Addressing Nigeria’s huge housing deficit

That works out at an average of about 1000 houses a year. The dismal performance of this federal agency, charged with the responsibility of spearheading housing delivery at affordable prices, helps to explain why the nation is suffering from such a high deficit of houses estimated currently to be at 17 million. Before the steering […]

That works out at an average of about 1000 houses a year. The dismal performance of this federal agency, charged with the responsibility of spearheading housing delivery at affordable prices, helps to explain why the nation is suffering from such a high deficit of houses estimated currently to be at 17 million. Before the steering committee’s revelation, the figure bandied about for years was that the deficit was 16 million. In a country where planning is done largely without reliable statistics, no one can be certain just about how many million units of houses Nigerians need to shelter themselves from the harsh elements and to live a fairly decent life.
Many experts say that considering our population, the figure of 21 million is more like it. Whatever the accurate statistics might be, the various figures dished out only attempt to tell the story of the grim reality on the ground, namely, that the country is suffering from an acute shortage of decent houses in decent neighbourhoods for its citizens to dwell in. And that is the ugly truth that has faced us for years now. Millions of new houses need to be built each year to cater for the millions of Nigerians out there who need new houses. But the country’s housing problem will not stop at providing just new houses, for there are also many citizens who have been compelled to dwell in some shacks and other poor habitations that are so unkempt that they are practically unfit for human habitation.
Given this state of affair in the housing sector, news that the Federal Government has secured a $300 million facility from the International Development Association to set up a mortgage refinancing company is heartening. The aim of the initiative is to boost the amount of money available for mortgage banks to loan out to people who are desirous of building their own houses or renovating existing ones. While the facility will have a salutary effect on the housing needs of the country, we need to go beyond those efforts to provide new houses. The housing challenge requires that while efforts are made to facilitate the provision of new homes, simultaneous efforts should also be made to address the problem of existing poor homes and shanty towns that dot our landscape.
There is urgent need for all tiers of government in the country to pay a serious attention to the issue of housing Nigerians. Too many Nigerians now live in horribly substandard houses in unsightly, congested and dangerous slums. There is need to upgrade poor houses and renew uninhabitable neighbourhoods by creating access roads, well planned streets and pedestrian walk ways, beautified with flowers and plants.
Rural areas, which will eventually transform to towns and cities, need to be planned so that in the future they do not become urban jungles that many of them are today. Government housing agencies must focus on site and services and make planned lands available and at affordable prices. Emphasis should be placed on social housing. Nothing dramatic can happen unless the much talked about land reform is carried out. A new thinking and drive should be geared towards driving down the cost of land, building materials and labour in the housing sector. The present cost of houses is simply beyond the reach of many Nigerians.
We need to do all these and many more to radically address the housing challenge facing the nation. It must be noted that one of the indices of civilisation is that a people must live together in decent houses and in peace and harmony not only with their neighbours but also with their environment. For now not many Nigerians can be said to live in a civilised fashion. We cannot rightly be boasting of being one of the fastest growing economies in the world when millions of our citizens live in the type of houses and neighbourhoods they do now.