Bridging Nigeria’s housing deficit

With an estimated housing deficit of 18 million units and an average family size of six, it is believed that as many as 108 million Nigerians are not properly housed. These figures derived from World Bank statistics confirm that 60% of Nigeria’s estimated population of about 180 million people are caught in the trap of […]

With an estimated housing deficit of 18 million units and an average family size of six, it is believed that as many as 108 million Nigerians are not properly housed. These figures derived from World Bank statistics confirm that 60% of Nigeria’s estimated population of about 180 million people are caught in the trap of homelessness. The implication is that almost two thirds of Nigerians live under conditions that are not conducive to good health. In fact it is estimated that as many as 20 million of the improperly housed Nigerians actually have no roofs of any kind over their heads.
While the statistics may seem frightening and outlandish, the low level of urbanization of the country, and the complement of the population who live in shelters built with sub-standard materials such as cornstalk and grass matting in farmlands, disused paper cartons as well as plastic sheets under bridges as well as in uncompleted buildings, and refuse dump sites, attest to the validity of the foregoing statistics and therefore the pallid state of housing in the country.
Apart from serving as key indicator of the level of under development of the country, the situation constitutes a major problem for the country both for its impact on the present standard of living of Nigerians and implications for the future. With the country’s population projected to hit 260 million by 2050 – just 35 years from now, the deepening of the housing crisis by then remains a scary scenario.
Yet this deficit can be bridged if the relevant factors are addressed through embarking on concrete measures now. Some of such factors were identified by the Chairman Archibuilt Development Services Limited, whose firm organizes the annual Archibuilt Housing Exhibition, Architect (Mrs.) Mobolaji Adeniyi, as limited resources and restrictive statutory jurisdictions.
Speaking to journalists at the recent Archibuilt 2015 exhibition in Abuja, she observed that the lack of long term mortgage financing as well as the restrictive Land Use Decree were among factors that mitigate against the effective development of housing for Nigerians. Incidentally while the argument of the Archibuilt boss may have highlighted the business angle of the problem, the role of the various governments at the various tiers has also not helped matters. It is the recognition of housing as a right of the citizenry that drives progressive democracies to address the issue of providing adequate housing for the citizenry.
In the Nigerian situation, the various governments have serially abdicated their responsibility with respect to providing the conducive environment for every citizen to enjoy the comfort of a decent roof over his or her head. Rather, housing has become a high profit, cut-throat business in which only the few rich persons benefit from.
A pointer to this dispensation was established when a former Minister of Housing and Environment Ms. Amal Pepple lamented the failure of the Federal Housing Authority to live up to expectation with respect to the housing challenge facing it. While inaugurating a new board for the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), she lamented the failure of the agency to live up to its expectation with respect to the building of houses for the people. As the agency of the government for driving the development of good housing houses for the people, its failure reflects the failure of government in that respect. Beyond the FHA, the incontinence in government efforts is also manifest in the inchoate operations of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) which is sitting complacently on idle funds such as the regular deductions from Nigerian workers in the name of the National Housing Fund (NHF).
The World Bank estimates that to bridge Nigeria’s housing gap will require N60 trillion. Princely as this sum is, government needs to realign itself towards reinventing the country in line with a policy of housing for all Nigerians with a feasible timeline as its goal. This objective require the development of relevant policies for development of mass housing schemes all over the country, and the adoption of standardised building codes of practice which specify the materials and methods.
If well-articulated the enterprise of facilitating housing for all Nigerians will usher in a new era of unlimited flow of resources that will move the economy into prosperity as it will create jobs, wealth and better life for all.