Abuja housing problems amidst ocean of empty houses

Majority of these exotic houses in the city are unoccupied. Who own these houses and why were they built? We must understand that planning is made for people and having all these houses adorning the city is worthless if they are not occupied. The IPA projected an ultimate population of 3.1 million within the 250km2 […]

Majority of these exotic houses in the city are unoccupied. Who own these houses and why were they built? We must understand that planning is made for people and having all these houses adorning the city is worthless if they are not occupied. The IPA projected an ultimate population of 3.1 million within the 250km2 that made up the Abuja city area. The spaces occupied by these houses are parts of those in the calculation for the achievement of this objective.
As the Federal Capital City and being located at the geographical center of the country, Abuja possesses the centripetal force to attract people from far and wide. At the same time it possesses the centrifugal force to repel the attracted people, not only due to exorbitant cost of accommodation, but due to expensive or very high cost of living generally within the city. The hustle and bustle city life only occurs during the work days, because during public holidays and weekends the city is relatively empty.
Certainly, the lands for the development of these unoccupied houses were earmarked for residential purposes, hence the authority’s approval and the buildings. Also, the land would have been acquired either from direct normal allocation by the FCTA, or from the special Mass Housing plots allocation program. It is possible also, that the land was bought from a third or the usual multiple parties after the initial allocation by the authority. In essence, the cost of acquisition is tremendously high. The high cost of the land’s acquisition plus the fortune expended in building the houses should make the developer eager to recoup his investment, either by outright sell or renting.
These high profile houses would be empty, either because the developers declined offers to sell or rent, due to what they could consider as inadequate offers, relative to the heavy cost of investment, or people are afraid of making the offers, due to the perception that it is well beyond their reach. Ideally, the developers should bring down the prizes such that the houses become fairly affordable. Even if they did not get the expected returns immediately, certainly in the long run they will. It is better than allowing the houses to lie wasted, without occupants, hence, returns.
The refusal to release these houses shows that the owners are not perturbed by the extent of the period these houses remain wasted, despite the heavy investment. Even without the EFCC revelation, this attitude can confirm the speculation of ill-gotten wealth as the source for such investment. It is not possible to transfer illegally acquired wealth to foreign countries these days without facing the wrath of the law on money laundering. There is also a limit to the amount of money one can lodge in commercial banks in Nigeria without the explanation of sources. The only way would be sinking such wealth into property development in Abuja by building these exotic houses, not minding their unaffordability to the generality.
The FCT Administration introduced the Mass Housing Program in order to increase the housing stock in Abuja for the benefit of citizens. Abuja land is a public property. The land was allocated to developers not to hold or use as they wish. Unfortunately, the land owners are people who never care whether others suffer from lack of accommodation and incur hardships living very far away from their places of work. This contradicts the original intention of introducing the Mass Housing policy.
When people apply for plot allocation they are required in the application form, to state the sources of income for financing the development. It is instructive to also ask the same question in the Development Control form for building plan permit. The prevailing situation is such that require radical approach by the incoming administration. It is within the constitutional powers of the FCT Administration to impose property tax on owners. The tax should be relative to the cost of the property. We suggest that it should be in such a way that owners of unoccupied properties will be forced to sell or rent the houses at affordable rates; otherwise pay heavily to government.