Impact of Urban Slum Violence on Work in Slum Areas of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Regular violence pervades the slums in Port Harcourt, a metropolitan city where people inhabit for the purpose of work, among other reasons. The curiosity to understand the relationship of work with this violence is felt by the researchers who, from the review of relevant literature, observed that intellectual response to the issue dealt with political violence and effects on social development. The researchers therefore observed an existing gap in knowledge of the relationship between urban slum violence and work in the slum areas of Port Harcourt. Four research hypotheses were posed to guide the study. The study adopted the social disorganization theory in the explanation of the variables of the study. Simple random sampling method was adopted in the selection of the respondents of the instruments of the study, and some slums in the city were selected randomly. The study adopted cross-sectional research design and generated data through survey. The data for the study was generated through the administration of structured questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion. Sample size of 400 was determined by the Taro Yamane statistics. We analyzed data of the study using descriptive statistics. Thus, chi-square statistics was utilized in testing the hypotheses of the study. The qualitative data were organized into conceptual themes and categories. The study concluded that urban slum violence hinders school activities, business activities, fishing activities and employment opportunities for people in the slum areas of Port Harcourt. Thus, the study established that urban slum violence has a negative impact on work in the slum areas of Port Harcourt. Hence, policy recommendations were made.