Housing stakeholders have again called for an urgent intervention in the area of data, this was reiterated by the Nigeria former ambassador to Kenya, Amb. Akin Oyateru, in the just concluded webinar, hosted by the Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN), with theme: “Housing as a governance tool and legislative response to poverty and disease control”.
The issue of data has been a matter of concern to stakeholders in the sector,and this has been pointed out severally, on the HDAN webinar platform, however, the subject has again been raised as a matter of urgency, given the current global circumstances.
“You cannot do much in this industry without data. Up till now we are not too sure of what the number of the housing deficit is in Nigeria and then what sort of houses are we talking about in the urban areas, and in the rural areas? Are we talking of the slums? How many people are actually in the slums?, because until you know that, you are now going to know how to upgrade the slums”, he stated.
The ambassador also explained the importance of advocacy, to ensure that dwellers of slums, are aware of the health implications of residing in such environments, so as to spur them for a change, “Going with data, there equally has to be the issue of advocacy. If for instance, you go to the slum, many people don’t see anything wrong with their living condition, until you make them know it is not healthy, before they start appreciating the fact that they need a solution. It’s only when you know you have a problem that you get a solution, and if we must get a solution, it has to be evidence -based, and there has to be sound policy and sound policy has to be predicated on verifiable, and actionable data and this is what we need”.
The diplomat also, called for a national housing survey, to enhance proper data collation, in other to foster development in the industry, “If you don’t know the number of housing deficit you have, how would you know how many to build, the type to build, the categories, how do you source for fund?. We need a national housing survey, of what the housing deficit is”.
Another issue he addressed in line with that, was the issue of not properly harnessing the artisans, in the sector, for optimal result, due to data inadequacy, “Talking of the issue of artisans, how many artisans do we actually need, how many do we have, in various categories, you can create a lot of jobs here, wealth, capacity building, where we can build more vocational schools to train the artisans that we need, so data is very important, without reliable data you cannot plan well”
He also encouraged an inclusion of states in policy formulation, for effective and efficient result, as well as the implementation of the policies formulated, “On the issue of the National legislation that is yet to be domesticated, the problem is when you were formulating these policies, on national legislations, were the states involved? Did you ask for their contributions? Most likely not, now the way to go about it going forward, is to ensure you bring them on board in your review of the National Urban Policy and your review of national housing policy. When the national policy is enacted or national legislation is enacted, everybody can easily buy into them, because they were part of the formulation and therefore half your problem of implementation is solved ”
He also highlighted the roles of cooperatives, and the need for their absolute inclusion in the sector, stating that they are an important part of the sector, “Talking about stakeholders, there is a particular sector we keep forgetting, and that is the cooperatives, they have a significant role to play when it comes to provision of houses, both as financial contributors and verified off takers”
