The chairman of Senate Committee on Housing, Senator Sam Egwu has charged Nigeria real estate developers to focus more on affordable housing for the masses.
The Senator and Former Governor of Ebonyi state made this known to Africa Housing News on Thursday in Abuja while speaking at the opening ceremony of the training on emerging trends in real estate development in Nigeria organised by the real estate developers association of Nigeria (REDAN).
While the government has the responsibility of providing the enabling environment for the housing sector to thrive, Sam Egwu said the private sector stakeholders have a very critical role to play to enhance citizens’ access to affordable housing irrespective of social and economic status.
To effectively play this very role, he said real estate developers ought to understand the emerging trends in real estate development globally and how to adapt such trends to suit the peculiar circumstances in Nigeria.
However, he bemoaned how the organized private sector seems to have catered only for the middle and upper classes with little or nothing to meet the housing needs of low income earners.
‘’I urge you to look in the direction of low income earners to reduce the current overwhelming housing deficit and provide affordable housing to majority of Nigerians at that level. You are encouraged to explore the advantages of using locally sourced building materials to develop cost effective houses that majority of the country’s low income earners can afford, as against the conventional very costly building materials that has made housing unaffordable to majority of Nigerians.’’
He urged the participants of the training to make the most of the training and use it to improve all affordable housing efforts in Nigeria.
REDAN is organizing the training on emerging trends in real estate development in Nigeria as part of continuous professional development program for its members.
The training which is a basic and relative training for all stakeholders in housing and real estate will include capacity building, unveiling emerging laws, policies and practice issues in the real estate sector, advocacy programs, and many more.
The trainings are holding in Abuja on the 14th of November, in Lagos at The Haven AVMC Compound Ikeja on November 20, and Owerri at Graceland Event Arena, Owerri on November 22, 2019 from 9am-5pm.
