Assessment of Urban Infrastructure Quality and User Satisfaction in Low Income Residential Neighbourhoods in Minna, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed urban infrastructure quality and the level of user satisfaction with urban infrastructure in low income residential neighbourhoods in Minna, Nigeria. Five (5) neighbourhoods were selected for the study, and a total of 250 housing units were sampled. Questionnaire was administered on households that fell within the sample and used to retrieve relevant data. This was followed with an observatory study of the entire study area. Simple descriptive statistic, frequency distribution, Kruskal wallis (H) test, Pearson's correlation, and Relative satisfaction index (RSI) were used to analyse collected data at different levels in the research. Analyse-it ® v4.5 statistical software for Microsoft excel was used to carry out all statistical analysis. Seven (7) components of urban infrastructure were identified to sustain residential properties in the study area and the varied conditions of each of these infrastructure was presented. The overall quality of urban infrastructure was established based on cumulative weighted scores of respondents rating of urban infrastructure quality in their respective neighbourhoods. Total weighted scores of 600 and below signified a general poor quality of urban infrastructure in the affected areas. A correlation coefficient of 0.853 indicates a strong positive relationship between drainage conditions and the condition of access roads, among others, while low RSI for access roads (1.972), drainage systems (1.456), waste disposal (1.712), security (2.632), water supply (1.372), electricity supply (1.52), and neighbourhood cleanliness (1.688) indicate a very low level of user satisfaction with urban infrastructure in the study area. Over 50% of respondents described the management of urban infrastructure in their neighbourhoods as being poor. The study recommend that efforts by the concerned authorities should be intensified towards the provision and proper management of urban infrastructure in urban areas.

Keywords: Infrastructure quality, residential neighbourhood, urban infrastructure, user
satisfaction