Nigeria, the world’s most populous black nation is facing a housing crisis. The country is currently faced with a housing deficit of over 20 million, according to recent statistics and it appears the number is not declining.
The mega cities are worst hit. Affordable housing is a considerable challenge for urban areas with large populations, and this is particularly prevalent in cities like Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. Millions of people move to these cities every year seeking for better job placement, creating a problem of homelessness. Nigeria’s population is expected to double by 2050; putting even more pressure on already limited housing options.
The population of Lagos, the country’s commercial nerve centre outnumbers its available housing facilities, which has led to the growing of slums and shanties in outlying areas and in the city’s suburbs.
The situation is the same in Abuja. The nation’s capital is surrounded by informal settlement- slums. Another Nigerian city, Port Harcourt, has an estimated 480, 000 people who live in waterfront slums.
While millions are homeless or living in shanties, a recent report detailed how the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) intends probing owners of unoccupied buildings in Abuja because of the high number of these buildings.
The report says at least 600 abandoned buildings have been identified by the authorities, with most of them located in Gwarimpa, Wuse, Garki, Maitama, Asokoro and Apo. These buildings are, however, above the means of most civil servants, making them seek affordable accommodation in the outskirts of the city.
For some Nigerians, there are already many housing options but the problem is they just cannot afford them. Properties are pricey and landlords typically require annual, not monthly rent payments.
The Federal Government had in 1991formulated a National Housing Policy to ease the provision of adequate, accessible and low-cost housing for the poor and the working people, but despite this, millions are still homeless, while others live in homes that have been precariously built in life threatening environment.
Over the years, not enough had been done to put government’s affordable housing policies into action which has increased the nation` housing deficits to over 20 million.
However, in the last two years, the present government appears to have taken the bull by the horn, through the Federal Government`s intervention in social housing. One of the interventions is the Family Homes Funds set up in 2017, and is the Sub-Sahara Africa’s largest housing fund to provide affordable homes for Nigerians on low income. It is a social housing initiative promoted by the Federal Government of Nigeria as part of its Social Intervention Programme with initial shareholding by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority.
Stakeholders in the housing sector said the Family Homes Funds, against all odds, has established itself as a reliable social housing scheme for low and medium income earners in Nigeria.
At its conception, skeptics were unsure about how the federal government`s plan to build at least 500, 000 homes and create up to 1.5 million jobs in the process within 5 years through Family Homes Funds can be achieved.
Barely two years since it began, the Fund has so far developed at least 1050 homes with another 3000 at different stages of development. They have been able to create about 1400 jobs through these projects. Over 500 units have been completed in Nasarawa state, 750 in Kano, 650 in Delta and many more all over the country.
Giving Nigeria’s housing deficit, these numbers might indeed seem like a drop in the ocean, but if previous projects were this consistent and result oriented, the present deficit estimated to be between 17 – 20 million wouldn’t have been.
Stakeholders are of the view that the government can do more by injecting more resources to enable Family Homes Funds expand its coverage and sustain the tempo. The partnership with several states of the federation is commendable and those yet to key in should see the urgent need to do now.
The FHF is probably the largest building programme in Nigeria in a very long time. With the population outstripping the available homes, it is time the government focus more on social housing, it is clearly the way to go considering the achievements of the FHF.
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