Analytical Study of the Right to Housing in Nigeria: Constitutional Gaps, Judicial Enforcement, and the Homeless Population in Lagos State

The right to housing is recognised under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as a core component of the right to an adequate standard of living, yet it remains unenforced as a justiciable constitutional right in Nigeria, where Chapter II socio-economic rights provisions are designated non-justiciable. Lagos State, with its massive urban homeless and slum-dwelling population, provides a critical empirical context for analysing this constitutional gap. This study analytically examines the right to housing in Nigeria, evaluating the constitutional framework, judicial engagement with housing rights claims, and the policy and legal implications of forced evictions in Lagos State. A mixed doctrinal and empirical methodology is applied, reviewing the 1999 Constitution, Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Law, forced eviction documentation from the Social and Economic Rights Action Centre from 2018 to 2023, and comparative housing rights jurisprudence from South Africa's Constitutional Court including the Irene Grootboom decision. The study evaluates whether South Africa's minimum core obligation doctrine and the Kenyan Constitution's Article 43 housing guarantee provide viable models for Nigerian constitutional reform. Available housing rights literature from Nigeria identifies the non-justiciability barrier, inadequate legal aid for eviction defence, and absence of a national housing rights law as the three principal legal access gaps. The Progressive Realisation Doctrine and the Housing Rights Justiciability Framework provide the analytical reference. Findings support constitutional amendment recommendations and minimum housing standards legislation. Keywords: right to housing, forced evictions, Lagos State, constitutional law, socio-economic rights.