Osinbajo, Fashola, others seek solutions to housing deficit

Nigeria currently has 17 million housing deficit and would require building one million housing units yearly to bridge the gap in 20 years

Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and the Minister of Power, Work and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, will be leading other international experts, chief executives of real estate companies and mortgage institutions to seek solutions to the challenges of affordable and sustainable housing for the generality of Nigerians.

According to experts, the nation would need N59 trillion to be able to meet the housing need of 17 millions of Nigerians in this group.

Some of the issues militating against factors to meet the housing needs will be trashed by chief executives and policymakers at the 2018 Abuja Housing Show.

According to findings, the challenges of real estate developers include absence of cheap funds, improper regulatory and compliance system, high cost of building materials, bottleneck procedures in acquiring land titles and policies problems. Others are lack of political will, ineffective land administration, cost of fund, defective foreclosure laws, and corruption, as they affect affordable housing production in the country.

Apart from the issue of low-income nature of many Nigerians, it was gathered that absence of affordable mortgage and high price tags on housing units have denied many low and medium income earners accommodation in the country.

Due to affordability issues, many vacant properties are still adorning the landscape of most cities in the country, especially Lagos, Abuja, and Port-Harcourt.

Some of the experts scheduled to provoke discussion at the forum include Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Bank Plc, Abubakar Suleiman; Deborah ERB of OPIC USA; Managing Director, Shelter Afrique, Femi Adewole; Director, FSS 2020, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mohammed Suleyman and Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Ahmed Dangiwa.

Others are Acting CEO, Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company, Kehinde Ogundimu; President, Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria, Akinlusi Adeniyi; and Eucheria Alozie of Federal Ministry of Housing.

Also included are CEO, Millard Fuller Foundation, Sam Odia; Emmanuel Akinwumi of Africa Development Bank; USA Mortgage Consultant, Kunle Faleti; President, Real Estate Developers’ Association of Nigeria; Director, Centre for Housing Study, University of Lagos, Professor Gbenga Nubi and other professionals.

Justifying importance of the confab, Chief Executive of Fesadeb Communications, Mr. Festus Adebayo, said the forum promised to be a treasure chest of new ideas, industry insights, products and service innovations, networking and special offers, as well as being the precursor of next steps for thought leaders “looking to make new statements to move the housing market forward or forge new paths to take on uncharted territory.”

He disclosed that 15,000 participants had registered for the programme themed: “Drive Growth & Sustainability in Nigeria Housing & Mortgage Markets – Improving Structures & Policies for Impact.”

He added that that the forum is aimed at giving national focus to key housing deficit both in the private and public sectors in Nigeria.

According to him, “these range from the development of low carbon design strategies to the complementary roles of design and sustainability within both public and private housing and a demonstration of how Nigeria’s built environment could look in the future.”

Credit: NewTelegraphOnline