Govt. Should Team Up With REDAN In Providing Mass Housing – Wamakko

Alhaji Aliyu Oroji Wamakko is the deputy national president, Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) and chairman/CEO, Jedo Investment Company Limited. He has pointed out that there is need for the government to team up with REDAN in order to solve the mass housing needs in Nigeria.

Read excerpts from his interview below:

As an expert in real estate development, what is your advice on how the government can solve mass housing needs in Nigeria?

The biggest problem in housing provision in Nigeria is funding and if the government in its own wisdom finds it worthy to help Nigerians have roofs above their heads, we believe they have no better place to think of than real estate developers who have been in this business for a very long time. If the government is trying to build houses across the country, at least 480 houses in each state as I heard the minister talk about, this number of houses will create so many jobs. Take for instance, engineers, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and other artisans will all be employed. So, if you calculate, you will see that at least 15 persons each will get a job in every house. So, if you multiply 15 by 480 that is the number of our youths that will get jobs in each state.

So, on this note, I advise the government to team up with REDAN in the provision of these houses; secondly, they should reroute the funds for the housing through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) who will regulate the funds and it will serve as a revolving fund because once the house is given to someone who is contributing like a civil servant, he is expected to pay back unless otherwise the government is building these houses on charity basis but as long as the government is looking for repayment, the best route to follow is through the FMBN through which the money will be repaid. And more houses will be built.

In your assessment, do you think successive governments in Nigeria have given adequate attention to the issue of mass housing?

Honestly speaking, I say ‘no’ because the only institution we have that provides houses for Nigerians is the National Housing Fund Contribution by decree 83 of 1982. Since then, there were no funds as subvention that were given to the FMBN. It was left on its own through the meagre contribution they were having.

We are also thinking that if the government has provided a sort of subvention through the FMBN, the government should also try to provide the basic necessary infrastructure. For instance, here in Abuja, there are so many infrastructures provided in Asokoro, Wuse, Maitama, and so on but in the satellite towns, you find out that there are no such infrastructures. For any developer, he knows he is going to construct roads, drainages, water and so on. In most cases, the developer has to charge for these infrastructural provisions. That will increase the cost of houses but if the government will come in and provide these basic infrastructures, I believe it will drastically bring down the cost of houses within and around the FCT and other states.

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