PROLOGUE: Shophouse as an Urban Poverty Escape Strategy

The submission from professionals and non-professionals had always been that rural areas or communities are full of various forms of poverty. Largely, unemployment and lack of basic social amenities have driven and still driving a huge number of youths from rural areas to urban centres. But economists and political scientists believe that urban areas are not exempt from different forms of poverty as well.

With this conflicting presentation of rural and urban areas, our analyst notes that it is difficult for anyone to conclude that indeed human beings are in a great dilemma of where to live and explore opportunities for sustainable living. Apart from the poverty factor, there are other contributors to the incessant rural-urban migration in every country in the world.

Between 2010 and 2020, rural-urban migration growth in Nigeria in the context of urbanization was alarming. From 43.48% in 2010 to 51.96% in 2020, it is obvious that Nigerians want better living conditions. Hence, the need to move from locations where opportunities and access to basic social amenities are limited to where sustainable opportunities could be pursued without fear and unnecessary uncertainties.

After some years of being in the new locations (urban areas), people with financial strength usually bought or built personal houses. This single act has continued to help the host communities to expand socially and economically. Various sources indicate that Nigerians who migrated to urban areas and indigenes of the areas have been borrowing ideas from some countries in the South East Asia regarding shophouse construction.

Shophouse is a building that has residential and commercial business purposes. In the region, shophouse has “an opening onto the pavement and also used as the owner’s residence.” This has been the tradition since 1950s. Several reports in the region and outside indicate that shophouse remains one of the elements of the urban economy. It is also an economic opportunity for homeowners.

According to our preliminary results of the ongoing observational and longitudinal studies, shophouse is being used as an urban poverty escape strategy. In our investigation, we found that Nigerians are building shops as part of their residential building when it is obvious that their locations are strategic to residents and visitors. We also discovered that places that are not in core urban areas, homeowners are constructing shops to augment their monthly income. In another perspective, a number of homeowners are not necessarily constructing the shops for rental purpose. They are making the shops available to their wives as a way of reducing the stress associated with working in corporate organisations and uplifting them financially.

In 2022, our analyst will report significant insights from the studies which are being carried in Lagos, Oyo, Ondo and some states in the eastern region. Our expectation is that concerned stakeholders in small and medium scale business management and development would learn from the insights. For instance, it is expected that government agencies and enterprise support organisations would see reason for developing policies and programmes towards sustainable urban poverty elimination.