REDAN lists challenges facing housing sector in Nigeria

High cost of securing and registering secure land title; inadequate access to finance, slow administrative procedures, and high cost of land, have been identified as the major factors affecting housing development in the country.

President of Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Rev. Ugochukwu Chime who stated this in Enugu, said the association was collaborating with other critical stakeholders to address the nation’s housing needs.

He disclosed that the Federal Government in collaboration with the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) has through its social investment program, N-Power, trained 20,000 artisans in the built sector in a bid to create jobs and also reduce capital flight.

Delivering the first Emeritus Prof. John Umeh annual lecture of the Faculty of Environment Studies, University of Nigeria, Enugu campus, on the topic, “Collaboration and synergy in real estate development practice: The way forward,” Chime said that REDAN was poised to improve the skillset of all parties involved in the real estate value chain through massive advocacy, reorientation and training of stakeholders especially developers and artisans.

The Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) said Nigeria loses over N500billion annually to capital flight by engaging services of artisans from neighbouring West African countries of Togo, Ghana and Benin Republic because the local built environment failed to generate the required manpower.

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Despite his assertion that Nigeria has a low ownership rate compared to such countries as Indonesia, Kenya and South Africa, the REDAN President promised to ensure that products for use in the real estate construction met the required standard and certification.

He therefore, urged government which according to him is central in real estate industry to constitutionally provide housing for the citizenry within the ambit of available resources. On the casualty rate amongst industry stakeholders, he attributed it to the undefined and uncharted transaction pathway in the industry. “Rarely can a stakeholder estimate the transaction parties; cost and time required to conclude any project in Nigeria. This has led to cost overruns; abandoned projects; loss of livelihood for off takers and so on,” he lamented.

Credit: The Sun