A/HRC/43/43/Add.1 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Leilani Farha, visited Nigeria from 13 to 27 September 2019, at the invitation of the Government. The purpose of her visit was to examine the realization of the right to adequate housing through legislation, policies and programmes and to identify positive outcomes and challenges for the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing. 2. The Special Rapporteur had the opportunity to visit three major cities: Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. She visited a social housing project and numerous informal settlements where she met community representatives, women, indigenous persons, persons in homelessness, persons with disabilities and internally displaced persons, among others. She also met government officials, academics, representatives of civil society organizations, representatives of the private and financial sector and other experts. 3. Nigeria is a lower-middle income country1 that has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades. However, housing conditions in Nigeria, particularly for those living in poverty, are grossly inadequate. The Special Rapporteur observed inhumane and insufferable housing conditions, unacceptable in the twenty-first century, particularly in an oil-producing country that has consistently shown strong economic growth. 4. Generally, reliable data on the housing situation is scarce and outdated. In 2009, the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing estimated that 69 per cent of the urban population of Nigeria was living in “slums” (hereinafter referred to as informal settlements)2 many of which lack basic services like potable water, sanitation, electricity, garbage collection and paved roads. According to the World Bank, 57 million Nigerians lacked access to safe water and over 130 million were without access to adequate sanitation.3 II. Legal framework 5. Nigeria acceded to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on 29 July 1993. In its article 11 (1), the Covenant proclaims the right to housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to housing is now understood as a free-standing right. The right to adequate housing under international human rights law entails more than four walls and a roof and must be understood to mean the right to live in a place that provides security, peace and dignity. 4 Nigeria, as a party to the Covenant, must also ensure that all components of the right to adequate housing are enjoyed by all, including in respect of security of tenure, access to services and infrastructure, affordability, habitability, accessibility, location in proximity to services such as health care, schools and employment options, and cultural adequacy. 5 Nigeria has not ratified the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, which provides a mechanism for those who believe their right to housing has been violated to submit individual complaints to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights once having exhausted domestic remedies. 6. Nigeria ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on 22 July 1983. The Charter does not contain an explicit reference to the right to adequate housing, but the 1 2 3 4 5 https://data.worldbank.org/country/nigeria. Cited in United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), “Habitat country programme document Nigeria 2017–2021”, p. 14. World Bank, A Wake Up Call: Nigeria Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene Poverty Diagnostic (Washington, D.C., 2017), p. 1. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 4 (1991) on the right to adequate housing, para. 7. Ibid. 3