The 16th edition of the Africa International Housing Show (AIHS), was officially flagged off today with interesting and mind-blowing sessions spanning different burning issues in Nigeria’s construction industry.
Stakeholders in the industry have however been urged to devise new alternatives to providing more shelter for citizens rather than playing blame games.
Giving the charge at the event today, the managing director of Octo 5 Real Estate, Jide Odusolu, said that considering the increasing housing deficit in Nigeria, which as indicated by Lew Schulman during the second session to currently stand at 22 million, has gained less attention from the government, hence placing a lot of responsibilities on the private sector.
According to Schulman, Chairman, iBuild Global, it will take Nigeria 300 years to clear the nation’s housing deficit with 75, 000 housing units being produced annually.
While the Managing Director of FINPAR Africa Limited, Emmanuel Akinwumi, highlighted lack of mortgage insurance facility and defined social housing policy as factors militating against housing development in Nigeria, the Chief Executive Officer of COPEN group, Ugochukwu Chime pinpointed stakeholders’ collaboration, proper understanding of the real estate ecosystem, trust, among others, as major drivers of sustainable real estate delivery.
Akinwumi was further quoted as saying that: “until we rescue the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria from its parents, I mean the Ministry of Works and Housing and then become an autonomous entity, tackling the issue of monopoly may be a mirage.”
Meanwhile, speaking earlier during his presentation, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Housing, Sen. Sam Egwu commended the private sector, most especially the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) for its continued effort in ensuring that more homes are developed to bridge the nation’s housing gap.
“The private sector has done better than the government in the area of housing delivery. If you build a house that is not affordable for citizens, you have not built a home for them”, he added.
Similarly, the former Minister of Mines and Steel, Arch. Musa Sada, while saying housing is more than merely building houses, emphasized that It is also important to provide a secure environment to allow housing development to thrive.
“Housing development has been recognized globally as a right. The solution to housing is however dynamic”, he said.
A session was also dedicated to the Chief Executive Officers of some organizations with successful case studies in terms of home delivery in Nigeria and across the African continent to share their success stories as well as how they were able to overcome daunting challenges associated with navigating the nation’s housing sector.
The event continues tomorrow with another load of outstanding sessions with seasoned speakers. To mention but a few are the Group Managing Director, Nigerian Exchange Group, Oscar Onyema, Founder of Eximia Realty Limited, Hakeem Ogunniran, Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Madu Hamman, among others.
The speakers will be trashing out issues boarding on capital markets, non interest finance, green housing, and climate change.
