
l 132 14.8 -66.0
2 223 24.9 0.0
3 l97 22.0 98.5
4 ll5 l2.9 ‘ llS.0
5 72 B.l l08.0
6 52 5.8 104.0
7 40 4.5 l00.0
8 23 2.6 69.0
9 39 4.4 136.5

Total 893 l00.0 665.0

 

 

 

 

In order to determine the number of housing units required to
meet the recommended standard density for the different overcrowded
units, the following formula was used to derive the figures under hous-

ing requirements in Table 4.1:

d
N_d__-.a.s_=RH
S

d

Where d equals the room density in the different housing units, S , the

set standard density, N, the number of housing units of each d, and RH,

110

the number of housing units that would be required to enable the over-
crowded householders in the different housing units to live in accord-
ance with the optimum density. The result indicates that, to attain
such density for all, 665 more units, or over 74 percent of the 893
housing units would have to be constructed.

The housing problem is not confined to the urban area only, it is
also a rural phenomenon. However, excluding financial constraints, the
rural housing shortage does not suffer from the same constraints that
hinder urban residential constructions. The problem of rural housing
is not characterized by scarcity of land vis-a-vis land speculation,
unrealistic building standards, over-rigid regulations, delays in the
process of approval for construction. Every African peasant is able to
build his own house, and to assist in the construction of houses for
relatives and friends, and this is no exception in rural Calabar. Yet,
because rural Calabar constitutes a significantly larger population than
the urban area, rural housing shortage also deserves close attention.
Rural Calabar is evidently characterized by lack of good quality housing.
The problem of rural housing is less complex than that of urban housing
(Vogale, l97l). These observations will be clearer when we discuss the

quantitative and qualitative distributions of housing.

On the basis of the optimum density as used in the estimation of
urban housing shortage, quantitatively there is rather a housing surplus
in rural areas (Table 4.2). The highest room density in the rural areas

is 3, as compared with 9 in the urban area. Over 73 percent of the

111

Table 4.2. Rural room density and housing requirement.

 

 

 

 

Room Number of Percent Housing Units
Density Housing Units Distribution Required
534 73.7 -267.0
l74 24.0 0.0
l7 2.3 l7.0
Total 725 lO0.0 -250.0

 

 

 

 

rural householders live in housing units with below the standard density,
indicating a surplus of 267 housing units. Even if we exclude the l7
housing units required to bring the l7 overcrowded units up to the
standard, the rural areas still have room to accommodate many more people.
It is in this respect that some respondents to the issue remarked: "The
housing shortage is more an urban than a rural problem. Rural houses
are not only rent-free but are so under-crowded that one can even be

paid to live and keep empty rooms warm for the owner."

Demographic Consideration

The size and characteristics of the population and its elements
of change can help greatly in determining the magnitude and character
of the demand for housing and other services. As was evident in the
p0pulation studies of Calabar in Chapter III, a high proportion of young
people characterize both the migrant streams, and the population of
Calabar. This indicates large families, rapid population increase,

and hence a demand for more and larger houses. The forecast of

112

demographic need for shelter should be based on the expected new house-
hold formations which occur as a result of an area's natural and migra-
tory population growth.

The projection of the housing needs for Calabar can be simply
estimated by dividing the population projection figures by 5.2, which
is the average household size according to the l965-66 Rural Demographic
Sample Survey in the South Eastern State. This method was used with the

population projection figures of Chapter III, to derive Table 4.3.

Table 4.3. Projected population and households for Calabar Division
and the City--l975-85.

 

 

 

 

Percent In-
l975 l985 crease of
Area _Population Households Population Households Households
Calabar
Division 364,571 65,l02 521,720 93,164 43
Calabar
City 91,266 l6,297 154,47l 27,584 69

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the Division as a whole shows an increase of 43 percent in the
number of households, Calabar city shows an increase of 69 percent
during the ten year forecast period. This demonstrates a high propor-
tion of additional housing units are required to meet the city's natural
and migratory population increase during the ten years. This projection
neglects such serious problems as rehousing the population living in

substandard dwellings. Even excluding this limitation, the projection

113

makes the housing need so vast that solution seems impossible, especial-
ly if we consider the low priority given to the housing problem in the
Federal and State budget. The role of the State and Federal govern-

ments in housing will be discussed later in this chapter.

Economic Consideration

The need and demand for dwellings in any particular area is, in
large measure, a function of the economic circumstances of the people
in the area. It has already been established that need is not synony-
mous with demand for housing, because the ability of an individual to
translate his need for housing into "effective demand" for dwellings is
largely dependent upon the level of his income, or the financial
resources at his disposal. Demand in economics terms represents both
needs and purchasing power; whereas, need does not necessarily imply the
ability to pay for housing. When people cannot produce the purchasing
power required to obtain what they need, "such needs are ineffective"
(Bellow, l975:3). Because low earning capacity renders many people in
Calabar unable to own a home in their lifetime, or even rent sufficient
rooms, the economic parameter of the people should be taken into account
in determining effective demand for housing.

Effective demand is what can induce large increase in housing
supply which meets publicly accepted standards. Income qualification
or ability to purchase or rent housing is an important component that
defines housing demand. This study reveals such low earning capacity
of households that need far outnumbers demand for housing, and this can

be considered as a constraint in housing supply in the area.

114

Berger has, in his consideration of need and demand for housing,
classified the population into three income groups: (l) the Subsistence
Group which comprises those whose annual income is below $1,600, or the
lowest income group which cannot be considered a potential market for
housing, (2) the Need Group whose annual income ranges from $1,600 to
$3,894 is virtually on the fringes of the "effective demand sector" for
housing; Berger calls the group "a potential force that cannot be
ignored, since its need for shelter is almost twice as high as those in
the effective demand group, and (3) the Demand Group which earns over
$4,000 annually, and can therefore afford to purchase or rent housing--
according to Berger, this group accounts for about 7 percent of the
total housing need in the Calabar Urban Development Area.

This study also supports the view that, in economic terms, very
many people in Calabar Division cannot translate their needs for housing
into effective demand. Over 90 percent of the rural, and 66.1 percent
of the urban respondents fall within Berger's "subsistence income group".
It is this group which should be heavily subsidized, with government
supported programs initiated to facilitate their accommodation.

The rest of the rural respondents (8 percent), and 23.8 percent
of the urban respondents, fall within the need group. Like those in
the subsistence income group, because of their income constraints, they
cannot qualify to purchase housing outright. It is to these low income
groups that the observations by the United Nations Economic Commission
for Africa (1960) is relevant: "it is undoubtedly low wages which make

impossible the purchase and upkeep of decent homes." However, given

115

long-term financing, the need group can edge into the future housing
market, but at present the Nigerian financial market for housing is not
within the reach of the poor person. For instance, the Federal Mortgage
Bank, which is the chief financing house for housing in Nigeria,
operates under conditions that scare away any member of the subsistence
or need groups. To qualify for a loan, an applicant must meet these,
among other, requirements:
(1) have a title to a leasehold or a freehold of property to
serve as a security for the mortgage loan, by producing a
land certificate or a deed of conveyance/lease of occupancy;
(2) produce evidence of a reasonable regular income.
Yet, as this study reveals, only 10.1 percent of the urban respondents,

and none in the rural survey, fall within the demand group.

Residential Analysis of Migrants

 

From the need and demand for housing we now turn the focus onto
the living conditions and spatial distribution of the different types
of housing occupied by migrants. This section also deals with the
spatial distribution of the ethnic groups and their housing types.

Generally, most of the residential sectors in Calabar are located
in the Central Zone lying between the Western and Eastern Zones
(Figure 4-2). Figure 4-2 also illustrates the residential densities in
these sectors. Three broad housing types can be identified in the area:
(1) the traditional housing units with mud and wattle walls and thatch

roofs; (2) the permanent structures with cement walls and corrugated

116

CALABAR
RESIDENTIAL DISTRIBUTION

RESIDENTIAL AREA
DENSITY

a Lou in“ Sun
Greater man 5990

INDUSTRIAL AREAS

E

 

Figure 4-2

Source: After Calabar Master Plan.

117

iron roofs; and (3) units which are constructed with a combination of
materials used in the traditional and permanent structures; that is,
houses with either cement walls and thatch roofs, or mud walls and zinc
roofs. The traditional unit has been transplanted from its rural
environment into the urban setting. Because its building materials are
not of the quality that ensures durability (the mats used in roof-

ing being particularly susceptible to fire) it is often considered
incompatible with minimum human requirements. Though these units are
being gradually replaced by permanent structures, they still form a
significant proportion (over 30 percent) of the urban housing stock

(Tables 4.4 and 4.5).

Table 4.4. Percent distribution of roofing material for housing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Percent
Responses N Distribution
Corrugated Iron Sheets ~594 66.4
Mats 300 33.6
Total 894 100.0

 

Table 4.5. Percent distribution of wall types for housing.

 

 

 

Percent
Responses N Distribution
Cement 550 61.5
Mud . 339 37.9
Other 5 0.6

 

 

 

Total I 894 ; 100.0

 

118

Table 4.6 shows that there is no significant difference between
the post- and the pre-war migrants in the types of housing they occupy.
But breaking the migrants into five time periods of their arrival in

town shows a significant difference in the housing distribution among

the migrants (Table 4.7). Recent migrants who have less than one year‘s
residency have the highest proportion, 45.3 percent, living in thatched

houses, as compared with migrants of 6 to 10 years with 28.9 percent.

Table 4.6. Percent distribution of roofing material by post- ~civil war
and pre-war migration periods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roofing Materials
Corrugated Total
Period Iron Sheets Mats Percent
Post-war migrants 66.7 33.3 100.0 (783)
Pre-war migrants 64.9 35.1 100.0 (111)
Chi square = 0.0723 1 df Sig. 0.788

 

Table 4.7. What is the roofing material made of? Controlling for
five time periods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roofing Materials
Corrugated Total
Year(s) Iron Sheets Mats Percent
0-1 54.7 ‘ 45.3 100 0 (201)
2-5 70.6 29.4 100.0 (364)
6-10 71.1 28.9 100.0 (218)
11-15 68.6 31.4 100.0 ( 51)
16 and over 61.7 38.3 100.0 ( 60)

 

 

Chi square = 18.047 4 df Sig. 0.001

 

119

Spatial Distribution of Quality Housing

Housing in Calabar is characterized by not only quantitative but
qualitative inadequacy. "Housing quality", implies something about the
environmental surroundings and physical characteristics which promote
the health, convenience and well-being of the occupants of a house.
Because quality is a subjective value, the term defies universal defini-
tion, as "each individual has his own idea of what constitutes quality
in housing" (Sheaffer, 1967). Thus, in his comprehensive review of the
difficulties inherent in attempting to measure housing quality, Fisher
points to the particular difficulty in finding "measures that are
comparable between geographic and climatic areas as well as between
rural and urban areas" (1972:41). This difficulty becomes worse if we
try to use, without modification, the criterion used for housing quality
in developed countries to evaluate housing conditions in developing
countries. The 1975 Cross River State Housing Enquiry used only elec-
tricity, water, kitchen, washroom and toilet facilities as "indicators
of housing conditions" (1975). We still have a need to provide a more
adequate measure of housing conditions which contains more of the dimen-
sions of housing than the 1975 housing "indicators". Housing, it must
be remembered, is a complex of many physical and environmental factors.
"The more complex the thing being evaluated the more difficult quality
assessment become" (Fisher, 1972:15). Chapin also points to the intri-
cacies of factors in housing analysis:

. the influence of housing operates as a combination of
space occupied, space for ease of circulation, noise, or

120

insulation, and other factors, all forming a pattern that is
extremely diversified (1951).

As an improvement on the former housing study in Calabar, 27 hous-
ing characteristics (Table 4.8) were used for the evaluation of housing
quality in this study. The basic questions are: What patterns are in
the data and how do they overlap? What characteristics are involved in
what pattern and to what degree? To answer these questions the inci-
dence factor analysis procedure is used to organize the characteristics
into components to facilitate the identification of distinct structural
housing categories and their spatial distribution.

Factor analysis is capable of collapsing a set of intercorrelated
variables into a smaller number of valid dimensions or factors (Rummel,
1967:487; King, 1963). It is also a method of determining the number
and nature of the underlying variables among larger numbers of measures
(Kerlinger, 1959). The widespread application of factorial analysis in
human geography is evident in the works of Berry, 1960 and 1971; Ahmed,
1965; Janson, 1971; Bourne, 1971, and King, 1963. Being a means of
discerning patterns and distinct regularities in complex features the
factor analytic method is particularly useful in the evaluation of
housing quality.

In this study the R-mode factor analysis is applied to delineate
patterns of variation in the 27 characteristics of housing quality, and
the focus is upon the observed correlation between variables measured
over N cases. These variables are more correctly housing characteris-
tics or facilities (m = l, 2, 3, ... 27), and cases are the sample

h0uses(li=1, 2, 3, ... 895). 'The objective is to factor the correlation

121

matrix m(R)m in such a way as to extract r independent factors (r<m),
these being linear combinations of the original m variables, which
account for as much as possible of the co-variance among these m vari-
ables. Thus, parsimony of description is achieved through the reduction
of the 27 variables to common and fewer factor patterns.

The variance associated with each of the six factors extracted,
the contribution which each factor makes to explaining the total vari-
ance, and the correlations or "loadings" between the m variables and
the r factors are given as part of this report. It was necessary to
use the varimax rotation which is capable of delineating distinct
groups of orthogonal or uncorrelated factors (Table 4.8).

Six factors were extracted from the 27 variables. To aid in the
interpretation of these factors the highest loadings on each factor are
underlined. For instance, chimney, bath-tub and shower, toilet facili-
ties and pipe-borne water are the housing characteristics which load
the highest on factor 1. This factor thus represents the "high standard"
houses which are supplied with internal water system and related ameni-
ties. Factor 2 represents the so-called permanent houses which, as the
low loadings on these characteristics indicate, are scarcely supplied
with internal water system and amenities. Factor 3 represents houses
characterized by such "luxury" facilities as refrigerators, closets,
air conditioning and food storage facilities, and separate dining rooms;
whereas, showing low and even negative loadings on the "luxury" facili-
ties, factor 4 defines houses characterized by just doors and windows.
The characteristics that load highest and lowest on factor 5 indicate

the "traditional" houses which, in spite of their low room density,

122

 

 

 

 

 

Table 4.8. R-mode varimax rotated factor loadings.
Factor
Variable l 2 3 4* T5 6*

Electric cooking fuel 0.17 0.17 0.10 0.02 -0.09 0.23
Kitchen sink 0.43 0.19 0.10 0.09 0.12 0.14
Chimney Q;§Z_ 0.06 0.19 -0.02 -0.05 -0.04
Electric light 0.30 Q;§2_ 0.09 0.04 0.24 0.14
Ceiling 0.36 Q;§§_ 0.17 0.06 0.13 0.06
Pipe-borne water 0,51_ 0.15 3 0.08 0.15 0.14 0.12
Bath tub or shower g;§§_ 0.33 i 0.23 0.05 0.18 0.07
Toilet facilities 0,19, 0.10 0.10 0.03 0.10 0.05
Corrugated iron roof 0.14 0.72 0.15 0.11 -0.00 0.03
Cemented walls 0.10 0.66 0.17 0.17 0.01 0.13
Cemented or tiled floor -0.06 QL§§_ 0.21 0.02 0.03 0.27
Carpet 0.24 0.35 . 0.30 0.02 0.17 0.31
Outside decoration 0.28 0.13 ' 0.27 0.03 0.17 0.15
Recreation facilities 0.27 0.01 0.30 0.01 0.04 0.03
Refrigerator 0.33 0.23 QL§§_ 0.02 0.32 0.03
Drainage facilities 0.23 0.10 0.39 0.05 0.08 0.08
Food storage facilities 0.08 0.24 0.51 0.09 0.09 0.12
Closets 0.17 0.17 ‘g;§g_ 0.04 0.10 0.09
Separate sleeping room 0.08 0.03 0.28 0.07 Q;§§_ 0.03
Separate dining room 0.16 0.09 g;4§_ 0.07 0.37 0.07
Separate living room 0.16 0.10 0.18 0.11 9442_ 0.10
Air conditioning facilities 0.22 0.25 0452. 0.01 0.27 0.08
Painted walls 0.27 0,51. 0.14 0.11 0.28 0.14
Furniture 0.09 0.30 0.11 0.19 0.29 Q;§2
Trash can 0.10 0.38 0.22 0.10 0.25 9_._l_l_4_
Doors 0.11 0.13 0.01 Q;§§_ 0.09 0.05
Windows 0.06 0.15 0.01 9481_ 0.11 0.11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

123

attract only few people, generally lacking such urban amenities as
electric cooking fuel, and light. Factor 6 represents houses that are
distinguished just by furniture like cushion chairs and tables and
trash cans.

Now, concerning the relative strength of these factors, as the
eigenvalues (column 2) indicate, the first factor accounts for over
one-half of the total variance, while factor 2 accounts for about 14
percent (Table 4.9). The first four factors account for over 90 percent
of the variance. Successively, each factor explains less of the total
variance, and the last factor explains only a small proportion (2.8

percent) of the variation.

Table 4.9. Eigenvalue summary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Percent Percent
Factor Eigenvalue Variation Communality
1 7.08 59.3 59.3
2 1.64 13.7 73.0
3 1.30 10.9 83.9
4 1.09 9.1 93.0
5 0.49 I 4.1 97.2
6 0.34 I 2.8 2. 100.0

 

Another question is, which of the housing characteristics are
most helpful in the classification of housing units in Calabar into
distinctive groups? Communality is a measure of the proportion of each

variable's total variation that are explained in the factors extracted.

124

Table 4.10 shows 9 variables with higher than 50 percent communality.
As their relatively high values indicate, electric light, ceiling,
toilet facilities, corrugated iron roof, cemented walls, refrigerator,
furniture, doors and windows are the variables which contribute most to

the pattern of factors extracted.

Table 4.10. The important variables and communality.

 

 

 

Variable Communality
Windows 0.80
Doors 0.77
Toilet facilities 0.66
Ceiling 0.60
Refrigerator 0.58
Corrugated iron roof 0.57
Electric light 0.56
Cemented walls 0.53
Furniture 0.50

 

 

Having identified the relative strength of the factors and the
variables which contribute most to their patterns, the next question is,
which sectors of the urban area are most characteristic of which factors?
Whenever the concern is to analyze the variation in spatial distribution
between variables, the R-mode factorial analysis is required and maps
provide the best means of illustrating such distribution (Figure 4-3).

Figure 4-3 shows that factors 1 and 2 are restricted to four main

areas: (1) the Federal Housing Estate at Ikot Ansa in the Northern part

125

 

 

CALABAR

R-MODE

INDUSTRIAL
AREA

FACTORS

 

IKOT ANSA

renew.
HGJSING
£31117: I

O

 

I

 

/

ISHIE TOWN

/F/

/

 

 

 

g

\/
P

OLD TOWN 3

I

7

HOUS IN G
E STATE

H

EDI

UA TOWN

[I

/.--
F3
0A

 

   
  

\
LEOPARDS Tow/
F2

BIG OUA TOWN l

OTOB-OTO 3

\A

0\

 

F

   

 

    
 

R

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'9» . 2 F4 AKIM QUA TOWN
0 V \
A F4 21:13:21? °' ...,
F1 .F1 F2 F 4 /
EFUT ABUA
\ I .1
\ z” .2-
Q
F5 F2 F2 \\\\\F4 F4 3
g 4:555:82. s
/ 10m ITA G 1. .
/ a.
3 F4 F4 F 4 3

Source: Author's Survey.

 

 

Figure 4-3

126

of the map; (2) the State Housing Estate in Ediba area; (3) most of the
central zone; and (4) the areas adjacent the University of Calabar and
the College of Technology in the South-eastern part of the city. This
distribution, based on factors I and 2, reflects the parts of the city
most characterized by permanent housing units that are supplied with
pipe-borne water and electricity. Akim Qua Town area, and the periph-
eral section in the South and South-east, characterized by factors 5
and 4 respectively, are the areas where the traditional housing units
predominate.

But for the system of land tenure and the role of the extended
family system which restrict the development of squatter settlement, in
the sense of migrants invading public land, this peripheral section of
the city is where such settlements would very likely develop in Calabar.
Most of the settlers in this area are those who can afford to buy or
lease the land for the construction of cheap, thatched houses. One of
the town planning officers offers as a reason for the lack of definite
squatter areas in Calabar: "the culture of the people which forbids
any intrusion in another person's property." With the current plans by
the University of Calabar and the College of Technology to provide
infrastructure and set up living quarters for their staffs in this sec-
tion of the city most of the mud and thatched housing units in this area
will soon give place to the type of units characterized by factors I
and 2.

In an analysis of housing quality it is essential to take into

consideration the varying degree of people's satisfaction in the

127

housing units they occupy. This is essential because, while a wattle

and thatched dwelling, or any other "inferior” category of housing, may
be branded as "low quality" by a researcher, these units could very well
be considered as excellent dwellings by some of their occupants. To in-
vestigate the realities of this point in Calabar, respondents were asked
to indicate their degree of satisfaction in the conditions of their hous-
ing units (Figure 4-4). Over a half of the respondents consider their
housing conditions as only fair. Those who are totally dissatisfied

with their housing conditions (26.4 percent) are almost twice as numer-

ous as those who describe theirs as excellent.

However, satisfaction in housing is closely related to the quality
of housing.1 Evidently, about 90 percent of those who expressed unquali-
fied satisfaction in their housing conditions live in quality housing
units; whereas, over a half of those who described their housing condi-
tions as poor live in the "traditional", low quality housing (Figure
4-4). As an indication of the role of individual differences in the
assessment of quality housing, over 10 percent of those who describe
their housing units as excellent live in the traditional housing units
and this proportion rises to almost 30 percent among those whose hous-
ing conditions are only fair.

Though the physical structure of housing, as illustrated above,

is closely and positively correlated with the degree of satisfaction in

 

1Quaiity of housing here is defined in terms of the building
materials used in the construction of the roofs and the walls. Cement
and corrugated iron sheets being the higher, and mud, wood, and thatch
being the lower quality materials.

 

128

 

DEGREE OF SATISFACTION
-AND HOUSING QUALITY

    
   

 

(7I.0°/o)f

I I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I}? ‘3
5‘. , \fi
4 4' I MI¢E$GEL

Corrugated Iron Roof Thatch Roof

I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 4-4
Source: Author's Survey.

129

housing, housing density shows no well-defined pattern and direction of
correlation. The result of a correlation analysis between the two
variables shows that there are about as many people in the high density
housing units as in the low density ones who are either perfectly satis-
fied or grossly unsatisfied with their housing conditions. This renders
the hypothesis, that there is an inverse relation between housing dens-
ity and satisfaction in housing, irrelevant in this study. Part of the
explanation to this is that people in this area do not as yet consider
the physical presence of many children, relatives, and countrymen in
their houses, as a burden, or as a derogatory factor in the quality of
their housing. The customary idea of being one's "brother's keeper"
which is the essence of the extended family system still prevails.
Sule's (l976) study of Western Nigeria has also shown that because of
the practices and ethics of the extended family system, overcrowding is
not considered a nuisance by the householders.

Another hypothesis which has also proved irrelevant in this study
area, is the one which postulates that recent migrants are correlated
with low quality housing. To test this hypothesis, a multiple regres-
sion procedure was used. Multiple regression, is a direct measure of
relations, capable of explaining the combined effect of more than one

independent variable (X)1 on the dependent variable (Y). In this study

 

1These independent variables were derived from the 27 housing
characteristics used in the factor analysis. The characteristics were
aggregated into ratios, in accordance with their association with each
of the 6 factors extracted. Thus names I to 6, as used here for the
two regression analysis, are based respectively on scores in the follow-
ing housing characteristics: Name l: chimney, sink, water bath-tub,
toilet facilities and outside decoration. Name 2: electric cooker,

130

the regression measures the degree of relation of 6 independent vari-
ables on changes in the dependent variable--duration (measured in years)
of migrants' stay in Calabar. A stepwise regression method was used to
identify the most important of the independent variables in explaining
changes in the dependent variable.

In the first step of the regression, the independent variable
entered the Name 5, and the multiple R was only .ll2 and the R2 (or co-
efficient of determination) was .013. This means that the relationship
between the X and the Y is virtually nil. According to this coefficient
of determination only about 1 percent of the variations in Y was associ-
ated with the variations in X. Even the entering of the other X's added
very little to improve our explanation of the variations in the Y (Table

4.ll). As the final step of the regression indicates, with the entering

of Name 3, the R2

was .044, indicating that only 4 percent of the overall
variations in the Y was associated with variations in the 6 X's. This
suggests that in communities where the extended family system plays a
part in the residential absorption of migrants, even as late comers in
a competitive housing market, most recent migrants are not forced to
take poor quality accommodations which are left over by permanent resi-

dents. However, the relative importance of Name 5--a variable derived

from factor 5 which showed negative loading on electric light, cement

 

ceiling, corrugated iron roof, cemented walls, cemented or tiled floor,
carpet, and painted walls. Name 3: refrigerator, drainage facilities,
storage facilities, closet, dining room and air condition facilities.
Name 4: door and window. Name 5: separate sleeping room and separate
living room. Name 6: electric light, furniture and trash can.

131

Table 4.ll. Summary of multiple R and R square.

 

 

 

Step Name of Variable R R2
l 5 .llB .013
2 6 .ll7 .03l
3 4 .l88 .035
4 2 .l96 .038
5 l .209 .043
6 3 .2l0 .044

 

 

 

 

walls and corrugated iron roof, indicates that recent migrants who are
not absorbed by relatives are very likely to resort to the traditional
housing units. I

Another stepwise regression analysis based, on the hypothesis
that there is a positive relationship between migrants' level of educa-
tion and the quality of their housing, showed that Name 2 was entered
in the first, and Name 5 in the final step (Table 4.l2). This result
of the analysis, using years of education as the dependent variable,
shows a stronger relationship between the Y and X's than in the first
regression analysis. In the first step 26 percent of the variations
in Y is explained by Name 2. The proportion of improvement in the
prediction of Y gradually increases, with the entry of each of the
other independent variables, to 3l percent, with the entry of Name 5
at the final step. This finding emphasizes the role of elitism in the
housing delivery system in Calabar. It indicates that the educated

householders are least likely to live in housing units lacking basic

132

Table 4.12. Summary multiple R and R square.

 

 

 

Step Name of Variable R R2
1 2 .512 .263
2 1 .535 .286
3 6 .552 .305
4 3 .556 .309
5 4 .557 .310
6 5 .557 .311

 

 

 

 

amenities such as electric light, internal water system, refrigerator
and furniture. I

Another means of illustrating this relationship between the level
of education and the housing quality is by the use of a map of resid-
uals. Residuals are the distributions separating observations from the
predicted line in regression analysis. They indicate the degree of
accuracy in our prediction of the correlation between the dependent and
the independent variables. The higher the correlation the smaller the
deviations from predicted values, and thus the more accurate the pre-
diction. Negative residuals indicate overprediction, and positive
residuals indicate underprediction.

The question is, where in the city does there seem to be a great
deal of residual variation? In other words, where in the city does the
education-housing variables equation seem to give significant over- or-
underestimate of housing quality? Figure 4-5 is a map showing the

spatial distribution of the deviant cases. One can see how the South

133

 

 

   
 
 
  

 

C A L A BA R
REG RESSION RESIDUALS

 

 

INDUSTRIAL
AREA

 

QUA TOWN

 

    

 
  
 
   
 

.‘Q‘ Positive \K , ..
" ReSIduals LEOPARDS Tov
\
o
‘ Negative ‘4
s Residuals \ I
//

 

 

CALABAR

  

‘7

\ I / \ Al

V\7W\ \\

[I
”00 AG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I

‘Source: Author's Survey.

 

 

Figure 4-5

134

and South-eastern sectors of the city which were characterized by

Factor 4 stand out as negative deviant areas, indicating that we have
overpredicted the sectors in our assumption that education is positively
related to housing quality. Other overpredicted areas include: (1) the
Magnus Henswaw area in the South-west zone; and (2) the Big Qua Town
area which is characterized by Factor 5. The Federal and State Housing
Estates, most of the residential areas of the Central zone, and the
areas adjacent the University of Calabar and the College of Technology,
are among the areas characterized by positive residuals. Because a
regression analysis cannot take all the factors affecting the distribu-
tion of any phenomenon into consideration there is bound to be over-

and underestimation of relationships between variables. For instance,
this analysis could not take into consideration the deliberate govern-
ment policy in the allocation of housing in the two Housing Estates in
favor of the elite groups of the society which can be seen as a factor
in the underestimation of the relationship between education and hous-
ing quality in these areas. Neither did it consider the unique nature
of the peripheral areas in the vicinity of the University, a section
which can be seen as a special ecological area favoring low quality
housing and attracting many illiterate people. Because this area lacks
infrastructural amenities, and is as yet unaffected by the city's build-
ing codes, its housing units are largely those characterized by the
Factor 4 variables. Thus, the area shows negative residuals or over-
estimation of the relationship between the level of education and hous-

ing quality.

135

Ethnic Considerations

 

Ethnic clusters are a common feature of African cities, and
Calabar is also an example of ethnic diversity. Thus, it is important
to know the spatial distribution of these ethnic groups and their hous-
ing conditions. To know in which of the 21 blocks each of the five
groups had the highest concentration of their total number, as compared
to the concentration of the other ethnic groups in the same blocks, a
cross-tabulation analysis of the ethnic groups with blocks was done.

The Ibibio group, constituting 68 percent of the total respond-
ents are fairly scattered all over the study area. They form the
majority (not less than 50 percent) in every block. It is interesting
to note that, but for the presence of a few Efiks, the Ibibio group is
almost the only one occupying that special ecological zone in the
vicinity of the University of Calabar and the College of Technology
(Figure 4-6). Of particular interest is the concentration of the Efiks
in Akim Qua Town area which, as we saw already, is characterized by
housing units associated with Factor 5. Why this is of interest will
be clearer in the next section where the relationship between satisfac-
tion in housing and quality housing among the ethnic groups is examined.

Ethnic patterns are an important determinant of attitudes toward
housing. Like individuals, the different ethnic groups tend to display
varying degrees of satisfaction in their diverse housing conditions.

A cross-tabulation of housing satisfaction statements with the ethnic
groups reveal that while over a half of the Efik, Ibibio, Oron and Ekoi

describe their housing as fair, less than 50 percent of those

 

CALABAR

DISTRIBUTION
ETHNm

OF
GROUPS

 

=§E

 

IKO T ANS A
FEDERAL
HOUSING
ESTATE
A O
O

/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISHIE TOWN
_EmenL /
0. | - 50 SJ -I$O 154-35.0
Efik A A: K: V//, .ww
HOUSING
Ibibio O O O /% ESTATE A Q
OLD TOWN O [3 OO O D
E koi 0 CI CI ( ' e EDIBA QUA TOWN
Oron O O O \ \ / 3°:
) LEOPARDS Town:
Other 69 O Q A e A o D
9 O D O Q
Q
Q ‘ / OTOB-OTOB
0 2000 N / 816 um TOWN /f_
FEET
/
\—
9»? ”f g 8 A $ AKIM QUA TOWN
O C]
v») O A e
c K O D O
L umvmsmr OF
A O Ac‘é‘”. Esux Am
A $
2369 0 {3 o O A<3
o E] O
O I EFUT ABUA \
\ ..--
e
AQ A$ A$ as g
00 OO 00 0 A0 *
O !
COLLEGE or
EDIBE-EDIBE TECHNOLOGY :
/ IDIM ITA a I;
I C] O h
e
A O is
.-. ...‘n
(r 6000 .000 I mg"

 

 

 

Source: Author's SUrvey.

Figure 4-6

137

in the "other" group describe theirs as such (Table 4.13). Those in

the "other group constitute the highest proportion (37.5 percent of
their population) of those who describe their housing conditions as
poor, followed by the Ekoi group (35.3 percent Of their population) who
are also the least (5.9 percent of their population) of those describing
their housing conditions as excellent. The Efik, on the other hand
express, respectively, the highest and the lowest (23.7 and 23.0 per-
cent) degrees of satisfaction in their housing conditions. The rela-
tively highest satisfaction among the Efik may not necessarily mean

that they live in the best quality housing in Calabar, as their associa-
tion with Factor 5-related housing reveals above. Probably their
customary belief in both rural and urban Calabar as their home is the
psychological factor behind their assessment of their urban housing as
"home sweet home", no matter what conditions.

Table 4.13. Percent expressing degree of satisfaction with housing by
ethnic group.

 

 

 

 

Degree of Satisfaction
(percent)
Ethnic Group ExceTlent Fair Poor Total
Efik 23.7 53.3 23.0 100.0 (165)
Ibibio 12.5 61.3 26.21 100.0 (604)
Oron 9.8 65.8 24.4 100.0 ( 41)
Ekoi 5.9 58.8 35.3 100.0 ( 34)
Other 14.6 47.9 37.5 100.0 ( 48)

 

 

 

 

 

138

When housing satisfaction by the ethnic groups is controlled for

sex, males show no significant difference from the general Observation;

whereas, there is a significant difference in the way the females assess

their housing.

More Efik women (25.7 percent) than their men (22.1 per-

cent) describe their housing as excellent, and but for Ibibio women

none Of the women in the rest Of the ethnic groups describe their hous-

ing as excellent (Table 4.14).

Table 4.14.

groups, and by service.

Percent expressing satisfaction with housing by ethnic

 

 

Degree of Satisfaction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(percent)
Ethnic Group ExceTTent *Fair Poor TOtalfii
Efik Male 22.1 50.5 27.4 100.0 (95)
Female 25.7 57.1 17.1 100.0 (70)
Ibibio Male 11.9 60.8 25.3 100.0 (470)
Female 14.9 56.0 29.1 100.0 (134)
0ron Male 12.9 61.3 25.8 100.0 (31)
Female 0.0 80.0 20.0 100.0 (10)
Ekoi Male 7.7 57.7 34.6 100.0 (26)
Female 0 62.5 37.5 100.0 (8)
Other Male 17.1 43.9 39.0 100.0 (41)
Female 0. 71.4 28.6 100.0 (7)
Chi square (for male) = 12.139, 8 df, Sig. 0.139
Chi square (for female) = 14.199, 8 df, Sig. 0.077

139

The Role of Extended Family in Migrant Housigg»

Most housing policies stress the necessity to provide a decent
home at a reasonable price for the general population. In advanced
countries governments not only recognize and acknowledge a responsibil-
ity in the delivery of housing and housing services but they initiate
programs to fulfill such a responsibility. However, this is not the
case in Nigeria, where the Cross River State Government has no function-
al housing policy directed towards helping the poor, or in particular,
the residential absorption Of migrants in their transition from rural to
urban life.

The traditional social security system which performs most of the
roles government should undertake has rather been conferred by the
extended family. Under this system members Of each family, such as
brothers, sons, daughters, uncles and sons-in-law; particularly those who
are well-Off, have an Obligation by custom to assist other family members.
Grown-up children are expected to assist parents as well as younger
brothers, sisters, and other close relatives. The extended family plays
a significant role in the residential absorption of migrants not only
in Calabar but in other cities in Nigeria. In Chapter III the role of
the extended family in the migration process was analyzed. Specifically
the extended family provides up to 60 percent of the shelter to
migrants upon arrival. Achunine's study in Lagos reveals that the
extended family provides approximately 40 percent Of shelter. This
lower proportion seems to reflect the greater cosmopolitan nature of

the national capital, where rural migrants may have difficulty in

140

locating relatives, and the fact that the general housing market in

Lagos is much tighter. In Calabar, overcrowding has been viewed as

a salient component of housing shortage. Therefore, it will be interest-
ing to discover how much pressure the extended family can bear in order
to provide housing relief to newly arrived migrants.

In Calabar, migrants generally spend an average Of one year with
members of the extended family. As soon as they secure a job and can
afford to pay rent, they find their own houses.

Though the extended family plays a vital role in the initial
adjustment Of most migrants to urban life, one cannot consider the
system as a panacea to the growing housing problem in Calabar. The role
of the extended family in providing housing for migrants is a temporary
service and cannot be considered a lasting solution to housing problems
(Table 4.15). About 90 percent of the respondents attest to the will-
ingness of their urban hosts to accommodate them while only 9 percent
indicate that their hosts had reservations. In spite Of this, and as
was indicated in the Lagos study, urban relatives may tire of the
responsibility to accommodate migrants. Even if they are not, in the
face Of the short supply of housing, the extended family can be viewed
as an underlying factor in overcrowding and rapid deterioration Of
existing houses through overuse. Furthermore, the extended family
system renders help in a discriminatory form, in that it is provided
largely to close relatives. These, and other limitations of the system
suggest the need for government to play a more active role in providing

housing services in Calabar. The government should not use the extended

141

family as a means to shirk its responsibility, as continued taxation of
this valued cultural component Of the society could lead to its demise.
Table 4.15. Distribution of responses to the Question:

How would you describe the willingness of your urban host
to accommodate you?

 

 

 

 

Percent
Response Number Distribution
Very willing 447 61.1
Somewhat willing 217 29.6
Unwilling 68 9.3
Total 732 100.0

 

 

 

Government Response to Housing

Federal Government

 

1. Historical Role

Until the early 1970's, housing was solely a state matter. But,
since that time, the subject has generated such discussion that the
National Council on Housing called all levels of the Nigerian government
to give greater priority to the housing problem and to allocate at
least 10 percent Of their annual budget to housing. Also, by a series
of meetings held throughout Nigeria, the Association of Housing

Corporation1 has succeeded in both stimulating national consciousness

 

1Tbe Association was founded by the Housing Corporation Of East,
Midwest, Western and Northern Nigeria and the erstwhile Lagos Executive
Development Board in 1964.

142

in the matter of housing development, and in motivating the Federal
Government to promote a national housing policy. At its Kano Conference
of 1971 the Association called on the Federal Government to regard
housing as both an economic and social project like health and industry,
and therefore provide significant funds to stimulate growth of housing.
The planners of 1962-68 and the 1970-74 Development Plans neither
defined a National Housing Policy, nor gave adequate importance to the
problem of housing. In the 1962-68 Development Plan, out of a total
sum of $67.2 million allocated to Town and Country Planning (which in-
cluded housing) only $31.36 million; that is, about 47 percent of the
allocation, was actually spent. The highest percentage Of planned
investment allocated by the Federal Government to housing was in the
1975-80 Development Plan (Figure 4-7). This relatively higher propor-
tion of investment reflects the growing concern, and recognition of
housing deficiency as a universal problem in the country. However, the
proportion is still far below the recommendations Of the National
Council of Housing, and definitely insufficient to initiate resolution

Of the mounting housing problem in the country.

2. Present Role

The establishment Of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in 1973
was a milestone in the growing concern by the Federal Government in
housing problems. The FHA serves as the agent, through the appropriate
Ministry Of the Federal Government, for the implementation of the
National Housing Program. The aim Of the Federal Government is to

participate actively in increasing the supply of housing especially to

143

 

 

THE NATIONAL BUDGET

—Public spending priorities under Third National
Development Plan

 

 

3.4 % GeneraI administration

  

Sauce Thea New Develoomenl Plan

 

 

Figure 4-7

144

the low-income groups who are the most affected by the current acute
shortage.

According to the guidelines Of the National Housing Program, each
State, irrespective of its population size, is to provide 8,000 housing
units during the 1975-80 Plan Period. The Federal Government, through
the FHA, is responsible for financing 4,000 Of the 8,000 units, as well

as the infrastructure, in each State.1

The remaining 4,000 units is to
be financed solely by the State on land which the Federal Government

also pays for the infrastructure provided.

3. Shortcomings

The existing Federal housing scheme is not only extremely limited
in the scope of its housing activities but it is grossly mismanaged and
definitely indifferent to the needs of the masses and migrants in par-
ticular. Specifically the shortcomings of the ongoing Federal housing
policies and practices include: (1) indiscriminate allocation Of build-
ing plots and housing, as revealed by the present probe investigating
corrupt practices by public Officials; (2) public servants who take
loans to build their own houses which they subsequently sublet at
exorbitant rates while continuing to live in government quarters;
(3) speculative prices of building plots; (4) high and rising cost of
building materials which makes the possibility Of owning a house impos-

sible for many. Thus, Olayide (1976:98) points out the implications of

 

1NO rationale for suggesting the 8,000 units as a requirement for
financing housing in the states is Offered in the Guide Lines.

145

these problems. For instance, the mismanagement provides the opportun-
ity for specific class Of people to claim ownership Of specific areas
of the building plots in designated areas of towns in the country, and
this is likely to result in social stratification and class distinction.
The existing housing corporations have been viewed as "glorified money-
lending, semi-governmental organizations (which) are extremely limited
in scope of their housing activities" (Vagale, l97l:9). The elitist
nature of the Nigerian housing situation is also documented by Sule:
"The market for new housing is almost entirely dominated by the upper-
income, governmental bureaucrats and the intellectual elites-~the
university lecturers and professors" (1975). Thus, Odepitan warns that
"if Nigeria is to develop the highest type Of civilization, if its
industry is to thrive permanently, if its government ministries are to
serve their highest purposes, the policy makers and the private invest-
ors must think of providing a home life for every family, rich or poor"
(1974). There is, therefore, the need to undertake a comprehensive
reappraisal and reorganization of the current housing delivery system
in Nigeria, if it is to have an effective role in the State and

National housing endeavor.

State Government

 

1. Historical Role

The Cross River State has long recognized shelter as one Of the
absolute essentials for physical survival of man. Inadequate housing
has been noted as a social evil which affects the health and well-being

of a population. One approach to the housing shortage in the urban .

146

areas of the State has been the Staff Housing Scheme which provides
quarters to senior staff and a few civil servants. This scheme, a hold-
Over from the colonial system, is a policy in which the government
acquires a parcel of land, builds housing units and makes them available
to civil servants for a fixed proportion Of their salary. This system
acts as a subsidy since it supplies housing units at a fixed cost below
the market rate. The State's Third Development Plan calls for the con-
struction Of 300 staff housing units in Calabar and 20 each in other

divisional headquarters.

As part of the scheme, the "Staff Housing Fund Rules" was insti-
tuted to provide loans to "persons to whom these Rules apply for the
purpose Of building or completing the building, or purchasing houses for
residential purpose" (SES 1973). In 1973 a board was established to
manage and control the said fund. According to the rules Of the fund:

A person is not eligible to apply for a loan under these

Rules unless at the time Of the application he is a duly

confirmed holder of a pensionable appointment in the service

of the Government of the State, or in a Statutory Corporation,

or in a State-owned Company, or in a Voluntary Agency, Medical

or Educational Institution by virtue of which he is entitled

to riceive an annual allowance on completion Of service (SE5
1973 .

2. Present Role

The current policy objectives of the State in the area Of hoUsing
are outlined in the Third National Plan. They comprise the following:
(1) the expansion of the services Of the Housing Corporation in
Calabar and to other parts of the State;

(2) the implementation of the low cost housing scheme;

147

(3) the expansion Of the staff housing scheme;
(4) the introduction of other measures to increase the number of
modern houses in the State;

(5) the increase in supply of building materials in the State;

(6) the Obtaining of adequate statistics concerning housing.
In order to achieve the above Objectives, the Government hopes to expand
the activities of the State Housing Corporation. The Corporation will
undertake, among other things (1) the construction of 1,500 housing
units, and (2) the implementation of the Federal Government Housing

Scheme.

3. Shortcomings

Like the Federal Government, the Cross River State is extremely
limited in the scope of its housing activities, and indifferent to the
housing needs Of migrants. The proportion of the State planned invest-
ment in housing is far below the 10 percent recommendation by the
National Council of Housing. The effectiveness of the amount in reliev-
ing housing problems of the poor becomes almost nonexistent when it is
observed that out Of the $16.0 million devoted to housing, $9.6 million,
or 60 percent, is allocated for the construction of residential quarters
for senior civil servants. Worse still, the State Housing Corporation,
the only supplier with any known estimate, completes only an average of
about 50 housing units for the 15 urban centers in the State each year.
Furthermore, though Calabar receives the greatest attention in all of
the State housing projects, there are no specific housing policies for

this growing city.

148

Housing Policy Alternatives

The discussion in this chapter finally lead us into the considera-
tion Of how other countries of the world tackle their housing problems.
Calabar, like all developing countries, has a wide range of housing
strategies on which to draw in designing its housing policy. Any public
authorities wishing to improve their housing policy can usually learn
from the failures and achievements of others. This section is, there-
fore, devoted to a review of some of the housing policy alternatives
available for ameliorating the mounting housing problems in this study
area.

All over the world, food, shelter and clothing are recognized as
some of man's basic needs. But, even in an affluent society such as
the United States, where one could expect that these basic needs would
be supplied, some citizens in that society do not enjoy satisfaction Of
their basic needs (Fisher, l972:l). However, public Officials in the
United States have demonstrated their awareness of the fact that fulfill-
ment Of these basic needs is important both to the individuals directly
involved and to society as a whole. Thus, as part of the housing
strategy, American policy makers' continuing interest in the quality of
man's environment is evident from activities such as zoning, parks,
public utility systems, streets, city ordinances, welfare schemes, etc.
They approach the provision of adequate and decent housing through
building codes, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) interest subsidies, rent
supplements, slum clearance, urban renewal and provision of low-rent

housing.

149

The FHA was created as part Of the New Deal '5 efforts to insure
mortgages under certain circumstances, to eliminate the worse housing,
to provide public housing for the poor, and above all, to help in prim-
ing the pump of the economy. By 1950, 17,000 dwellings had been pro-
vided for low-income families under this program. However, in many
respects the FHA policies and practices have been so detrimental that
its critics now describe it as "Federal Hell's Acres (responsible for)
the destruction of our urban communities" (Bryan, l978:6). According
to Mayor Richard Daley, from 1940 to early 1960 the FHA encouraged sub-
urban development but did nothing for the city of Chicago. The FHA has
also been associated with abuses such as block busting and disinvest-
ment, or redlining--that is, refusal to invest by real estate operators
and mortgage lenders solely on the basis Of the location of the property,
all of which have contributed to the creation rather than the elimina-
tion of slums.

Other federal agencies are vitally concerned with housing: Hous-
ing and Urban Development (HUD), the United States Public Health, the
Farmers Home Administration, Housing Assistance Administration, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Veterans Administration, and the Office
of Economic Opportunity. This rather incomplete list of federal agen-
cies could be supplemented by lists of state, local agencies, and
private groups to whom housing has both "utility" and "investment"
significance.

One example Of an energetic housing demonstration program initi-
ated by the HUD deserves attention. It was known as "operation break-

through". According to Jones (1975:540), operation breakthrough was a

150

program launched to develop, test and promote the best in volume-
produced housing systems. It was a program aimed at developing a hous-
ing approach to meet the needs of the United States and to effectively
mobilize that nation's resources toward an increase in housing produc-
tion and control of its cost. TO do this, the HUD strived to create a
working partnership of Federal, State and Local Government, Labor,
Industry, the financial community, home builders and consumers.

One significant feature of Operation breakthrough was the applica-
tion of recent planning concepts in its various demonstration programs.
The development illustrated breakthroughs in modern planning concepts
such as cluster units, mixed house types, aggregation of open space,
separation of pedestrian and auto-traffic, economy in utilities layout,
reduction in densities and cOsts. Many of the developments showed
advances in industrialized building techniques. The most used housing
type was the modular box units which are placed in a checkerboard fash-
ion tO form residential blocks varying from 3 to about 18 floors.

One cannot say that the United States has found a panacea for its
mounting housing problems, let alone Offer housing strategies that can
be adopted without modifications to suit other local conditions. The
Federal housing policy has so far consistently emphasized production
goals to the detriment of equitable distribution of housing services.
"Home ownership for the poor," and "decent home for all Americans" are
still illusory concepts. As a housing strategy, HUD's operation break-
through, contains many positive features, but lacking sufficient con-

trols, it was a failure. Thus HUD has been described as the most

151

"insensitive", "blundering” and "incompetent" of federal agencies per-
petuating urban blight. The United States urban renewal technique has
also been subject to a series Of criticisms. As a critic points out,
"urban renewal has failed to effectively relocate the dispossessed
tenants in standard housing within their means" (Gans, 1967). Clearly,
there is still a great deal of unfinished housing business in the United
States. But, the limitations of the United States housing policy, as
well as its positive features, can serve as instructive lessons to
planners grOping for effective housing policies in Calabar where the
housing problem is evidently more actue than in the United States, and

strategies for solution are grossly inadequate and ineffective.

The European countries also operate various housing strategies
that are worthy of consideration by any developing country wishing to
improve the housing conditions for its people. The First World War
brought vast changes in the urban systems throughout Europe. Among them
were housing oriented changes; such as, the freezing of rents by Tene-
ment Protection Laws, the 'social rent' of the welfare housing programs,
non-profit construction by cooperatives, and the economic rent Of the
freehold apartment--all of which made the housing market more accessible
tO the needy.

In Britain, for instance, nearly all public housing is subsidized
by the British Exchequer. The important point is that subsidized
dwellings are usually allocated on the basis of needs for dwelling and
local resident qualification criteria. Many Of the devices implemented

by the local authorities in Great Britain include: (1) the building

152

and administration of public or council housing; (2) the provision of a
system of means-tested rent subsidies (rent rebates for public housing,
tennants and rent allowances for the private rental section); (3) rent
control and regulations in the private rental sector, coupled with
legislation providing security of tenure, at least, for residents of the
private unfurnished rental sector; (4) power to enforce minimum basic
standards in private housing through compulsory purchase and repair
Orders; (5) the availability Of improvement grants to rehabilitate or
improve privately owned or public housing; (6) direct mortgage for low-
income people; (7) a system Of temporary accommodation for the homeless;
(8) welfare payments (supplementary benefits) for housing purposes to
the poor; and (9) a system of Housing Advice Centers designed to provide
free advice and assistance to anyone in the local authority with house
ing problems. Whereas, in Calabar, though housing problems are evident-
ly enormous, the minimal governmental housing policy that exists is
not, as in Great Britain, directed to help the "needy".

In France three popular housing programs are worthy Of note--
social, cooperative and private housing programs. Social housing, also

known as "habitation a layer" (moderate rental housing) is a non-profit,

 

publicly organized housing program, basically designed to serve the
needs of the low and moderate income people. The cooperative housing
system is also organized to eliminate the profit motive. Generally,
the program provides less expensive housing, compared with social and
private programs; whereas the private housing program is motivated by
the desire of private house investors to make a profit through renting

or selling of completed units.

153

The French have also evolved a planning technique which has been
found useful in ameliorating housing problems; that is, the French
Z.U.P. (zone a urbaniser de priorité), a technique of development,
aimed at decentralizing Paris. Z.U.P. is a housing zone--"a semi-
satelite“ but not "a new town" (Kinsey, 1969). It is a technique which
coordinates and Organizes the housing zone from its earliest planning
stages in such a way that the life of its inhabitants remains as normal
as possible, unlike the American urban renewal which pays no attention
to the "dispossessed tenants". The technique also uses a mix of public
and private sectors to provide funds and loans for land acquisition
facilities, infrastructure, social, private and cooperative construc-
tions.

The cooperative housing concept which is popular in France is

pertinent to the consideration Of housing policy and administration

in Calabar Division, because of the limitations imposed by overhead

building construction cost, the small median family income, and

particularly the traditional interest Of the people Of Calabar in

cooperative or communal organizations--locally known as "asusu". The
cooperative Housing Movement had its origin in 1869 in Denmark, 1870 in
Sweden, and in 1889 in Germany (Fuerst, 1974). Cooperative housing is
a form Of home ownership in which the residents and their neighbors own
their property jointly, the overall policies of the project being
determined and controlled by its members (Libit, 1964:71). In America,
for example, a single cooperative housing corporation is organized,

which owns and operates, on a non-profit basis, the entire housing

154

development for the benefit Of all its members. The corporation has
title to the property and undertakes responsibility for the mortgage
debts.

Many reasons can be offered for the significance of cooperative
housing in developing countries. It has long been felt that because
cooperative housing societies pool their resources in a building fund--
Often Obtained at low interest through public loans, they can be an
effective method of providing housing for low-income families. In addi-
tion, the technique facilitates the initiation of "housing solutions
tailored to local needs and using private sector resources while at the
same time encouraging a sense of community responsibility for finance,
public services, and other components of housing that families cannot
provide for themselves" (Grimes, 1976:103). More to the point, a
Nigerian author has declared:

. that cooperative housing has the potential for creating
process in which government, business and citizens will be

able to work as equal partners in providing housing on a very

meaningful basis to those citizens who cannot otherwise afford

to own their own homes in our growing urban centres (Aradeon,

1969:24).

Sweden, like modern Calabar Division, once faced a chronic housing
shortage resulting from migration and population growth. According to
Bengstron (1974:99), the 1945 Swedish census showed that 40 percent of
all housing units in Sweden were substandard--overcrowded, deteriorat-
ing, Or lacking sanitary facilities. Rural-urban migration reached its
peak then, family formation increased, mortality rate and full employ-

ment decreased--and all culminated in greatly augmented housing demand.

' Today, housing delivery service in Sweden has become largely the social

155

responsibility of the government. Not only is housing controlled, land
use is controlled; the ownership of land carrying with it no inherent
development rights-~an issue yet unsolved in Calabar.

Developing countries also Offer useful housing policy alternatives.
Hong Kong and Singapore stand out among the most successful in public
housing operation directed to meet the housing needs and demand of their
people. Some 40 percent of the population of these cities live in
public housing units. Between 1960 and 1972 the Singapore Housing and
Development Board constructed 155,000 self-contained housing units--a
higher number Of such dwellings completed per capita than any other
country. In addition to using public land for low-income housing, the
Board coordinated an extensive program Of land reclamation, urban
renewal, and slum clearance. Private construction for middle- and high-
income groups were encouraged by a mix Of policies relating to zoning,
taxation, and the construction materials industry.

Hong Kong also represents an effective use Of a mix of general as
well as housing-related public policies to provide efficient housing
for the bulk of the population. Large-scale public housing efforts are
also a part of Hong Kong's total development strategy. A notable
feature of Hong Kong's housing projects, which is relevant to the
Calabar situation, is that they were begun during a period of relatively
low per capita income, and most were carried out at a period when the
city's population doubled from 2 million to more than 4 million.
Housing, therefore, was largely designed to reach low-income families,

contrary to the "elitist" housing policy in Calabar. It was only after

156

the low-income families were fairly housed that programs were initiated
to assist high-income families.

Another notable feature of the Hong Kong project is that at the
early stages standards adapted for the projects were well below limits
previously considered acceptable in the city. Large families, for
example, were allowed to occupy single, small rooms, and many families
shared water supply and sanitary facilities. Rather than geared to what
was desirable, the standard was geared to what was affordable by the
public purse, and by families with limited incomes. Assuming that a
gradual rising of housing standards should reflect the benefits Of
industrialization and future rising per capita income, buildings were,
therefore, designed for easy conversion in anticipation Of future
economic improvement.

Of particular significance in this review of housing policy altern-
atives are housing strategies that have been found useful in other
African countries, for they represent strategies that take into con-
sideration the financial and cultural realities of the African scene.

In Ghana, for example, the major constraints in the provision Of hous-
ing are not different from what we have seen in Calabar. Hornsby-Odoi
(1975) points to low per capita income and high birth rates,"compounded
by the rural urban migration on the one hand, and the exposure to

higher standard Of living from abroad...." as the major problems effect-
ing housing provision in Ghana. The Ghanaian Government therefore pro-
vides "aided housing" for those earning up to $4,000 per annum, by

acquiring land on which infrastructure is provided for lease.

157

Financial Institutions are equipped to be more liberal with the grant-
ing of finance. For those earning less than $4,000 per annum, their
rents are subsidized on a graduated scale; that is, the higher the
salary the lower the subsidy.

TO accelerate the supply of housing, the State Housing Corpora-
tion and the Tema Housing Development build houses on a hire purchase
system. The Bank for Housing Development finances housing development
and building materials manufacture. As part of the efforts to boost
housing supply, the Building and Road Research Institute and the
University Of Science and TechnolOgy are encouraged to provide extension
services in the field of housing and site development. Private owner-
ship of housing is also encouraged through the provision of "roof loans"
to those who can prove that they have reached the roofing level in
their housing construction. This strategy is consistent with the
respondents' expressed interest in a type of "roofing loan" that would
enable them to renovate their thatched dwellings, or complete their
residential constructions.

Site and service technique, in which infrastructure is supplied
a plot for pe0ple to construct their own dwellings by direct labor,
is useful in areas where income is a major constraint for private
residential construction. Two African countries--Malawi and Kenya have
employed this technique to provide a planned framework within which the
people are encouraged to build their houses as their resources permit.

The Malawians, for instance, have shown great versality in the use of

local materials such as mud blocks-~made on the site and dried in the

158

sun, and wooden window frames, doors and roof timbers--bought at the
local markets, for their residential construction. Mud plaster pro-
vides a surprisingly smooth rain resistant surface. One such service
area, opened in Blantyre in July 1972, had up to 510 houses completed
in December of the same year. In Kenya the scheme even provides more
extensive facilities than this Malawian example, and development by the
plot holder, unlike Malawi, is normally controlled to ensure compliance
with a design standard.

The site and service housing scheme, because its basic aim is to
facilitate the provisions of as many houses as possible, is particularly
pertinent in areas of "exploding cities in unexploding economies" such
as Calabar. Perhaps the most outstanding significance of the scheme is
that planning for site and service housing is planning within the local
environment, and using the exceedingly sparse resources available to
achieve maximum benefit for minimum cost. As a technique which recog-
nizes the general acceptance Of modest shelter by the poor and the
needy, given the low income capacity of the people, the site and service
housing scheme can serve as a useful housing policy alternative in
Calabar, where to some people satisfaction in housing is not a matter
of the value of its building materials. Most of all, the scheme can
serve as one means of allowing the participation of low income groups
in housing development to satisfy their pressing need for adequate
shelter.

Aided "self-help" is another housing technique which takes into

consideration the low income level of the people, for it permits the

159

building Of homes by their owners using some community help, and thus
omitting part of the cost Of labor. Like site and service housing, the
technique provides a means of meeting housing needs in depressed areas
where lack of capital resources and skills allow no other solution.

The process permits the use Of the traditional family or clan for group
construction. In other words, the approach can maximize the unique
advantages of the lineage and kinship system of the people in the pro-
vision of a decent living environment.

Aided self-help housing is not new in Africa. It is an important
rural housing policy in Zambia. The government used the technique for
the development Of rural housing programs for the communities in
Bembaland, Southern Barotseland, and the Northern Province during the
period 1961 and 1963. The technique is not limited to Africa, as it is
a common rural housing policy in Puerto Rico and Guatemala. On the
importance of promoting the technique as a rural housing policy, Vogele
states: "A rural housing programme should necessarily be in the nature
of an aided self-help programme in which education and guidance play a
large part" (1971:15). Aided self-help housing not only provides a
means Of meeting housing needs but the process Offers training channels
to rural community people particularly in assuming more responsibility

for managing their own affairs through home and land ownership.

Conclusions

 

This review represents a tiny scratch or selected survey Of the

numerous and diverse housing techniques already in use in both the

160

advanced and developing countries of the world. Clearly housing shortage
is widely recognized as a problem which taxes the intellects Of planners
and various governmental and private housing agencies everywhere, demand-
ing the mobilization of every available resource and conceivable model
for solution. Every community has its own unique ways of tackling hous-
ing problems, but in all situations where the housing development lags
behind the rising needs, the demand for better dwellings, no community
can ignore the powerful hand of planning, without restricting the choices
of housing consumers and consequently jeopardizing the human and socio-
economic well-being of its people.

The acute housing shortage in Calabar suggests the urgent need
for policy makers to take a keener interest in developing better housing
programs. In initiating such programs they cannot dismiss as impractic-
able, foreign ideas, models and concepts as applicable to housing.
However, whether borrowed or initiated from scratch, for any housing
policy to be effective, it must take into consideration the economic
realities, as well as the sOciO-cultural content Of the community for

which it is formulated.

CHAPTER V

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter deals with policy options for controlling the migra-
tion process, and for ameliorating housing problems. Examples of
migration control strategies from other parts of the world are presented
and evaluated. Emphasis is placed on measures such as rural development,
agricultural modernization and restructuring of education to suit rural
occupations, to bridge the gap between rural and urban sociO-economic
conditions; as a better means of arresting the drift to Calabar than
forced migration control. Then follows a discussion of policy Options
to alleviate the quantitative and qualitative inadequacy Of housing.
Finally, the suggested migration and housing policy Options are examined
in a systems context, as none of the suggestions can effectively func-

tion in isolation.

Migration Policies
The dilemmas created by the existing spatial patterns of popula-
tion resulting largely from migration--urban blight, rural-urban
imbalances and its attendant rural stagnation and poverty, environmen-
tal and aesthetic pollution, have Often been the concern of policy
makers. Many countries of the world, wishing to enhance certain socio-

economic and political goals, have initiated various forms of population

161

162

distribution policies which aim at modifying the natural migration
patterns, in order to distribute the population in a more rational and
desirable manner.

One example is the Chinese H513 fggg_(i.e., the downward transfer
of non-agrarian personnel to farms) policy which, in the quest to create
a classless society, was used to move urban literati away from the city
for manual labor and rural living in the countryside (Salter, 1972:97).
Unlike the popular African "back to land" exhortation to migrants,
which has so far yielded no known significant response, the Chinese
policy for "turning one's back tO the city" has generated a significant
migration stream from urban to rural sectors. Between 1969 and 1971,
for example, approximately over a half of the people of the mainland of
China were involved in the h§1g_fggg_migration stream.

There is also the Soviet Union's policy of combating "irrational
migration". The concept of "irrational migration" defines flows that
result in lowering the overall national income. In the context Of this
study the concept also refers to the mass movement Of potentially
talented youth from rich agricultural lands into unemployment and
housing problems in a parasitic city yet unprepared to utilize them.
Using the concept, the planners identified the regions Of Siberia and
the Far East in Russia as the areas where the out migration Ofl,OOO,OOO
people resulted in the loss of 500,000,000 rubles ($67,500,000) in
national income. Believing that effective utilization Of resources is
determined to a considerable extent by systematic population movement

in the country's regions, they initiated the following measures as a

163

means Of accelerating rise in the standard of living of the population
in the affected areas:

(1) Steps to increase the real income of the working people
of the regions, by introducing wage differentials.

(2) Plans to construct well-appointed housing, children's pre-
school, institutions, hospitals, schools; and trade and
service enterprises at priority rates.

(3) A comprehensive territorial plan for raising the standard of
living.

(4) An increase in the proportion of capital investment going into
the modernization of production in regions that differ in
economic, natural and other conditions.

(5) More effective recruitment (including better information to
the out-migration areas).

In Britain, Gee (1972) provides a comprehensive examination of
the motivations Of people to the Industrial Selection Scheme which is
designed to relieve congestion and housing needs in conurbations such
as London by helping people find housing and employment in new and
expanding urban areas. He found out that most people would respond to
the program only if: (1) the level of pay for jobs in the new towns was
high enough; (2) a wider variety of jobs was provided; and (3) more
information about vacancies and the towns-~in terms of facilities,
schools, houses, etc., was made available.

In Africa, a good example of a policy of population redistribution
is the Tanzanian 012mg; program. 013mgg_is interpreted broadly as
"involving the traditional family communal Obligations and sharing of
all things" (McKay, l967:3). As a migration diffusion process, Ujgmgg.

Of the 1967 Arusha Declaration by President Julius K. Nyerere:

164

”All citizens together possess all the natural resources of the country
on trust for their descendants." This implies that land, for example,
is a national property,and every citizen must live Kijamaa (socialistic-
ally)in one of the ujamaa villages. Though TANU's approachis described by
Bakinikana (l974:l) as "one of persuasion as opposed to compulsion,"
Harris (1968) has pointed out that individuals in urban areas who can-
not prove with a card and residence permit that they are presently
employed are "subject to being returned forcibly to their homes (rural
areas)." Recently, the government had to round up the unemployed in
Dar es Salaam and give them three choices: (1) settle in agricultural
villages outside the city; (2) take one of 3000 jobs available in sisal
production; or (3) join agricultural work in their own home area.

West Africa also offers many examples of efforts at population
redistribution. During the post- colonial era, when territorial bound-
aries became the expression of nationalism and foreign policy, many
African countries resorted to the compulsory expulsion of migrants of
other nationalities as a method of population control. Examples of
such measures include: (1) the expulsion from Senegal of people of
Guinean origin in 1967; (2) the repatriation of Ghanaian fishermen from
Sierra Leone in 1968; (3) the expulsion of 800 Nigerians from Cameroons
in 1967; and (4) the 1977 expulsion of all Nigerians from Equatorial
Guinea. While these stringent population measures seem easy to operate
at these international levels, their effectiveness at the internal
level, as the Tanzanian example has already illustrated, still remains

to be seen.

165

Migrant Stream Control

It is still a moot question whether or not internal migration
could, or should be directly controlled. Basing his argument on
the conventional marginalist economic theory, Eyoma doubts the feasibil-
ity of directly controlling migration:

Rural to urban area migration has been decried as if it can be

discouraged. There is a principle underneath the mobility of

populations which is like the economic principle of supply and
demand. People are likely to move out to where they can get

abundant and more convenient living (1974).

Such a combination of factors is involved in the decision to migrate
that it would be unrealistic to expect the Nigerian government's

usual "back to land" policy or any other type of exhortation, let alone
coercive measures, to have any lasting effect on reducing the rate of
rural-urban migration.

The people of Calabar are so sensitive to the ethical issues
involved in any restriction of individual freedom and choice that there
should be grave reservations about the Tanzanian type of policy which
attempts to restrict migration through physical control from rural
areas. We have already seen that over 60 percent of the respondents
agree that it is a good thing for village youth to move to towns.

About the same proportion of respondents say that the government should
not control migrations. They offer various reasons for saying that the
government should not directly control migration, such as: (1) "It
would not only be a very unwise regulation, but a tremendous task for

the government." (2) "They (migrants) have their reasons for migrating

to towns. We should give each and everyone the chance, if they like,

166

to gain experience. Each and every migrant has his/her own way of
contributing to the happiness of others in town." (3) "It would be
against our democratic principles to restrict an individualls freedom of
choice and mobility."

Most of the respondents who approve the idea of directly con-
trolling migration do so only on condition that the government should
provide job opportunities and amenities in the rural areas. In essence,
they are also of the opinion that it is unwise to control migration, as
long as the rural-urban imbalance still prevails. Their rationale for
favoring direct control of migration is founded on their concern over
the needs to reduce urban congestion, crime, truancy, other urban ills,
and the urban high cost of living resulting from the dwindling interest
in farming. As one of them explained:

Migration, if not controlled makes things more difficult for

those already in cities, leaves the villages deserted, and

contributes very much to the shortage of foodstuff and other
essential commodities--and people take to imported items.

Our very culture is at stake if migration is left uncontrolled;

for migrants do forget, or worse still, lose interest and

dexterity in their cultural performances (Imeh, 1977).

Because it is neither simple nor just enough to reduce the rate
of rural-urban migration through direct migrant stream control, policies
should be directed to both the areas of origin and to areas of destina-
tion of migrants, to ameliorate the problems of migration. As it is un-
deremployment, accompanied by low productivity, which often induces most
inhabitants of rural areas to emigrate to the cities where unemployment

already prevails, this vicious circle could be broken by an economic

development policy which aims at benefiting both rural and urban areas.

167

Perhaps less emphasis on industry as a whole and more emphasis on
agriculture which is more labor-intensive might result in a more favor-

able overall trend in employment.

Rural-Urban Imbalances

The most significant implication of a study of rural-urban migra-
tion is that the solutions to problems arising from this phenomenon are
largely concerned with spatial reorganization. Since migration is
spatial interaction, the root of the human and economic problems, which
it brings about, is also spatial, requiring spatial solutions.

The spatial disparities in the distribution of amenities and
economic growth is the single most potent force in the drift of people
to Calabar. Therefore, one of the major tasks facing this Division is
how to evolve a coherent strategy of development capable of bringing
about a full integration of the divisional territories in which every
community becomes an organic part of the unified spatial system. The
idea is to direct efforts towards securing better functional relation-
ships within and between the city and its rural hinterlands in order to
foster Divisional economic growth. By such means the rural areas--those
"backwaters" characterized by poverty, low levels of literacy and heavy
dependence on hand labor and low income economy agriculture--can be
galvanized into action. Development can be accelerated where concerted
efforts are made to mobilize the masses and assimilate them into the
Divisional society. A policy which seeks to reduce rural-urban imbal-

ances is not only capable of regulating "irrational migration" but

168

can provide the "inducement mechanisms necessary to enlist for develop-
ment purposes resources that are hidden, scattered, or badly utilized"
(Hirchman, 1969:105).

Rural-urban imbalances call for a policy which accelerates in-
creased investment in the form of extension services and settlement
schemes designed to make rural life more attractive. A.rural settlement
scheme is a suitable policy option in Calabar, because respondents in
this study have stressed the need to make the following available in
the rural areas: electricity, small scale industries and farm planta-
tions, good roads, more and better educational institutions, medical

centers and facilities, market facilities, social amenities, and rural

housing projects; all asameans of making the rural areas more attractive.

Rural Development

The Kenya government policy statement on rural development is
relevant to the situation in Calabar Division:

There is still a steady drift of people from the rural areas

to towns. The labor force is growing faster than it can be

absorbed..... Rural development is one of the answers to this

vicious circle. Make the rural areas more prosperous and the
steady flow of people to towns could be reduced to a trickle

(Rosser,l974:67).

The concept of rural development is not only useful in generating
economic development but is particularly needed for the improvement of
"rural conditions so as to reduce the factors actively impelling people
to migrate from rural to urban areas" (United Nations, 1962). The
former Eastern Nigeria government made use of this concept in its

efforts to (l) eradicate poverty and stagnation in the rural villages;

169

and (2) create in the masses a sense of responsibility and involvement
in the development of the Region.

Rural development, otherwise known as community development,
derives its concept from the following definition of the term:

The term Community Development has come into international

usage to connote the process by which the efforts of the people

themselves are united with those of governmental authorities to

improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of communi-
ties, to integrate these communities into the life of the

nation, and to enable them to contribute fully to national

progress (Nigeria, The Government Printer, l963:l).

Rural development is, therefore, made up of two essential elements:
(1) the participation of the people themselves in efforts to improve
their level of living with as much reliance as possible in their own
initiative; and (2) the provision of technical and other services in
ways which encourage initiative, self help and mutual help and make
these more effective. It can be expressed in programs designed to
achieve a wide variety of specific improvements such as rural indus-
trialization, extension of educational services, agrarian reform and
improved rural housing.

Uneven distribution of industries between the rural and urban
areas has been a major factor in rural urban imbalances in Calabar, and
the tendency to concentrate industries in the city is Very likely to
perpetuate such imbalances. Because the spatial distribution of indus-
tries can affect the motivations of people, the rate and direction of
mobility, and the overall economic development involved in urbanization,

there are powerful social, and political reasons, and even economic

grounds, for deliberately fostering a more decentralized pattern of

development than would occur "naturally".

170

Decentralization is often ignored on the grounds that it is a
deceptively simple formulation. Another argument against decentraliza-
tion is often that industrial production will suffer from the absence
of external economies-~that is, cost reducing advantages which result
from the clustering of economic activities where there are concentra-
tions of well-developed markets for finished products and for supplies,

a pool of trained labor, repair shops and other services, rapid communi-
cations, as well as the social and cultural opportunities which make it
possible to attract and hold skilled managerial, technical and profes—
sional personnel. In his study of manufacturing in tropical Africa,
William Alonso (1965) points to these external economies as the rationale
why investors often seek to locate manufacturing enterprise in cities.

It is this unfortunate adherence to the advantages of external economies
with its well-known cumulative effect which severely limits the geo-
graphic distribution of industries to capital cities such as Calabar.

Yet there is no need why external economies should completely
restrict industrialization to a few centers, when there is a middle way
for industrial development between the villages and the super-city. In
their book Modern Small Industry for Developing Countries, Stanley et a1.
(l965:5) have discussed a three-point strategy for geographic decentrali-
zation of industrial development. As summarized below, the strategy has
relevance in rural development policy: (1) deliberate encouragement of
the development of industry in urban communities of intermediate size;
(2) comprehensive promotion of development of the growth points, which

includes, nuturing civic spirit, at the selected centers, and the

l71

provision of special incentives and disincentives to influence location
of new industry; and (3) promotion of linkages from these growth points
downwards to village development programs, and upwards to those of major
cities. This "middle way" strategy would take advantage of reasonably
low cost industrial facilities like power and transport, provide the
important external economies associated with urban locations, and still
bring some industry and associated service occupations substantially
closer than otherwise to the masses of the people who now live in
villages and smaller cities. After all, to restrict migration and
involve the masses, development should work both from the village

upwards and from the metropolis down.

Johnson (1971:256-262) has shown considerable interest in how
developing countries can best create a spatially dispersed hierarchy of
rural growth centers to counter-balance the pull of their metropolitan
centers. He provides a model of industrial decentralization which is
capable of bringing country people into a regional market economy in a
truly functional way. The model illustrates how "key industries" can
be used to create an interlocked spatial industrial hierarchy which can
"serve as nuclei for much needed new central places." For instance, a
wide range of choices of inter-firm relations exists between large and
small industrial enterprises in the "functional area". If we designate
large enterprises by capital letters (A,B,C,...) and small ones with
arabic figures (l,2,3,...), firm A, for example, could have two major
activities: (1) producing semi-finished material which is purchased

by firms 1, 2, and 3 in order to manufacture components for

172

firms C and E and for "export"; and (2) which employs two subcontract-
ing arrangements between firms 4 and 5. This kind of spatial planning
in which small industrial establishments are reciprocally interrelated
in a larger spatial configuration has the potential not only to reduce
the high manufacturing costs and waste of resources often caused by
less than optimal use in completely centralized manufacturing operations
but likely to contribute to far reaching transformation of an economic
landscape in which employment is expanding not merely at a few important
nodal points but in the whole functional area. Because this kind of
intermeshed industrial planning has a potential for forestalling some
of the handicaps and misgivings about the wisdom of an atomistic dis-
persion of small industries in villages or minor central places,
despite the likely organizational problems, it seems to be a potentially
effective model in rural development, and as a migration control policy.

However, industrialization alone can provide no panacea for
economic backwardness, poverty and the unattractiveness of our rural
areas. As Mountjoy (1966:56) observes: "industrialization is but one
form Of development and its advance is closely related to that of othEr
sectors of the economy." Agriculture is that other sector of the
economy which has a major role to play in rural development and migra-
tion control.

Agriculture is so closely related to the influx of rural people
to Nigerian towns that Barber (1967) declared: "When students of a
generation hence seek to understand the phenomena of urbanization in

this part of Africa, they will be well-advised to begin their studies

173

with the cause of events in the agrarian sector." Apart from its direct
impact on rural-urban migration, peasant agriculture contributes to
urbanization in four principal ways:
(1) through the provision of food, particularly to the growing
population which lives in urban areas; (2) through the provision
of labor for other "modern" sectors; (3) through the provision
of linkages with domestic manufacturing; and (4) through the
provision of markets for developing industry (Helleiner, 1966:
21-27).
It is, therefore, true that "without a technical revolution in agricul-
ture, the prospects for production of the surplus needed to support

generative urbanization1

. seem grim in most Of tropical Africa"
(Rosser, 1972).

Like most other parts of Nigeria, Calabar Division has an overall
population which is interested in rural life and agricultural moderni-
zation. Karmon's observation applies to the population of this Division
as well: "While it is characteristic of rural population to adhere to
traditional methods and customs and to give way to change slowly, it may
be remarked that the population of Eastern Nigeria has responded to

changing conditions more readily than other areas in Africa and has

been ready to accept to a certain degree new crops and new ways of

 

1Generative urbanization, as opposed to "over-urbanization",
refers to an urban system in which the process of urbanization has a
favorable impact on economic growth. It is characterized by generative
cities which are more conducive to economic development, than "parasitic"
cities which rather serve to exploit and "waste" the human and physical
resources of a region or country--in other words, cities that are
merely growing in size and density and not contributing to development--
"exploding cities in unexploding economies" (Green, 1972).

l74

cultivation” (1966). In her study, Grace Ekpo (1975:73) also found
that in spite of the decline in the political and economic life of the
Cross River Region and the lack of incentives to farmers, farmers'
attitudes did not change for the worse.

TO test their interest in agriculture, the urban respondents in
this study were asked: Which of these alternatives would you recommend
for your son--(a) Working as a farmer and realizing a monthly average
sum of 60 Naira or (b) Working as a clerk in Calabar on a monthly salary
of SO Naira? Over 70 percent of them indicated that they would recom-
mend working as a farmer in rural areas to their children. This gives
us the clue to the high magnitude of interest in agriculture, especial-
ly if it brings some income which is comparable with urban earning.
But, the clue to the significance of agricultural modernization as a
means of stimulating interest in agriculture comes from the reasons
offered by the rest of the respondents to explain why they would not,
irrespective of the higher rural income, recommend agriculture for
their children. Their reasons comprise the following: (1) Farm work
is too difficult. (2) Farm work is not as dignifying as clerical work.
(3) It will be difficult to convince him to like farming. (4) His edu-
cation prepares him better for clerical work. (5) He must enjoy urban
amenities in addition to his job. These respondents are really direct-
ing our attention to the key to the constant "flight" from rural areas.

One cannot brand those who "abhor" agriculture as it is generally
practiced in Calabar Division as"lazy“. A look, for example, into the

tedious process of producing garri from cassava which is the staple

175

food of the area reveals why some parents would describe farm work as
"too difficult“. Excluding the tedious task of planting cassava in the
shifting cultivation system, the process in the production of 91531 is
not only cumberous but slow. It ranges from the harvesting--using crude
tools like sticks, matchets, or even bare hands; the conveyance of the
cassava roots in a container on the head--Often over a long distance,
through winding and rough bush tracks; the peeling of the rind off the
roots; the grating-~often chopping off parts of the worker's fingers; to
the frying, which involves sitting behind Open flames to stir little
bits of ggrri at a time, using a small piece of calabash, until it is
dry. Though the principles of division of labor have long been known
for effectiveness in speeding up production and easing the tasks of
individual workers, the subsistence farmers of rural Calabar still under-
take most of their basic daily chores from start to finish.

In terms of the human energy expended, time spent, and tools used,
gggrj production, like most other agricultural activities in this
Division, needs a technical revolution, to become attractive to youth.
Until this happens, the question will remain: Which school leaver, or
which ambitious illiterate youth, who is aware of the existence of
"push button" types of jobs in cities, would condescend to the drugery
of such farm work, or resist the temptation to move out to explore
"better" job opportunities?

If the migration of the agricultural population in Calabar is to
become more rational, and if agriculture is to contribute to generative

urbanization, the mechanization of agriculture must be accelerated.

176

The term, mechanization, as used here, should not be equated with
tractorization. Rather, it should be broadened to imply agricultural
modernization which includes: (1) the use of small-scale, hand-operated
machines such as the screw hydraulic press, animal power to aid produc-
tion, and water pumps; and (2) the improvement of the old farming
methods and tools, as well as the development of new ones that suit
local needs and conditions. Such a broad interpretation of mechaniza-
tion would remove the usual conflict between increasing mechanization
and decreasing employment opportunities.

Evidently, premature mechanization of agriculture through the
adoption of the most modern techniques of large-scale farming will pose
a serious problem for labor absorption, but any agricultural mechaniza-
tion which is within the reach of the Poor masses can be viewed as
having employment generating potentials in several ways such as:

(l) facilitating greater use of land; (2) making it feasible to process
more easily various agricultural materials; (3) stimulating interest in
research into the improvement and development of better farming methods
and tools; and (4) raising the production of labor and consequently the
attractiveness of agricultural activities. In his study of the rela-
tionship between mechanization and employment in Latin America,
Abercrombie (1972) has cited cases where agricultural mechanization has
had positive effects on employment by expanding the cultivable area and
raising output. However, he emphasized that the overall employment
effect was greatest in countries where machines were manufactured
locally and mechanization adapted to the ecological conditions and

existing endowment factors.

177

Education

Education, it has been observed, plays a significant role in the
African migration process. In this study, the level of education among
recent migrants, has been closely related to the volume of migration.
With the introduction of Free Primary Education for all education is
very likely to exert a greater impact on the volume of rural exodus.
In the light of these observations, the most significant educational
policy implication seems to be the need to reorient the content of the
Nigerian educational curriculum to be more applied than theoretical, to
suit rural living in particular, and thus mitigate against irrational
migration. A policy which seeks to establish a meaningful relationship
bétween theory and practice in our educational system is called for, to
modify the traditional elitist system which has, for instance, produced
Agricultural Extension Agents who, though they expect illiterate
farmers to do as they say, consider it degrading to scratch the ground.
Education is a basic factor in human development, being "the most
important factor affecting the quality of human beings as agents of
production" (United Nations, 1962), and, if tactfully planned, it is
capable of producing people who come to understand, respect, and accept
manual work as part of their lives.

As part of this policy on a reformation of the educational curric-
ulum, attention should be given to vocational training. Byerlee (1976:
107) considers that a policy which increases returns to education in
rural areas by reorienting curricula toward rural vocations is a more

"palatable" approach than discouraging educational investment for

178

reasons of reducing migration. At present, Nigeria still imports not
only food products, building materials and manufactured goods, but
Skilled manpower in numerous fields. Producing indigeneous, skilled
manpower requires not only the establishment of more vocational schools
but a tactical move toward an educational system which facilitates
public acceptance of the fact that all people, including farmers,
tinkers, tailors, and architectors, need preparation for their tasks
through exposure to formal education. Once this idea is accepted, and
once education is oriented to prepare people for their diverse occupa-
tions and lives, the dispositions of school leavers will change
considerably and formal education will cease to be looked upon as only
"a passport to clerical and non-farm occupation" (Imoagene, 1975:14).
Any migration policy which ignores the role of education in the
overall national development and population distribution will very
likely fail. We must regard education as both a consumer good and a
capital good in development. That is, education should be both a means
of enriching an individual's knowledge and developing his full person-
ality, and as a means of preparing him to undertake specific tasks and
employment functions which are essential for the profitable transforma-
tion of its environment. This concept of education as a capital good
is linked with the concept of human capital which attaches high
premium to human skills as a factor of production in the development
process. Therefore, human skills or productive capability are just as
important inputs as finance, natural wealth and physical plant, in

the process of development. Because education can play such an

179

important role in the creation and improvement of "human capital", its
relevance in the effective utilization of the potentially rich human
resources, by stifling irrational migration, should be fully recognized

in development planning.

HousinggPolicies

 

In Calabar Division, housing is virtually an intractable policy.
area. At both the national and local levels one cannot boast of a
housing policy that can be regarded as adequate and appropriate. We
only have programs in search of policies.

To treat housing as a non-priority item is to ignore the dynamic
impact of housing on overall development, its employment creating
attributes; its potential contribution to training of skilled workers;
and what is more, its satisfaction of human needs. If a large segment
of the population of any country is inadequately housed, that country
will face a steady decline in health and productivity, leading to
dangerous inroads on political instability. Obviously, improvement in
policy can make a substantial contribution to better housing without a
major commitment of additional resources. The dire need for comprehen-
sive policies, in which housing is a part of the efforts in the planning
of population distribution to achieve a better standard of living for
people in all geographical locations, cannot be overstressed.

Because housing in Calabar is characterized by quantitative and
qualitative inadequacy, increasing the dimensions of the housing supply
and improving housing quality represent the most pressing policy areas.

For any policies in these areas to be meaningful and effective, they

180

have to take into consideration the roles of the Federal, State and
Local governments, as well as the needs and aspirations of the people.
It is also true that because of the varying legislative, financial and
administrative variables involved, no housing policy can be considered
the exclusive responsibility of either the Federal, State or Local
government. Each government needs the assistance and cooperation of

the other levels of government,and even of the people, for the effective
implementation of all aspects of any particular policy. However, policy
recommendations in this section are discussed under the levels of
government in which they are considered most likely to function effec-
tively. The policy options discussed in Chapter IV, and the urban
respondents' suggestions (Table 5.1) for improving the quantity and
quality of housing in Calabar are also used as bases for the recommenda-
tions.

Table 5.1. Percent distribution of responses to the question:
What should the government do to improve the quality of

 

 

 

 

housing?

Responses N Percent
Build more houses 422 47.4

Enforce rent control 171 19.2

Provide housing loans ' 102 11.4

Provide infrastructure 67 7.5

Reduce cost of building materials 67 7.5

Enforce repairs, building and sanitation

standards 62 7.0
Total ~ 891 100.0

 

 

 

181

Federal Responsibility

 

1. Social Housing

More than 50 percent of housing production in Nigeria is still on
the basis Of a laissez-faire housing concept. The common housing system
in Calabar can be described as individualized, that is private. In
Calabar over 60 percent of the housing stock is provided by private
landlords, charging exorbitant rents. In a situation where there is a
large proportion of low income households whose incomes can hardly pur-
chase basic needs, social housing, in which the government comes to play
a significant role in supply of housing services, should form the basis
of housing policy.

The notion of social housing, therefore, calls for the need to
abandon the myth of the marketplace (especially in a tight housing
market) as the efficient medium for the distribution of the society's
resources. Rather, we must search for more reliable instruments in the
housing policy market for the production and fair distribution of hous-
ing services. The need for direct redistribution of income for housing
assistance purposes is one of such instruments. It will be recalled
that social housing, taking the forms of housing subsidies, rent rebates
and shelter allowances, is popular policy in many European countries,
the United States, and even Ghana. Housing unit subsidies, administered
strictly on the basis of needs, have the effect of ensuring that all low
income households are able to acquire decent housing for an expenditure
which represent a reasonable proportion of their low income. Shelter

allowances consist of government contributions to shelter costs, aimed

182

at reducing shelter-to-income ratios for all households to about 20
percent.

We have seen how in Britain a "means-tested rent subsidy" tech-
nique is used to determine "rent rebates for public housing" and "rent
allowances for the private rental sector"; while the Ghanaian government
uses a "graduated rent subsidy" to determine housing assistance to the
different income groups below $4000. Production subsidies in the form
of lower interest rates and capital grants are also used in European
countries and the United States, and the Ghanaian "roof loan" has been
used to encourage private ownership. As part of a social housing policy
in Calabar, the foregoing examples, in addition to site and service
programs, could be used to distribute housing services and even increase
the stock of housing. In particular, the best form of social housing
should include the people's participation in the construction of their
homes individually or in cooperative associations, the government pro-

viding technical assistance and infrastructure in such cases.

State Responsibility

 

1. Cost of Housing and Rent

Land, labor, building materials and finance represent the major
determinants of the cost of residential construction. Therefore, these
elements represent key policy areas in any efforts to improve the supply
and quality of housing in Calabar.

Because the rising land prices tend to favor urban residential

land development for wealthy landlords, a policy of public land assembly

183

and land banking should be instituted. As early as the eighteenth
century the Prussian Kings realized that an effective urban planning
demanded the power to dispose of land freely. Thus, purchasing one lot
after another they acquired up to 40 percent of the land area of Berlin.
In Sweden, as we have seen, the ownership of land carries with it no
inherent development right. Hence, the public finds it easy to direct
the course of housing development. The government of Calabar can acquire
unused lands in close proximity to the Calabar Metropolitan area, pay-
ing appropriate compensation to their original owners on extensive
lease arrangements rather than full capital payments. Such public lands
could then be used for the site and service programs, sold, or leased
to the private sector for residential purposes, and for regulating land
prices by flooding the market to depress land prices whenever it is
necessary to do so. However, land nationalization is difficult to
implement since the policy makers are the owners of most of the urban
land.

Building materials are expensive largely because of over-reliance
on imported materials. Yet, Calabar has a wide range of renewable
local resources, such as timber and agricultural fibers. A direct gov-
ernment encouragement of research into the development and integration
of local materials into the construction industry should lead to the
availability of low-priced building materials as well as an increase in
the supply of housing. The need to develop inexpensive substitutes for
some of the current building materials is specially crucial in Calabar.

Possibilities include the treatment of local building materials to

184

withstand environmental damage. For instance, the surfaces of stablized
earth blocks can be treated with silicone to increase longevity. These
innovations have been applied with notable success in other low cost
housing programs, particularly in South America.

To promote such innovations in Calabar, cooperation with the pro-
posed Federal Building Material Institute and other research organiza-
tions should be encouraged. Already a Burnt Brick Industry has been
proposed by the Cross River State government. The bricks should be a
useful supplement to the largely imported, and costly, cement. Reducing
the cost, and increasing the supply of materials for construction,
should lead to a building boom in the future, and even reduce the govern-

ment's burden of direct social housing.

Labor policy should form an integral part of the building material
and construction industries. Training programs in construction manage-
ment skills can benefit local contractors. Depending on how it is
managed, labor policy can either hinder'or promote the development of
housing. Unduly rigid skill requirements are sometimes combined with
restrictive entry conditions into building trades. In Calabar, inappro-
priate inspection procedures and red tape have already created monopol-
istic and oligopolistic privileges for a few "expert" construction firms
which have no commitment to training programs. Far from protecting the
rights of the workers, restrictive labor policies limit housing con-
struction and thereby reduce employment below the level that can be

sustained with more liberal policies.

185

Monetary policy is another key factor in the availability of hous-
ing finance. A lack or shortage of grass-roots types of mortgage
institutions and funds Often retard the provision of adequate housing.
This problem is not so much one of housing as of development of the
financial sector. As of now, the financial system in the C.R.S. is
dominated by commercial banks which lend on terms that require repayment
in a short period of time. So far, the Federal Mortgage Bank which was
established to "encourage and promote the development of mortgage insti-
tutions at State and National levels'I has neither been accessible to
most individuals in Calabar nor succeeded in promoting any other long-
term financial institution in the State.

A long-term improvement in the monetary and capital market policy,
particularly the creation of a mortgage loan insurance institution,
would be an important method to implement a home finance policy in
Calabar. The creation of mortgage insurance is an important means of
reducing the usual risks of the mortgage market and thereby providing a
conducive home finance environment for private institutions interested
in offering mortgage loans to the moderate- and low-income people.

A mortgage Insurance Institution is thus capable of: (l) stimulating
the housing industry by encouraging other financial institutions to
offer mortgage loans to potential homeowners; and (2) making homeowner-
ship accessible to persons who have a regular income but lack the accu-
mulated savings required for a downpayment of from 30 to 40 percent by
providing mortgage loans on more generous interest rates and amortiza-

tion period. A mortgage insurance program places housing within the

186

reach of many families who desire new homes but cannot afford the more
stringent borrowing terms associated with conventional finance. Removal
of the specific hindrances to housing finance would thus allow housing
to better compete with other claimants for long-term institutional
finance.

Some people in Calabar have insisted on rent control as a means to
alleviate the pressing and unreasonable burden of house rent on tennants.
The use of rent controls to prevent private individuals from capturing
socially caused gains and to mitigate the imperfections of housing mar-
kets has a long but unsuccessful history in both the advanced and
developing countries. Rent controls have been effective only for limited
periods of strong social cohesion, as during wartime, and when applied
in combination with strict controls on other incomes and prices. In
Nigeria where the government is still unable to implement its general
price control policies, and where the legislative and necessary organi-
zational framework for rent control still have loopholes, rent control
seems very likely to retard rather than accelerate the provision of
housing.

The limitations of rent control, in a country such as Nigeria are
many:

(1) The poor may be driven out of much of the controlled housing.

(2) Because rent control forces legal returns on housing that are

below market levels, it leads to disinvestment and deteriora-
tion of housing through lack of maintenance.

(3) It inhibits additions to housing stock, particularly for priv-

ate investment in housing, as limits on profits chase private
money out of the rental housing sector into uncontrolled areas.

187

(4) It can lead to illegal rationing systems by which payments
such as "key money" becomes a substitute for proper rents,
and thus reduce the amount available from taxation since
such illegal payments are not taxed. As long as prices are
not effectively controlled, other measures which have the
potential for accelerating the supply of housing (as have
been discussed already in this chapter) represent better
policy options than a rather inequitable policy of rent con-
trol.

2. Environmental Quality

Various social problems associated with urban development in
Tropical Africa have received considerable attention by social scien-
tists, but less attention has been paid to the physical problems involv-
ing the environment. Environmental deterioration now counts among the
important world crises. Though still vaguely defined, "environment"
has rapidly become a vogue word in many parts of the world, attracting
the attention of many scholars, private and governmental agencies. The
concern about environmental quality has already brought the ideas of
"conservation" and "wise use" into vogue, and has aroused world experts
to consider the need for a world-wide environmental surveillance and
warning agency. Many countries have already introduced regulations for
the control of environmental quality, though none has reached the sop-
histication of the American system. For instances in the United States,
restriction of air pollution from light vehicles has already been used
to significantly reduce the amount of pollutants; and in some States
vehicles are even permitted to make right turns at red light signals,
as part of the efforts to maintain environmental quality. Whereas:

Till now many Nigerians consider the hue and cry in other coun-

tries about environmental problems, especially pollution and
degradation, as a voice in the wilderness, and therefore as

188

something distant and irrelevant to the Nigerian situation....

But the fact is that our country is replete with conditions that

actively promote environmental pollution and degradation (Ojo,

1972:10).

Calabar, for instance, is a specimen of environmental pollution
and degradation. Apart from the predominance of poor quality housing
per se, solid waste disposal and poor drainage represent the most con-
spicuous environmental problems which plague the city. Because many
houses still do not have toilet facilities, inmates usually go to any
nearby bush or stream to dispose of human waste. Popular toilet facili-
ties are still pit latrines or the pail system. The pit system is made
simply of dry bore-holes in enclosed areas into which the untreated
human waste is deposited, and the pail system comprises the collection
of untreated waste from individual houses in metal pails which are re-
moved by workers to some depot where they are buried. Often these sys-
tems are shared by many households. Sometimes the workers go on strike
leaving the pails to over-fill and Spill, emitting an unbearable stench.
From the health and environmental point of view, these methods of human
waste disposal are clearly undesirable in the urban area, and call for
policies to ameliorate the situation.

In most parts of the city, one can see large heaps of uncollected
garbage which overflow from the roadside to the road center, the spread
being done not only by the increasing debris but also by wandering
goats, dogs, vultures and chickens scavenging for food. Even in parts
of the city where refuge depots are provided, it is common to see leaves,

pieces of paper and other forms of solid wastes littering the streets,

residential dwellings and neighborhoods.

189

Open drains are offensive in every respect. Gutters designed for
the smooth flow of liquid wastes are commonly strewn with solid wastes
such as bottles, tins and unwanted furniture. Calabar also lacks an
integrated drainage network. Residential areas and many streets, there-
fore, become flooded during the heavy equatorial downpours, rendering
some streets unpassable. Where there are no gutters, and especially in
congested areas, water is often spilled just outside the door onto the
road to form stenchy, slippery swamps. The types of environmental
pollution in Calabar are more numerous than are mentioned here and con-
stitute an affront on man's health and general welfare.

There is an urgent need to formulate an environmental policy that
will protect the people of Calabar from utter environmental deteriora-
tion. First of all, a local environmental surveillance and warning
agency should be established. Its duties may include: (1) a research
into the attitudes and needs of the people concerning environmental
quality; (2) the arousing of community and public awareness to the
importance of aesthetic appreciation and maintenance of environmental
quality; (3) the collection and storage of pertinent information concern-
ing environmental quality; (4) the setting Of local environmental qual-
ity standards; and (5) the determination of control and regulatory
strategies for maintaining the quality Of the environment. Because
environmental problems are not confined to local boundaries, such a
local agency should coordinate its activities with branches of the
Federal Government such as the Federal Department of Urban Development

and Environment. To be of use to the local agency, the federal agency

190

must, of course, be more committed to the goal of maintaining environ-
mental quality than it is at present. However, the ultimate goals
should be to improve the quality and quantity of housing, the environ-
ment and urban services in both the urban and rural areas, paying immes
diate attention to the development and maintenance of adequate and
efficient solid waste and water disposal mechanisms.

One potentially valuable instrument of housing quality is zoning.
As one of the several legal devices for implementing the proposals for
land use development as set forth in the land use plan, zoning is not
only important in protecting an aesthetically pleasing residential
environment, but useful for grouping commercial, industrial and other
activities in an efficient manner. Properly used, zoning can also
ensure an ample supply of urban land for well-planned housing construc-
tion that takes into consideration the economic and socio-cultural
realities of the people as well as environmental quality. However,
inappropriate application of zoning regulations suited to developed
countries may exclude the poor from areas near industrial, commercial,
and high-income residential zones that provide their greatest opportun-
ities for jobs and income earning. But, zoning can still be tactfully
used, with an appreciation of the realities of poverty of the masses,
to enhance the "liveability? of the people's residential environment.
Livability here refers to the sum total of the residential setting which
induces a feeling of satisfaction and a sense of well-being among the

people living there.

191

The basic rationale underlying these recommendations for environ-
mental quality improvement is that housing is part of a total environ-
mental system. Housing quality and quality of life are two variables of
the same equation. It is true that the housing problem is basically the
health problem affecting not only the well-being of the people but also
their manner of living and the ordinary decencies of life. Moreover,
the term housing connotes not only the housing structure and its facili-
ties but also the environment of the structure. Housing quality cannot,
therefore, be determined without reference to the external environmental

factors which influence the quality of residential life in the area.

Local Responsibility
1. Blight Prevention

The adage "prevention is better than cure" is a relevant precau-
tionary measure in the formulation of housing policies (to provide
decent housing for all). One cannot rely only on the construction of
new dwellings to replace existing substandard units. The expense of
tearing down dillapiated housing units and rebuilding, and the social
and psychological problems inherent in slum clearnace programs, have
been comprehensively analyzed by Marris. He proves that "blight pre-
vention" is a better housing policy than curative prOgrams.

The terms "slum", "blighted area" and "urban blight" have been
used to describe a profusion of urban housing that is offensive to the
community. Urban blight is often used to imply deterioration or the
existence of deficiencies in the quality of structures and their imme-

diate environment. Implied also are a range of measurable conditions

192

which can be defined from a set of "standards" which are based on gen-
erally recognized criteria of health, safety, and other elements of the
public interest. Urban blight designates a critical stage in the func-
tional or social depreciation of real property beyond which its existing
condition or use is unacceptable to the community. However, the stand-
ards employed in delineating blighted areas and thus the range of condi-
tions to be identified with each type of treatment area are matters of
local determination.

Three options in the treatment of blight are open to policy makers
in Calabar--(l) redevelopment, (2) rehabilitation, and (3) conservation.
Redevelopment is a measure often used in areas where urban blight has
advanced to such a degree that by local standards nothing short of
clearance is practicable. Often rehabilitation measures are recommend-
able for an area which is in a stage of incipient blight and is restor-
able to acceptable local standards. Measures may include the reduction
of population densities, the acquisition and clearance of scattered
deteriorated buildings, the repair, modernization, and the provision of
sanitary facilities, the repair or provision of streets or other public
improvement, or a campaign for voluntary cleanup, painting and improved
building maintenance standard on the part of property owners. The
third type of treatment is often applicable in areas which are in keep-
ing with land use and population density requirements of a comprehensive
plan--"good" condition areas that are to be protected from blight.

Such areas require strict and continuing enforcement of zoning and

minimum housing standards ordinance and vigilance as to the maintenance

193

of community facilities and private property as key preventive measures.

Enforcement of standards to facilitate the quantitative and quali-
tative adequacy of housing is consistent with the wishes of the people
of Calabar. It must, however, be noted that though "appropriate" build-
ing standards can do much to create safe and pleasant housing environ-
ment, if regulations are inappropriate and standards are set too high for
existing income levels, their primary effect will be to reduce the quan-
tities of housing that are available at prices the poor cannot afford.
Policy makers in Calabar should, therefore, set local standards at such
a level that the first of the foregoing strategies, the relocation of
people, should, as far as possible, be avoided. Experiences in Nigeria
and in the United States have shown the social, economic, and psycho-
logical limitations of clearance and relocation programs (Marris, 1961;
Onokerhoraye, 1977; Hartman, 1975). Even in an advanced country such
as the United States, relocation is still, as Hartman puts it "illusory
promises and no reliefs."

The problems inherent in clearance programs suggest that, even in
blighted areas, the conservation approach in which the best of existing
parts of the poor residential areas are retained while the worse parts
are removed block by block would be a sound housing policy. This policy
is based on the concept of the "boot-strap strategy" which aims to
conserve and upgrade existing property, without displacing the occu-
pants. Using this strategy improvement in the blighted areas can be
accomplished by some form of an "aided-self—help" housing program.

With such a program a large proportion of housing can be improved by

194

re-roofing, enlarging windows, replacing walls and painting. The govern-
ment can assist the people to improve the physical environment of the
areas by providing needed infrastructure. The conservation approach,
using the aided-self-help housing philosophy, has a useful function not
only in avoiding relocation but mobilizing and directing human invest-

ment in urban housing.

2. Code Enforcement

Arresting blight and deterioration in housing quality are the main
target of housing code enforcement. Code enforcement is, therefore, an
indispensable policy, within the jurisdiction of any community,
for maintaining housing quality and the general community welfare.

Community satisfaction should be the ultimate goal of code en-
forcement. A sound and effective program should ask the question:
What does this program mean to this community? In a relatively poor
community such as Calabar, code enforcement should guard against becom-
ing a harmful form of intervention that results in higher rents in the
low-income housing market. The benefits of code enforcement should
ultimately be directed to the poor who need them most. If code enforce-
ment were accompanied with a grant program to assist landlord and house-
owners in completing necessary renovations and repairs, there would be
less cause to raise house rents higher than the poor can afford.

Other suggestions for making code enforcement programs practical
and responsive include the following: (1) We should use a "preventive"
rather than a "punitive" approach. Evidently punitive action alone

cannot accomplish the goals of housing code enforcement. It was in

195

recognition of this fact that a Housing Clinic was created in 1969 to
assist the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Housing Court in "hard-core"

cases where fines and imprisonment proved counterproductive.

(2) There are needs for citizen participation and education to get the
people involved and interested in code enforcement. To be successful
the code enforcement program should not only be related to the needs of
the community, but its implementation should be more of an education

process, rather than a "police" action.

Systems Approach to Migration and Housing Problems

 

For explanatory purposes each of the foregoing policy options
was presented separately. However, the close interaction that occurs
between migration and housing renders them inseparable. Policy recom-
mendations, as they are presented in this chapter, should not be inter-
preted out of the context of the whole, for there are no solutions to an
isolated problem of migration and housing, unless they are seen in rela-
tion to the whole strategy of development. Because systems analysis can
yield insights into the structural characteristics and behavior of
interacting phenomena, the systems approach provides an appropriate con-
ceptual framework for handling substantive geographic problems such as
those arising from rural-urban migration. Migration for instance, is a
phenomenon which is intricately tied with all aspects of human endeavors,
operating within other economic, social and political systems. Migration
can, therefore, be influenced by economic, social, demographic and

political changes and may itself result in a variety of changes or be a

196

concomitant of these changes. In most African nations, the lack of
adequate knowledge about the extent and causes and processes of popula-
tion movement stem partly from "the paucity of intensive, coordinated
or comprehensive empirical work" (Gould et al., 1973). In order fully
to appraise the interrelated forces in migration and housing in their
totality, it is highly pertinent to approach the study in a multi-
dimensional, multi-disciplinary, integrated way. Using such an approach,
each specialist can pool together the tools of his discipline to explore
other relevant and crucial areas which might guide policy makers and
development planners in adopting rational migration and housing policies.
Within a systems framework we can conceive of migration as a pro-
cess linking two systems of socio-economic organization--the rural and
urban systems. Thus, in trying to implement a "back to the Land" policy,
for example, knowledge about both systems, whether empirically or his-
torically reconstructed, is essential for an adequate understanding of
the intricate socio-economic dimensions or network involved. Migration
policies, whenever formulated, should be directed to both the areas of
origin and areas of destination of migrants. Otherwise, for instance,
any employment expansion programs in the modern urban sector without
simultaneous efforts to make rural economy and life more attractive
will often be thwarted by rural-urban migration, encouraged by the
increased probability of securing urban employment. Schwarzweller's
suggestion is instructive in this regard: "One must take into account

the recipient system at the place of destination as well as the donor

 

system at the place of origin in order to grasp the systems' entirety."

197

In the planning of population distribution and economic develop-
ment we must, therefore, consider migration and housing policies as
part of a complex system of interrelated parameters. Figure 5-1, for
an example, illustrates how investment in housing, if accompanied with
urban and rural development programs, can play an important part in
promoting economic growth and curtailing rural-urban migration. The
creation and funding of a National Housing Bank can make capital avail-
able for loans to State, Local Governments and individuals and thus
stimulate the building industry which in turn generates employment and
increases the number of dwelling units. As a result of the increase in
employment and income levels, demand for household and domestic consumer
goods may increase, thus providing opportunities for small-scale enter-
prises by which local economies can be expanded. If these opportunities
are available in both the "donor" and the "recipient" systems, improve-
ment will be ensured of both the rural and urban economies. By using
such a comprehensive and coordinated approach in migration and housing
policies, pride in rural living can be enhanced, and rural-urban migra-
tion curtailed, as even the "back to the land" policy becomes easier to
implement, and the overall economic development is likely to accelerate.

Unfortunately, planning in Nigeria is still in a project oriented
stage, lacking coordination. Since Nigerian State Governments and their
ethnic groups are geographically fixed, there is a tendency for planners
to suboptimize their jurisdiction. Even within the States, planning
activities are still piecemeal attacks on what are in fact massive

environmental, social, technical and spatial problems requiring a more

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199

general national plan which integrates and coordinates local regional
and State plans at the national level. I

Therefore, a more comprehensive approach which seeks to plan for
the country as a whole is needed. Three distinct levels of planning
urban development which provide a suitable framework for coordinating
planning projects in Nigeria can be discerned. The first is the
regional or national level--where the planner is concerned with popula-
tion distribution and with techniques to encourage migrants to settle
in areas where they could be most usefully employed and most easily
accommodated. The second is the area planning level-~which roughly

coincides with the State level planning, and the plans seek to bring

about an overall improvement of the area in terms of agriculture,
industry, water, housing, school, and trade, and are integrated with
national objectives. The third is the local level where personal aims
and skills are identified and harnessed to the development process.
These processes call for the setting up of a National Planning Agency
to harness State, Local, and local level programs to overall national
development. Such an agency is needed to organize geographic space in
order to increase national economic growth and cohesion, thereby
ensuring that benefits of such growth are felt in all localities and
are consequently passed on to a majority of people. Otherwise, planners
will continue to attempt to improve social conditions in areas like
health services and education, when the people live in squalor; or
initiate policies which deepen the cleavage between the rural and

urban socio-economies, thus accelerating irrational migration

200

which degrades the system. In any pursuit of balanced development, we
must recognize the interrelation between urban and rural problems and

avoid the temptation to isolate them for individual attack.

CHAPTER VI

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This study recognizes the historical importance of migration in
economic development and social change in Africa. In recent years,
however, rural-urban migration has become the most visible and dramatic
phenomenon frustrating the efforts of development planners in African
cities such as Calabar. The problems posed by the process of rural-
urban migration are not only numerous but increasing at a rate faster
than any known efforts to redress the situation. Of all such problems
the greatest concern of this study is that rural-urban migration is
seriously aggravating urban housing problems; increasingly producing a
lack of adequate housing supply, an overcrowding of present housing, as
well as the high cost of housing and rent. As a result of the impact of
rural-urban migration, slum areas are slowly engulfing most sections of
the city.

The purpose of this study is to facilitate an understanding of the
rural-urban migration process and of its impact on housing in Calabar
Division. In addition, the investigation offers suggestions that may
aid in the formulation of rational economic policies to assist in con-
trolling the movement of people to a city yet unprepared to accommodate
them. These call for the need to identify and analyze in the study area:

(l) the significant features and processes associated with rural-urban

201

202

migration; (2) the impact of internal migration on housing supply;

(3) alternative housing policies and other means of monitoring the quan-
tity and quality of housing; and (4) actions toward solving the migration
and housing problems.

Observations in the study demonstrate that the dynamic historical
development of Calabar is important in understanding the process of
migration. The original inhabitants of the area--the Efik, the Qua and
the Efut, were forced into the city by local wars. Today, a myriad of
other forces operate to drive people of diverse ethnic origin to Calabar.
Of all the causal factors, economic reasons represent the overriding
force in modern migration flows to the city. As one of the respondents
put it "Biong ada mmo usung," that is, migrants are driven by hunger.
This "hunger" can be interpreted in the context of all those elements
that are lacking or inadequately provided in the rural areas but are in
reality, or by perception, abundant in the urban area. Migrants moving
to Calabar are also "hungry" for better education, electricity, good
roads, better market facilities, better medical facilities, security
from rural enemies, and all the other amenities which the urban dwellers
take for granted.

Many pulls and pushes operate in both rural and urban areas, but
the dearth of economic and social facilities in the villages has been
the most obvious factor in the unabatable drift of people to Calabar.
Underdevelopment of the rural areas is, therefore, the major reason for
the current lack of interest in rural areas. Thus, regardless of the

fact that in most cases migrants' dreams have not matched the realities

203

of life in the city, Calabar still stands out as a magnet attracting the
ambitious, educated, and young people from the backwaters of the rural
areas. However, once in the city migrants' perceptions of urban life
may change. Among the hardships encountered by most of these migrants
in the city are high cost of living, housing shortages, high rents,
unemployment, environmental pollution, armed robbery, and numerous
accidents. In spite of these and other hardships, rural-urban migration
remains unabated.

Another significant observation concerning the process of migra-
tion is the existence of close ties between migrants in the urban area
and their rural families. Almost all migrants send money home to their
rural families and visit home on the average of once a year. To most
migrants, loyalties are more to their village places of birth rather
than to the town where they earn a living, and they expect to return
home in the future. Building a house in the rural area is, therefore,
the passionate resolve of most migrants. Such rural houses are designed
to accommodate an individual's relatives, provide comfortable living
arrangements upon his retirement, and enhance the owner's prestige in
the village. This strong interest in the rural area should be viewed as
a critical issue in both rural and urban planning policies, for it demon-
strates how geographic space can be effectively organized and articu-
lated through a rational spatial location of economic and social
amenities to benefit the general population.

Designating Calabar as a State Capital after the Civil War marked
the resurgence of the city as well as the rise of its housing problems.

The history of housing deficits in Calabar can be traced to that war

204

which led to the destruction of many houses in the city. Though the
subject of housing has generated much discussion in the past few years,
neither the Federal nor the State government has any discernible
government housing policy, except for some ad hoc solutions which are
never directed to the provision of housing services to migrants or to
low-income people. Because neither Federal nor State government accepts
the notion that housing is productive, and should be funded in the same
way as other capital projects, investments allocated to housing are far
too low to resolve the mounting housing problems. .

The existing Federal and State housing schemes are clearly limited
in both the scope of their housing activities and their commitments to
the needs of the poor and, particularly, the migrant poor. The State
Housing Corporation is yet to prove that it can translate its objectives
to provide low-income housing to the poor into reality--so that the poor
and not the rich or the landlords benefit from the State and Federal
housing schemes. The Cross River State also operates a Staff Housing
Scheme which can be seen as an elitist housing strategy. It is intended
to benefit the privileged few, leaving the unemployed, the poor, and the
private workers to compete for the limited accommodations supplied
largely by private landlords whose ability to expand the housing stock
is by all means very limited.

The resultant acute shortage of urban housing has forced many
migrants into overcrowded quarters, and as a result the housing shortage
has become more an urban than a rural problem. Four major constraints
in urban residential construction to meet the needs of all are identi-

fied: (l) the scarcity of plots and difficulties in claiming title to

205

land; (2) the erratic and high cost of building materials; (3) lack of
finance on the part of the government; (4) the lengthy submittal and
approval process required by planning authorities for housing construc-
tion; and (5) the utter poverty of the people, which renders over 90
percent of them incapable of purchasing or building decent housing.

In the absence of government assistance to migrants, the extended
family system plays a significant role in helping temporarily to relieve
the acute housing shortage. It is, however, doubtful how far the
extended family can continue to bear this burden, as the Calabar housing
market grows tighter.

Housing in Calabar is characterized by not only quantitative but
qualitative inadequacy. Realizing that housing is a complex of many
physical and environmental factors, an incidence factor analysis pro-
cedure is used to facilitate the identification of distinct structural
housing categories and their spatial distribution in the city. From a
total of twenty seven housing-related variables, six factors are
extracted. These factors are useful in discerning housing types,
ranging from housing categories that are characterized by the provision
of internal water system; the luxurious types with refrigerators and
air conditioning amenities; the permanent but largely unfurnished types;
to the traditional mud and thatched types. There is a distinctive spatial
pattern in the distribution of these housing types. While the Federal
and State Housing Estate, most of the central zone in the heart of the
city, and the areas adjacent the University of Calabar and College of

Technology are typified by the good quality houses, the peripheral

206

section in the south and south-eastern parts of the city, and the Akim
Qua area, are typified by the traditional, low quality housing types.

Although the physical structure of housing is found to be closely
and positively correlated with the degree of satisfaction in housing,
the hypothesis that there is an inverse relationship between housing
density and satisfaction in housing proved irrelevant in Calabar
Division. That is, most people still base their assessment of housing
quality more on the superiority of the building materials and the
available amenities than on housing density. Another hypothesis which
proves irrelevant relates to the correlation between recent migrants
and housing quality. In‘a community where the extended family system
plays such an important role in the residential absorption of migrants,
most recent migrants have the chance of living with their kin in good
quality housing. However, there is a relatively stronger, and positive,
relationship between migrant's level of education and the quality of
their housing, underlining the role of elitism in the housing delivery
system in Calabar which offers the rich and the educated persons better
access to quality housing than the poor.

Calabar Division is not alone in facing acute housing problems;
this is a universal issue. Only its nature, magnitude and remedial
strategies vary from community to community and from country to country.
Fortunately Calabar has a wide range of housing strategies on which to
draw in designing its housing policies in the hope of ameliorating its
mounting housing problems. It is true that foreign solutions may

neither be perfect in themselves nor automatically suitable to the

207

Calabar conditions, but they should be carefully assessed. Quite
possibly they could be adapted to suit the Calabar situation, or used as
foundations for new housing strategies.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the dilemma arising from
rural-urban migration and its relative effects on housing have immediate
policy implications. The solution calls for a two-pronged frontal
attack to direct the movement of people, and to provide adequate and
decent housing in both rural and urban areas. By these means authori-
ties could use the migration process to promote rather than retard
economic progress and human welfare. But experience has shown that it
is neither easy nor sufficient to reduce the rate of rural-urban migra-
tion through direct migrant stream control. Since it is unbalanced
development which results in migration, a policy of decentralizing
urban amenities and emphasizing rural development programs represents the
best means of stemming migration to Calabar.

Any sound policy affecting rural-urban imbalance must be based on
the understanding that developmental activities take place in geographic
space and affect the direction of migration flows. The unequal geo-
graphic distribution of factors of production determines where people
expect to improve their economic status. Because most people move in
the direction of the greatest concentration of economic activities, the
urbanization trends of any community are neither spontaneous nor unpre-
dictable. Rather, they reflect the aggregate of countless locational
decisions of various public, private organizations and individual in-

vestors. Herein lies one important clue that government could utilize

208

to influence the locational decisions of corporate bodies and individ-
uals, thereby promoting public and private interest in a rational and
unified population distribution policy. A new geography of urban
development, which integrates population movements with progressive
rural developments holds better hope for population distribution policy
than mere I'back to land" exhortation, or any other coercive or physical
control. This could include such programs as agricultural innovations,
well managed extension services, and reorientation of the educational
system to suit rural occupations.

It should be noted that since a combination of forces are in-
volved in the decision to migrate, no one policy can be expected to
satisfy all conditions. It is not only economic, but a wide
range of factors which drive the migrant to the city. Hence,
amenities must be accompanied by job opportunities, to satisfy both the
"curious" and the "economic" man. On the one hand, raising wages or
increasing income opportunities in any area, without providing ways to
spend such income, may only create another reason for outmigration.
0n the other hand, unless rural inhabitants have jobs and better incomes,
amenities such as hospitals, schools, cinemas, housing, electricity and
good roads will exert little attraction.

Like migration, housing is a mixture of many factors. Easy and
quick solutions are not, therefore, possible for housing related prob-
lems. In view of the nature and size of the problem, it may take de-

cades to realize an appreciable improvement in the housing situation of

Calabar Division. Any success in overcoming housing problems in the

209

Division to a large degree will be dependent on public participation in
policies and programs. Neither should the role of central government
be overemphasized to the detriment of the contribution which local
bodies, agencies and individuals can make in accelerating the develop—
ment of building, and building material industries, and in the expan-
sion of local housing programs. Ultimately housing policies in Calabar
Division should aim at a maximum number and quality of houses for the
growing population at minimum outlay. Such policies should take into
consideration the need for the following:

(l) The establishment of a central, autonomous agency to formu-
late and administer housing policies.

(2) The adoption or adaptation of foreign housing concepts and
ideas, as well as the mobilization of all available resources
and talents to initiate a breakthrough in housing supply and
housing quality.

(3) Greater governmental involvement in the provision of housing
and housing services, especially to the poor, through any one
or a combination of these programs: housing subsidies, shel-
ter allowances, rent rebates, and site and service programs.

(4) Efforts to hold down or reduce the cost of housing and rent
through: nationalization of urban land, encouragement of
research into the development and integration of local build-
ing materials into the construction industry, improvement in
the monetary and capital market policy, particularly a mort-

gage loan insurance, and avoidance of rent control--unless

210

followed with strict legislation, administration, and effec-
tive control of other prices and the general inflation.

(5) Blight prevention, emphasizing the principles of conservation
and rehabilitation rather than slum clearance.

(6) Tactful enforcement of housing codes, emphasizing more of a
preventive rather than a punitive approach.

(7) The establishment of a local environmental surveillance and
warning agency to promote aesthetic appreciation and concern
for environmental quality, especially as it relates to hous-
ing.

Finally, it should be borne in mind that neither migration nor
housing policies can thrive in isolation. The elements of any community
are so intricately interconnected that, to achieve optimum results,
policy makers should take into consideration the various external forces
that can be tapped to strengthen their recommendations. For instance,’
the pursuit of balanced development as a means of controlling migration
calls for efforts to gain pertinent information about both the urban '
and the rural systems, to understand the whole process of urbanization,
and generate a more thoughtful spatial organization of the system.

We must accept the view that rural-urban migration cannot be legislated
away, except by the introduction of well-coordinated, massive and pro-
found transformation in both rural and urban areas. In the area of
housing, even a viable housing enforcement program can become a hin-
drance rather than a help to sound housing development, unless coordi-

nated with other forms of controls that affect the housing scene.

211

A systems approach that takes into account most of the highly inter-
related parameters of migration and housing is therefore required to
provide a solid basis for the formulation of sound policies that can
slow down rural-urban migration, ameliorate its corollary impact on
housing, and promote economic development and an improvement in human

welfare.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abasiekong, Edet M. Rural-Urban Migration in the Cross River State of
Nigeria: A Case Study of Daily-Paid Migrant Workers in Calabar
l977 .

Abrams, Charles, l966. Man's Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing
World (Cambridge, Mass: MiI. . Press).

Achunine, Obi Basil, 1977. Dynamics and Strategies for Urban Housing
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APPENDIX

APPENDIX

URBAN SURVEY

SECTION A: BACKGROUND INFORMATION

1.

@0543

 

 

 

 

Name of Migrant: 2. Age ___D 3. Sex: M F
. Years of Education 5. Marital Status: S M D W
. Ethnic Group: 7. Permanent home:
. Occupation: 9. Income:

 

 

SECTION B: MIGRATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. When did you leave home? 2. Have you lived in any
other towns before coming to settle in Calabar? Yes No__, If yes,
which town(s)? (1) (ii)'

(iii) . (iVi
V) .
2. How many years since you first moved to Calabar?

. Are you satisfied? Yes___ No___ If no, why?

 

. What were your reasons for migration to Calabar? List all reasons:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 11
(iiili (iv)
(v) .
. Indicate the three most important expectations you had in moving to
Calabar (1) (ii)
iii .

 

. Which of these have been achieved?

 

 

. Who/what most influenced your principal reason for migrating to

Calabar? (i) Father___ (ii) Mother___' (iii) Brothers/sisters____
(iv) other relatives (v) Friends____ (vi) Educational Upbringing
(vii) Personal'Eibloration___:

. Which was your number one problem on arrival in town? Finding a

job or housing? Job Housing

 

 

227

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.
21.

. How did you get your first job? Through (i) Relative

228

 

(ii) Friend (iii) Employment (iv)iAgent
(v) Government (vi) Yourself .

 

 

 

 

(a) With whom did you first stay in this town, on arrival (mention
relationship)?

 

(b) How long did you stay With him/her?

 

(c) What is his/her occupation?

 

(d) How many years of education does he/she have?

 

(e) What help did you render him/her in return for the accommoda-

 

 

 

 

 

 

tion?
How would you describe the willingness of your urban host to
accommodate you? (i) Very willing (ii) Somewhat .
willing (iii) Unwilling
Will you ever permanently return to your village? Yes____ No___
If yes, why?
(i) Preference for village life (11) Lack of success in
town (iii) After making enough money in town

 

 

(iv) Whenever opportunity offers itself in the village

 

(v) After completing my building in the village

 

(vi) 0n retirement

 

(a) Do you send money back to your family? Yes____ No___
(b) About how much? .

 

Why do you think people are moving from villages to Calabar?

 

What are the things you did like about village life?

 

 

What are the things you did not like about village life?

 

 

Tell me a few reasons why you (a) like life in Calabar:

 

(b) dislike life in Calabar:

 

 

Is it a good thing for village youths to move to towns? Yes____
No

Why do you think so?

 

People worry more about having money to care for themselves and
their family in the: (a) Village (b) Calabar

 

22.

23.

24.

25.
26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

229

People worry more about adequate accommodation for families in:
(a) Calabar (b) Village

 

 

If your son had a choice of working on an identical job, realizing
the same salary, where would you advise him to work?
Village Town

 

 

Which of these alternatives would you recommend for your son?
(a) Working as a farmer and realizing a monthly average sum of
60 Naira
(b) Working as a clerk in Calabar on a monthly salary of 50 Naira

(c) Why?

 

 

 

 

Where are the better living conditions? Village Town

Give two reasons for your choice (1)

 

(2)

Do migrants in the towns generally find town life as satisfactory
as they had hoped? Yes No

 

How often do you visit your village home? (i) Every month
(ii) Twice a year (iii) Once a year Never

 

Before deciding to move to Calabar did you have any information
about a job? Yes No

If yes, which of the following gave you the most information about
the job? (i) Family members (ii) Friends

 

(iii) Radio (iv) Newspaper (v) Other, specify

 

Do you find life in town as satisfactory as you anticipated?
Yes No

 

Mention three things that would make rural life more attractive to
people (i) (ii) (iii)

 

Should the government do anything to control the number of migrants
to cities? Yes No

Give two reasons for your choice. (i)
ii

 

 

230

SECTION C: URBAN HOUSING SURVEY

 

1.

Number of persons per room in the house?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The age of the house
3. Owner of the house (i) Personal (ii) Relative
(iii) Friend (iv) Government (v) Employer
(vi) Other
4. (a) What are the walls of the house made of? (i) Cement
(11) Mud (111) Other, specify
(b) What is the roofin material made of? (i) Corrugated iron
sheets iii) Mats (iii) Other
5. Do your householders feel that their housing condition is:
(1) Excellent (ii) Fair (iii) Poor
6. How do you hold your present accommodation (house/room)
(i) rent (ii) Owner occupied (iii) Staying with rela-
tives or friend (iv) Rent-free
7. If you rent it, how much is the monthly rate?
8. Do you own a house in the village? Yes____ No____
9. If no, do you hope to build one after you finally return to the
village? Yes No
10. How many of the following do you have in your house?

11.

12.

Mark (1) if you have it and (0) if you don't.
(1) Electric, or kerosene cooking fuel (2) Kitchen sink

(3) Chimney (4) Electric light (5) Ceiling (6) Pipe-
borne water inside or within five minutes walking distance

 

(7) Bathtub or shower (8) Toilet facilities (9) Corrugated
iron roof (10) Cemented walls (11) Cemented or tiled
floor (12) Carpet (13) Outside decoration--hedges, flowers,
etc. (14) Recreation facilities (15) Refrigerator
(16) Drainage facilities (17) Food storage facilities

 

 

 

 

(18) Closets (19) Separate sleeping room (20) Separate
dining room (21) Separate living room (22) Air condition
facilities (23) Painted walls (24) Furniture

(25) Trash can (26) Doors (27) Windows

 

What should the government do to improve the quality of housing for
migrants in Calabar?

Should the government housing help be extended to rural areas?
Yes No

231

RURAL SURVEY

SECTION A: BACKGROUND INFORMATION

1.

\l

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Head of household . 2. Occupation
. Income 4. Years of education
. Size of household 6. Number of migrants
(i) Age_______Sex_______When 1eft______ Destination
(ii) Age__ Sex___ When left___ Destination
(iii) Age______ Sex______ When left______ Destination

 

SECTION B: MIGRATION

 

1.

People are moving to Calabar from this village.

Why do you think they do so?

 

 

. What few things do you like about village life?

 

 

. Tell me a few reasons why you dislike Calabar

 

 

. Is it a good thing for village youths to move to towns?

Yes No

. Where do people worry more about having money to care for themselves

and their family? Village Town

 

 

. Where do people worry more about having adequate accommodation to

house their family? Village Town

 

 

. If your son had a choice of working on an identical job, realizing

the same salary, where would you advise him to work?

Village Town

 

 

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

232

. Which of these two alternatives would you recommend for your son?

(a) Working as a farmer and realizing a monthly salary of N 60.00

(b) Working as a clerk in Calabar on a monthly salary of N 0.00

. Have you any householder (15-46) not intending to migrate?

 

 

 

Yes No
Any return migrant in your household? Yes No
Where are better living conditions? Village Town

Do migrants in towns generally find town life as satisfactory as

they had hoped? Yes No

 

Mention three things that would make rural life more attractive

(ii) - (ii) (iii)

 

How often do members of your household who live in town visit

village home?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(a) (i) Every month (ii) Twice a year
(iii) Once a year (iv) Never

(b) (i) Every month (ii) Twice a year
(iii) Once a year (iv) Never

(c) (i) Every month (ii) Twice a year
(iii) Once a year (iv) Never

 

 

Should the government do anything to control the number of

migrants to cities? Yes No

SECTION C: RURAL HOUSING SURVEY

1. Number of persons per room in this house?

2. The age of the house

 

 

233

3. What are the walls of the house made of? (i) Cement

 

(ii) Mats (iii) Other

 

4. Do your householders feel that their housing condition is
(i) Excellent______ (ii) Fair______ (iii) Poor

5. How many of the following do you have in your house?
Mark (1) if you have it and (0) if you don't.
(1) Electric, or kerosene cooking fuel______ (2) Kitchen sink_____
(3) Chimney______ (4) Electric light______(5) Ceiling______
(6) Pipe-borne water inside or within five minutes walking distance

(7) Bathtub or shower______ (8) Toilet facilities_____

(9) Corrugated iron roof______ (10) Cemented walls______ (11) Cement
ed or tiled floor______ (12) Carpet______ (13) Outside decoration--
hedges, flowers, etc._____ (14) Recreation facilitiesg____
(15) Refrigerator_____ (16) Drainage facilities______ (17) Food
storage facilities______(18) Closets______ (19) Separate sleeping
room______ (20) Separate dining room______ (21) Separate living
room_____a (22) Air condition facilities______ (23) Painted
walls______ (24) Furniture______ (25) Trash can_____ (26) Doors____
(27) Wi ndows_

6. Should the government housing help be extended to rural areas?

Yes No

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nIcwIan STATE UNIV. LIBRARIES
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