Shelter for citizens: What gains in five decades?

While some analysts say that the nation has faired well in its housing ambition, others are of the view that the problem remains acute and thus requires extra-ordinary efforts. No doubt, various initiatives had been made by government to increase housing stocks nationwide since the 1960s. These included the enactment of the Land Use Act […]

While some analysts say that the nation has faired well in its housing ambition, others are of the view that the problem remains acute and thus requires extra-ordinary efforts.

No doubt, various initiatives had been made by government to increase housing stocks nationwide since the 1960s.

These included the enactment of the Land Use Act (1978), the formulation of the National Housing Policy and National Building Code as well as the establishment of the Urban Development Bank.

Others institutions had also existed at different times, among them, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs), National Housing Fund (NHF), Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) and the Building Materials and Producers Association of Nigeria (BUMPAN).

Stakeholders have adduced a number of reasons for the apparent slow growth in the housing sector, which include poor policy implementation, over-reliance on imported building materials and absence of realistic legislations.

The cumulative effect, they say, is that that nation’s housing finance system had not been robust.

Mr Bode Adediji, President, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), says that tried as the nation had done in the last 50 years, the results of its housing thrusts are not good enough.

“Within the built environment, the housing sector has been in comatose, leading to the appalling situation of having almost 16 million housing units deficit.

“In all the indices of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that relate to the built environment, the nation has yet to really scratch the surface.

“The nation’s capital expenditure, as far as public infrastructure and utility are concerned, is one of the lowest in the world,” he says.

Adediji expatiates that while the nation’s housing policies are excellent in concept, their implementation remains faulty.

“Implementation had been approached from a totally childish and unprofessional perspective”, he maintains.

He laments that despite the efforts of various government departments at house production, the nation has not realised 10 per cent of its potentials.

“That is the tragedy of the last 50 years of post-independence evaluation of the housing sector”, he says.

According to Adediji, the way forward as the nation celebrates its 50th anniversary is to “re-strategise, reflect and roll out a new agenda that will rescue the situation”.

Mr Bunmi Ajayi, a former president of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN), who is also a town planner, scores as very low, achievements recorded in the nation’s housing sector since independence.

“It’s been a case of hopes raised and then dashed,” he says, stressing that the Land Use Act (1978) had particularly been a clog in the wheel of progress for the nation’s housing sector.

Ajayi says that, while the government easily acquired lands for its various development needs, it failed to make lands available for housing delivery.

This, he suggests, amounts to a “policy somersault” since government had not respected its policies originally intended to make the sector to thrive.

He advises the National Assembly to enact realistic legislations to address emerging problems in the sector, alluding to some housing bills that are still pending at the national legislature.

“The National Assembly has not seen the urgency to even start reading the housing bills sent there since 2002,” he laments.

In his opinion, relevant professional bodies in the country had tried their best to improve housing in an advisory capacity in the past five decades.

“The professionals tried to establish the Construction Development Bank but the effort was thwarted by government’s `policy somersault”.

“The Bank was one major platform the professionals wanted to use to change the face of the housing sector.

He, however, sees as a big gain – the evolution of a National Building Code from the existing national housing policy and other extant laws.

“Foreigners coming into the country now have a code to guide them in whatever they want to do in the housing sector,” he stresses.

On his part, Chief Olabode Afolayan, the National President, Real Estate Developers Association (REDAN) says that his association had impacted positively on the sector in the few years of its existence.

According to him, the association has in place, a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Scheme, while it also builds a capacity and network for its members.

He further discloses that REDAN established the REDAN Capital Limited, just as it had flagged off the association’s scheme to build about 400,000 housing units nationwide.

Afolayan says that through the PPP, a Joint Committee of REDAN and the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development had been constituted to accelerate housing delivery in the country.

“The Committee has since developed a blue print and prototype models to fast-track housing delivery proposals by members, to achieve set targets across the nation.

“The REDAN Capital Ltd is to serve as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and the Strategic Unit of REDAN,” he says.

Chief Meckson Okoro, the Principal Partner, M. I. Okoro & Associates, a firm of estate surveyors and valuers, says that 1994 witnessed a major leap in the nation’s housing sector as a result of the movement of seat of the federal government to Abuja.

 “Since that year, enabling environment opened up for private sector developers in the housing sector,” he says.

He notes, however, that the average Nigerian is severely handicapped at owning a home in Abuja because house costs are prohibitive. He calls on government to make conscious efforts to assist the common Nigerian.

Mr Abimbola Olayinka, the President, Mortgage Banking Association (MBAN), laments that in the past five decades, nothing had really translated into adequate funding for operators in the sector to engage in long-term lending.

According to him, each bank had tried its best to operate within its capacity so as to remain in business.

Olayinka hopes for the availability of more funds in the years ahead, so that operators will have funds to lend to people to buy or build their own homes. Mr Joe Idudu, the Chairman, Resorts Savings and Loans Plc, suggests that the FMBN needs to be re-capitalised to make it more relevant to the housing sector.

“I hope that the FMBN will be strengthened with more funds, so as to make it play its role effectively.

“So far, to access the National Housing Fund (NHF) is difficult and time wasting” he says.

Notwithstanding these problems, stakeholders are optimistic that much more can be achieved in the years ahead, especially with the renewed commitment of operators in the public and private sectors to combating housing problems in the country. (NANFeatures)