Nigeria at 60: A reflection on outstanding housing, mortgage-related bills needed for mass affordable housing

 
As the most populous country in Africa, there are high hopes for what Nigeria can achieve. Such hopes and expectations are even higher as the country turns 60. With a population of over 200 million people, the country faces a critical housing need that has to be addressed expeditiously.
Given that shelter is a fundamental human right and a key need for man, the time for experiments and policy summersaults should be over for Nigeria. To get things running smoothly in the housing sector, many stakeholders believe that there are important legislations that need to be amended or passed into law to sufficiently create a suitable environment for investments and all kinds of development needed for the provision of mass affordable housing for all Nigerians who need a shelter over their heads.
There has been a consistent failure on the part of previous federal and state assemblies to amend or initiate these important laws for the housing and mortgage sectors.
Worried by the unimpressive growth of the real estate sector, housing experts are demanding the immediate passage of at least 11 housing and mortgage-related bills pending before the National Assembly.
It is the expectation of stakeholders that if these bills are eventually passed into laws, they would impact positively on the sector by guaranteeing huge local and foreign investments in the housing and mortgage industries. According Festus Adebayo,, president Housing Development Advocacy Network ( HDAN),no good investor would invest in the real estate sector that does not have the requisite laws to guarantee investment. Our findings show that the bills have been before the lawmakers for more than eight years.
While many of the bills have not been read, a few have passed through second reading without further action. These bills includes the Land Use Act 1978; Mortgage Banks Act 1989 (Subsumed in BOFIA); Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) Act 1993;NHF act ,: the Trustees Investment Act 1962; and the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Act 1993.
The National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme Act 1992 was actually amended, passed and sent to the President for assent, but it was declined after the realisation that the bill was defective and put together without a wide consultation and input from all relevant stakeholders.
Others are the Insurance Act 2002; Investment and Securities Act 1999; Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Act 1990; Securitization Bill; Foreclosure Law Bills – Residential Mortgage Act and Residential Mortgages (Incentives) Act, among others. Adebayo stated that no effective mortgage system would be possible in the housing sector without reviewing and amending some sections of the Land Use Act of 1978.
He pointed out that without foreclosure law, developers would continue to be at risk of selling via mortgage or on instalment payment, hence the need for urgent passage. Many of the experts, through the advocacy platform, “Housing Development Group,” called on Nigerians to join them as Nigeria marks 60th anniversary in calling the attention of members of National Assembly to these very important and much needed legislations.
Corroborating Adebayo, former Managing Director, Lagos State Property Development Corporation, John Bede Anthonio, an architect, said that non-passage of these bills had impeded very much, the development of mortgage and housing for the average Nigerian.
He said that, it would be difficult to attract investments into housing and mortgage sectors without proper regulations. Anthonio said: “If you don’t have laws to govern, how can investors invest in the housing market, which is huge?”
Presently, Nigeria is in shortage of over 17 million housing deficit and would require one million units yearly in the next 20 years to bridge the gap. Some of the challenges to affordable housing provision in the country include difficulty in accessing buildable land, lack of a virile secondary mortgage system, weak regulations, high cost of building materials, and lack of capacity in modern building technology, high cost of fund and foreclosure laws among others. Despite impressive outlook predicted for the sector, the industry is performing dismally due to un-synchronized macroeconomic indices.
According to some experts, factors holding down real estate sector are multifaceted, blaming absence of funds, unhealthy politics and victimization of political opponents, among others. Antonio lamented that the sector was being held down by high esides, he said scarcity of land, absence of infrastructure, unenlightened public, low purchasing power accommodation seekers and high cost of housing units were also inhibiting factors.
Chairman, HOB Estates Limited, Olusegun Bamgbade, stated that apart from inadequate funding, which he said was a major factor, nepotism in the disbursements of the little available funds by the relevant authorities, has stalled recovery of the sector from slump. For these reasons, Nigeria’s mortgage market has remained in slow growth.
As the federal government commences a new housing program through the Family Homes Funds to cushion the effect of covid-19 by building over 300,000 affordable houses and creating multiple jobs across the country, it will be much easier a task if these laws are passed and amended where necessary to fast track access to land, private sector partnership, mortgage packages for cooperatives etc.
At 60, it is no use lamenting over past failures. What is important now according to Adebayo is for Nigeria to pick itself up and do what’s right. And passing these bills into laws make up the right things that should be done to enable every common man and woman own a decent and affordable shelter in Nigeria.