Non Passage of Social Housing Bill Stalls Progress for Mass Housing

The Senate last week stepped down the passage of the Social Housing Bill meant to provide mass houses for the poor and low income earners, citing faulty procedural and legal technicalities that would affect the implementation of the proposed law.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Development, Senator Bukar Ibrahim, while presenting the committee’s report, had explained that the passage of the bill would afford poor Nigerians the opportunity of owning their houses without stress. He also said various sources of funding from the private sector had been identified for the smooth take off and sustenance of the scheme.

The bill, however, suffered a setback when senators, who made comments on the issue, noted that its passage would create legal and procedural problems that could affect its implementation.

For instance, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu said the sources of funds contained in the report included unclaimed dividends, deposits of deceased people without next of kin, dormant account balance in banks, five per cent of the Ecological Fund, and two per cent of oil and gas proceeds.

She said recovering people’s personal money either in form of dividends or from dormant bank accounts to fund the housing scheme would be a difficult task because there was no law that barred access to personal funds in banks after a period of time. Other contributors to the debate noted that there was no identifiable or sustainable source of funds for the scheme.

They, therefore, suggested that the committee should go back to the drawing board and discuss with the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, and its agencies on how best to implement the scheme. The President of the Senate, David Mark, said the committee should be given proper guidelines because of the importance of the bill and that it would be in the best interest of the nation to pass it into law. He described the bill as a good concept but insisted that the committee must look at the legal aspect of it in  order to enhance its success.

Senator Ahmed Lawan advised the committee  to look at the practice in other countries with the same socio-economic environment like Nigeria’s with a view to adopting their social housing schemes. Senator Victor Lar said for the scheme to be successful, an agency that would see it through should be created.

Alternatively, he said the National Housing Scheme could be established for the management of the fund. However, the committee chairman, Ibrahim, argued that there was no need to create an additional agency since there was a ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. Ibrahim said the Executive had pledged to support any recommendation of the committee to raise funds from the private sector for the mass housing scheme.

He said, “There was no law that stopped the committee from raising funds from the sources identified. We will still go back to the government. “Governments at all levels are not doing anything to provide houses for the low income earners in the country. They left the task to the private sector alone, which is not building affordable houses.”

The Vice-Chairman of the committee, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, said the bill was a major component of the National Housing Policy of the Federal Government and observed that Nigerians would be grateful if the bill scaled through. Ashafa said “the bill will provide houses for those who don’t have income at all, those with low income, and workers in the middle income category.”

He, however, said the bill stipulated that houses for the low income earners would attract a token and that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria should be brought into the scheme. Mark urged that senators make efforts to save the bill but maintained that a fund needed to be established to sustain the social housing scheme.

He also asked the committee to come up with guidelines to save the important bill. For instance, Mark asked the committee to identify “where will the funds be warehoused, what are the sources of funds, legal issues that could arise over unclaimed dividends and marry the bill with the Federal Housing Authority Act.”

Senator Shola Adeyeye suggested the utilisation of savings and loans to power the scheme as it was being done in advanced countries. A member of the committee, Senator Ben Ayade, said various public sector avenues to raise funds for the scheme were explored, but did not work because the government did not have a policy in place for a social housing scheme. “The FHA does not provide social houses for the poor who do not have money, and these people constituted about 60 per cent of the population.” Ayade said.