According to Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN), the Federal Government of Nigeria’s projection of 300,000 housing units per annum will remain a wishful thinking unless it resolves some existential problems at the core of the sector.
In a statement signed by Festus Adebayo, Nigeria needs to stop paying lips service to housing development. The group believes that private sector stakeholders and reliable investors will only participate in government projects when they can perceive real ambition and the political will to match action with words.
The statement stated that Nigeria has to speed up current interventions and must also introduce more if the housing deficit must be reduced drastically. Due to many years of policy summersault, the group believes that it is very expedient to act fast and with palpable determination.
While lauding the Federal Government’s plan to deliver at least 300,000 homes every year, the group advises them on certain strategies that can make this possible.
First is that they must get the private sector to be involved in decisions for which their resources of time, finance and goodwill will be expended.
“There must be due consultation and every party must be clear about what their unique responsibilities are,” they said.
They must also work on removing the bottlenecks in the transaction dynamics by getting the land administrators (36 States and FCT), to ensure Ease of Approvals, Title Registrations etc. Especially the adoption and domestication of the Model Mortgage and Foreclosure Law in their Sates and FCT.
Furthermore, the statement reads that “there should be a recapitalization of FMBN to enable mortgages to be created, and in so doing refinance Family Homes Fumds and other Developers including Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMW&H) whose funds are massively tied up in Estates across the Country.”
The group advises the government to commence a process of working with Professional Bodies and Organizations including NGOs to ensure a high level of professionalism and diligence in their operations and processes.
Inability to work with professionals, as against political contractors has been a real threat to housing development in Nigeria.
HDAN points that the government should restructure the National Housing delivery Architecture by ensuring that roles and responsibilities are assigned, and adhered to by stakeholders.
“The roles of state government through it Housing Corporations can not be neglected. The government should forestall federal ministry of works and housing direct housing construction. To this end, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) must be restructure to deliver rent to own houses across the country.”
The government should, according to HDAN, commence massive artisanal Training Program that will ensure availability of skilled workers for the construction of the houses.
They should incentivize the use of local building materials, and the creation of backward linkages between building materials manufacturing and construction.
Another vital recommendation is that of data development. Data collation and management program needs to be enhanced across board, said HDAN.
Nigeria is still grasping with the challenge of unreliable data which means that most projections are only done in the dark and without proper insight.
HDAN highlights the importance of advocacy and creative education for off-takers on the need to start being realistic in their expectations.
The group said that Family Homes Fund that has blazed a trail in affordable housing development should be empowered with additional funding and support.
Given the importance of its mandate to deliver over 500,000 homes on its own, and based on what it has achieved so far, the Family Homes Funds should be a face of the Federal Government’s intervention. FHF has extensive experience with states and almost all public and private sector stakeholders in the building and construction industry. It is therefore important that the Fund is not only empowered but given a pivotal role to play in this annual delivery of 300,000 homes.
The IFC and AfDB need to be encouraged more to support the industrialisation of the built sector.
HDAN argues that there is no need to reinvent the wheel as there are tested large scale methodologies that can be domesticated instead of importing materials that are not beneficial or that can be locally produced.
HDAN also advise that all housing units must and can never be for owner occupiers.
“Regarding this target, those who cannot own should be able to occupy affordable rental housing without being subjected to advance rent payment,” they said.
The statement further stressed that REDAN as the organized group of both public and private sector developers should be encouraged and have a Bill for its registration passed.
“The government must repeat what Lagos state is doing in the area of regulating the real estate sector such as issues of standard and affordability. This is very key for seamless administration and for the fight against quacks and real estate fraudsters.”
