Stakeholders in the construction and real estate industry have said Nigeria needs a sustainable action plan to address its housing shortage.
They noted that if properly regulated, the sector had the potential to create jobs and promote economic prosperity.
The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, said it had become necessary to take a holistic look at housing at all levels of government.
He stated that most government housing projects in the past had focused mainly on the elite, neglecting the middle and low-income earners, who he said needed housing more.
According to him, when housing projects are completed, they are often unaffordable for the middle and low-income earners.
El-Rufai who was a keynote speaker at the Nigerian Chapter of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ group conference in Lagos, said there was a need for social housing, which must be led by the government.
The governor, who was represented by Kaduna State Commissioner for Housing and Urban Land Development, Mrs Fausat Ibikunle, said Nigeria’s homeless statistics had become increasingly worrisome.
He said, “Many poor Nigerians do not have a decent roof over their heads. Coupled with the growing urban population and housing policy summersaults, millions resort to makeshift tents in slums and ghettos that have now spread across the country’s urban skylines.
“Social housing is required, and this must be led by government. But the federal housing budget is declining. Only N30bn was budgeted in 2019, from N35.4bn and N141bn in 2018 and 2017, respectively.
“It is open to question if the Federal Government should be directly involved in housing provision, as a builder or giver of contracts. But there is no doubt that it can do a lot through its agencies, especially in promoting long-term mortgages at single-digit interest rates.”
He said the government should explore public-private partnerships, adding that no government could provide all the affordable housing its population needed without a strong working partnership with the private sector.
The Managing Director, Eximia Realty, Mr Hakeem Ogunniran, said one of the greatest challenges in housing remained land acquisition.
He said several state governments had imputed revenue generation to every step of land acquisition and called for a review of such processes including governor’s consent.
A Senior Partner, Ubosi Eleh and Co, and former President, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Mr Emeka Eleh, said the Land Use Act which was expected to make things easier in the housing sector had become a problem.
According to him, there has been no transparency in the system and the scheme has not been working the way it was meant to be.
A former President, Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Mr Agele Alufohai, said Nigeria lacked specific policies on housing, adding that this had created problems.
“To be able to boost the real estate sector, we should look at some models that have worked in some other places, such as having a construction bank for a functional mortgage system,” he said.
The Managing Director, Family Homes Fund Limited, Mr Femi Adewole, said there had been no decisive effort to address housing problems in the country.
“We need to raise our voices for housing as a significant issue or it will not get the attention it deserves,” he said.
The Chairman, RICS Nigeria, Mr Gbenga Ismail, said the group aimed to determine practical pathways that would lead to a clear and transparent real estate sector.
Source: Punchng
