A housing expert has highlighted urban regeneration and slum upgrading as key areas that government must consider if it wants to achieve the 300,000 housing units target recently announced.
A Professor of Housing, at the University of Lagos, Prof. Gbenga Nubi, made this known while speaking to issues as guest panellist during a recent webinar organized by the Housing Development Advocacy Network and themed: Works And Housing: The Future Prospects For Delivery Of Affordable Housing Post Covid-19.
According to him, it is important to understand that housing needs of Nigeria as a country is enormous and the funding required to cater for this housing needs may not be readily available to the government, hence the need to innovate in achieving the set target.
“Talking about the 300,000 housing units target, is there no hope? How can we really get that target? Is the target impossible? Is it not possible to estimate? N3 million cannot really build any house let’s just get that right. Ok even if we decide to use the N3 million costing and we are saying that the total will be N900 billion, necessity is the mother of invention, but in Africa necessity has become the mother of frustration – which shouldn’t be. Because the statistics that we are currently giving – N900 billion, where will we get it? Even the budget of the ministry is not up to that – and so we give up – that has actually been our experience in this country – it should not be” he said.
The Professor further stated that Nigeria’s peculiar housing situation required strategic solutions as government may not have all the financial resources needed to achieve the housing units target without considering the resuscitation and upgrade of some buildings and projects already existing in the country.
“What we have been telling government since 2007 when we made our presentation to Former President Obasanjo is that it is possible for us to deliver a million units, even the 300,000 units. How do we do it – we have to narrow it down. The housing deficit we are saying we have in this country is not just new built. When we say new-built we will be looking at 6 million to build. But we are saying that Nigerians are already living in a particular house. People are living in Bariga they are living in Shomolu, they are living in Mushin, living in substandard houses that needed just a fraction to upgrade.
“To get Housing right we have to get Real Estate right so that we can unleash the potent wealth that is dormant in this country. We must stop playing politics with housing. Let us build Nigeria out of poverty post covid-19. Covid-19 has exposed the weakness of housing to us. It has shown that we can’t ask people to stay at home when they don’t have decent houses” he noted.
He also emphasized the importance of urban regeneration as a means of developing sustainable cities and improving the housing situation in the country as it has been used world over by developed countries of the world and has proven to be effective in addressing housing challenges.
“As a nation we cannot run away from urban regeneration. It happened in the UK and we can’t continue to say we want to build 300000 housing units and there is frustration- how do we get the money. No. Let us break it into segments. How many will come from urban regeneration? – whereby we only needed to do infrastructure in areas like Shomolu, in areas like Nyanyan, Karu, we put infrastructure and then we empower the people to access home improvement loans.
“Those millions of houses that the United Nations did not count because they lacked basic facilities, imagine if facilities could be provided in such. Let us also look at how many will come through the civil servants and the police, and how many will be social housing. When we break it down we can then put it phase by phase” he explained.
The expert also pointed out the important role Cooperative societies can play in actualizing government’s housing target, adding that there is the need to take inventory of all abandoned projects in states of the country and work towards completing them.
“The 300,000 housing units that government wants to do is a very good start. Let us work with cooperatives, let us get the inventory of existing projects all over the country- these are quick win means. It will facilitate the completion of the abandoned projects and while we are doing this, then we can begin to fine-tune our Mortgage Industry and then embark upon new-build. Ask any man who wants to repair his house, he does not need C of O to do that.
“The National Housing policy stated clearly that government will no longer be involved in direct construction of houses. Every state in this country has a large number of registered cooperatives that have acquired land, laid the foundation, some of them have built to lintel level. All we just needed to do is to give home completion loans to them.
“In 1977 when the Federal Government noticed that there were many houses uncompleted in the country, they give home loans and thousands of properties came to the market. There are several cooperative Onitsha, in Lagos that have projects. They just needed to be assisted to complete these houses. If we do this will be able to realize more than this 300,000 we are targeting. Let’s stop thinking only new-build. Let’s use everyone that is available at our disposal and let’s re-engineer them” he stated.
Prof. Nubi also stressed the need for the country’s legislators to consider turning government’s housing policies into Acts as this would make government more responsible towards its duties to the housing sector and also eradicate the inadequacies that arise from change of government and difference in policies.
“What we have in England and the UK is the Housing Act. It is better we begin to turn our Policies in this country to Acts. When you get to the UK today, it is almost every year that they amended their Housing Act. When it becomes an Act then Government will be bound to implement. But as long as their policies it is just a suggestion.
“You cannot hold any government by any policy. So once we are able to turn these things to Acts and it is legislated then you can take government to court if it fails to do some things it promised because it is a law. So what we have to push for in the industry now is to move away from policies to Acts. The same applies to the Building Code. Once these things should pass through the House of Assembly you will find out that people will be obliged.
“The policy is there saying that government has no business with direct construction after failing with the Shagari Estate, but another government will come and change it because it is a mere policy. One of those areas that is the problem in the housing sector is the short-term nature of the government in this country. Every government wants to do whatever they want to do within 4 years. Housing is a long-term process” he stressed.
