Inside Abuja’s unoccupied estates

Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, is unarguably one of the growing cities in the world with breathtaking buildings and estates across different districts. From Asokoro to Guzape, Jahi to Gwarinpa, Nigeria’s capital is witnessing transformation in terms of property construction and smart homes built by both individuals and corporate entities. Daily Trust observes that most of […]

Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, is unarguably one of the growing cities in the world with breathtaking buildings and estates across different districts.

From Asokoro to Guzape, Jahi to Gwarinpa, Nigeria’s capital is witnessing transformation in terms of property construction and smart homes built by both individuals and corporate entities.

Daily Trust observes that most of these estates, found dotting many districts of the city centre, have fully fitted facilities such as motorable roads, water, electricity and utility services.

However, these smartly built estates in highbrow areas and surroundings are mostly unoccupied and unattended to and; in most cases, left to rot away.

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Findings by this paper also show that some of these estates are even fully furnished with modern house equipment and gadgets, yet with nobody occupying them.

 

Why unoccupied estates are on the rise – Experts

Speaking to Daily Trust recently, the president and chairman of Council, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), ESV Victor Alonge, noted that owning a property is a fundamental human right and people can decide the manner they want to own and manage their property.

“You need to understand that there are what we call fundamental human rights, and then embedded in that is the right to actually own and maintain your properties according to how you want it.

“If I use my money to buy properties, there is little the government can do without infringing on people’s rights, so the government can’t take it forcefully. I’ve heard some government officials say that any empty properties they find, they would confiscate them and allocate them to homeless people. That is not possible because it will end in litigation

“In developed countries, we have ways of addressing issues like that. People acquire properties here for various reasons. People could buy properties and use them as a store of value. So perhaps just a way to hide their illicitly gotten wealth. But the key thing is there are laws to address people’s sources of wealth and whatever.”

Speaking further, ESV Alonge noted that location also matters when discussing abandoned estates and properties in the FCT

“If you go to Nyanya or Mararraba, I don’t know how many properties you will find empty there compared to Maitama, Asokoro and the like. So you will know that there are more empty properties in Asokoro than Maitama, Nyanya or Mararraba, where houses are cheaper and more affordable,” he added.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN), Barr. Festus Adebayo, noted that as long as decent homes are not provided for low- and middle-income Nigerians, owning expensive properties in estates will be difficult, leaving the properties unoccupied.

“The NHF was launched in 1992 with the goal of empowering workers through affordable housing finance. Over the years, some workers have complained about its poor management and accountability issues.

“These funds belong to workers. It is important that, as they are deducted monthly, there should be access to housing benefits,” Adebayo noted.

 

What should be done

On measures to address the issue, the NIESV president identified taxation as one of the best ways to curb the rising number of abandoned estates in the country.

“Taxation is a good way of reducing these empty properties. I think in Nigeria, those who own properties and they’ve left it for so long have been indulged. They don’t pay taxes on them.

“Unfortunately, in most of our cities, the tenement rate system has been completely abandoned. And what we have is just arbitrarily, you know, some people call it a land use charge and so on, which again is not even in the hands of government. In the UK, for instance, we have an agency called the Valuation Office Agency. What they do is they carry out a valuation of all those assets.

“They determine the value of properties and also determine what the rental value should be. It is on the rental value that they charge owners.

“Subsequently, the tax on unoccupied properties is actually higher in a way than those that are occupied. And let’s look at the incidence of those taxes. If a property is occupied, the tenement rate or business rate, if it’s commercial, the incidence is on the occupier, but when it is empty, the incidence is on the owner.

“Therefore, there is a lot of incentive in using taxation. The reform and the restructuring of taxation are to encourage property owners not to leave them empty, and for me, that is very important,” he explained.

Speaking further, Alonge proposed a housing policy that will guide the development of properties and how they should be occupied.

“We have said it at different forums that government policies regarding housing development need to be looked at again. I’m not sure we have a national housing policy yet. We used to have one many, many years ago, but I haven’t seen one. And if we have that, then we will be able to use the instrumentality of that policy to address inequity in housing and location distribution.

“I’ll give you an example. In England, there is what we call Section 106 agreement. Every developer, whether you are developing in highbrow area or in less brow area, so to speak, you have to sign off of that agreement. In which case, if you are developing 500 units of houses in Maitama, there is a percentage of it reserved for critical sectors of the economy, like teachers, journalists, hospital workers and so on,” he stated.

 

No regulation guiding real estate development  – REDAN

Similarly, in an interview with the Daily Trust on the issue, the immediate past president of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Aliyu Wamakko, stated that the inability to enact a law regulating real estate development has made the sector porous as many individuals launder money to erect structures and leave them for years with nobody occupying them

“Before my tenure ended at REDAN last year, we crafted the  “Real Estate Regulatory Council of Nigeria, 2023” which is targeted at fully regulating the sector and also curtailing money laundering in the country.

“It had inputs from all the regulatory institutions; all the state commissioners, all the professionals in the built industry were part of the drafting and was eventually passed by the 9th National Assembly and later transmitted to President Tinubu for assent but he declined assent.

“So, all these houses that you are seeing are a product of money laundering from the people who stole money from the government and they don’t even want to put a signage to indicate any name of an estate developer, because they are proceeds of crime; they are just building as the money is there,” Wamakko said.