URBAN DEVELOPMENT DYNAMICS: TOWARDS THE REDUCTION OF URBAN SLUMS IN ENUGU METROPOLIS

Nigeria isn’t adequately responding to its rapidly increasing population’s health needs. The country lags in implementing vital interventions like health promotion campaigns and creating effective policies and laws. This failure extends to fundamental areas such as providing sufficient medical facilicities, ensuring proper healthcare service delivery and improving sanitation, all of which are essential for tackling the underlying determinants and existing interventions against urban slums. The study specifically examines the effects of the emergence of squalid conditions in Enugu metropolis, ascertain the susceptibilities associated with policy measures in urban development in Enugu metropolis. The study adopted ex-post factor design, data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The population of the study was the gotten from residents of the three selected local government areas within Enugu metroplis, with a population of 1600. Three local government selected gazetted urban communities in Enugu metropolis. The sample size was 320 and was determined using Taro Yamani statiscal formular. The study revealed that urban slums affects urban development, absence of policy measures to check increasing population, poor planning, housing facilities, inadequate urban infrastructures and poor implementation of land policy contributed to slum build up. The study concludes by offering insights into policies and legislative opportunities and recommends stronger efforts to apply multisectoral and intersectoral approaches in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring at multiple levels to address urban slums in Enugu State and Nigeria at large