Poverty has various manifestations, including homelessness and inadequate housing. Slum settlements are a character of poor urban growth and poverty. In identifying the nature of slum tenancy in Nigeria, this paper mildly attempted to resolve legal controversies surrounding the nature of slum tenancy and land rights, and against the need for urban best practices and development. Having identified who a slum tenant is and the implications of slum land occupation, research emphasized that clamoring for relocation upon eviction or lawful demolition of slum housing has done more harm than good to urban development, spreading the settlements and settlers and further expanding slum habitation in new urban areas. Whether the relevance and realization of policy and law in relation to the right to adequate housing is in the court, the executive or the legislature, the exercise is much easier and more successful where the state is governed by proactive laws and not men and their political misgivings, where there exists an ambiance of egalitarianism in a state, respect for state resources to be used for the benefit of people and respect for basic human rights.