Bureaucracy hampering development of housing sector — Developer

Government bureaucracy is hampering the development of the housing sector with many Nigerians, especially retired civil servants still unable to afford homes. The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Shungrila Estates Limited, Engr. Emmanuel Madu, said the government needs to create an enabling environment for private developers to drive the sector. He urged government […]

Government bureaucracy is hampering the development of the housing sector with many Nigerians, especially retired civil servants still unable to afford homes.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Shungrila Estates Limited, Engr. Emmanuel Madu, said the government needs to create an enabling environment for private developers to drive the sector.

He urged government to improve the nation’s foreclosure and mortgage laws and review the Land Use Act.

“Foreclosure law, by that I mean if somebody buys property from you and does not pay as at when due, it should not be difficult for the developer to recover his property.

“So also, if somebody buys a property, he should not find it difficult to get the certificate of occupancy and all that; which makes the property immediately and easily bankable and it becomes an asset-base to the buyers, to the subscribers. That way we are building capital for the masses.

“Right now there is a lot of landmass in Nigeria that you can regard as dead capital. Land is capital, land is money; but as it is in Nigeria, without an enabling law, most of those capitals are dead,” he said.

Engr. Madu, therefore, stressed that the authorities can enliven the housing sector by providing adequate laws that make land and properties easily liquifiable in terms of cash and then help the people create capital and make them richer.

“I want the government to understand that we are sitting on deep wealth by the value of the landmass of Nigeria but they are dead wealth, dead capital, they need to be enlivened by appropriate laws,” he stressed.

He added that his estate firm, Shungrila, has been working to deliver 750 housing units to civil servants but so far has delivered only 150 units in the FCT, citing bureaucratic encumbrances around land acquisition as part of the reasons the housing project has not taken off in Anambra and other parts of the country.