‘Stakeholders pay lip service to affordable housing’

Stakeholders in the housing sector that can ensure the availability of affordable housing are not practicing what they preach, Dele Martins, Managing Director of HFP Construction Company, has said. He said, “To be honest the topic of affordable housing is one that has been much talked about in Nigeria but when it comes to implementation […]

Stakeholders in the housing sector that can ensure the availability of affordable housing are not practicing what they preach, Dele Martins, Managing Director of HFP Construction Company, has said.

He said, “To be honest the topic of affordable housing is one that has been much talked about in Nigeria but when it comes to implementation is shrouded in extreme hypocrisy by the main stakeholders who can make it happen, whether they are from the private or public sector or indeed the financial sector.”

He  stated this in a keynote address on provision of affordable housing delivered at the new corporate identity launch of Knightstone Properties Ltd and its ambassador unveiling event in Lagos, recently

Martins said, “The challenges of providing affordable housing in Nigeria are very well known and have been rehearsed over and over again to the extent that I rather doubt there is anything new to add.” 

He said that the latest figures released by the World Bank indicate that Nigeria has an estimated population of 170 million people which is growing by approximately 2.8% per annum, with an 18-million-unit deficit in housing stock and that Nigeria needs to build approximately 700,000 housing units annually to make a noticeable impact on the deficit. 

Several factors, he said have been adduced by analysts and experts in the real estate and allied sectors for the absence of affordable housing in Nigeria, including: Unfavourable government policies, lack of mortgages for potential buyers and unstable investment environment; Difficulties and lack of transparency associated with acquiring affordable land for the development of affordable housing, as well as the bureaucracy associated with obtaining title documents to acquired or transferred land.

 Martins noted that government does not need to build or provide funds but create an enabling environment and ensure that everybody plays by fair and transparent rules.

“Any default in sticking to the rules must be met with stiff and widely publicized penalties. The corrupt process whereby what starts as an affordable housing scheme metamorphoses into a land grabbing exercise for friends and cronies of government must stop,’’he said.