Fashola, you’re only partly right

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, last Thursday, said that there was nothing like housing deficit in Nigeria. Operators in the building industry and government officials had before now put the housing deficit in Nigeria at about 17 million.

However, Fashola, while speaking in Abuja at the inauguration of the board of directors of the Federal Housing Authority, argued that the housing deficit claims had no scientific and logical basis. “There was something out there before we came in that Nigeria has housing deficit; it’s a lie,” he said. “Unfortunately, it was a document that originated from this ministry in 2012. It has no scientific basis, nor logical basis; so ignore it.”

Fashola said the housing problem was an urban one,  stressing that people who rented houses in urban centres had empty buildings in their villages. “Whether in Lagos, Kaduna, Abuja or Ibadan, we see empty and unoccupied houses and we need to begin to understand this problem,” he said, adding that it was time to begin to think of how to unlock and bring the empty houses into the market. “If we have things that are not used, does it make sense when we say that we have deficit of things available but not used?” the minister asked.

He charged the newly appointed board members not be hamstrung by the definition of deficit but to use their understanding and professionalism for the benefit of all. “Essentially, your role will be as defined by the FHA Act and I urge you to quickly acquaint yourself with the responsibility under the act,” Fashola said.

We find it difficult to agree with the honourable minister that the nation does not have a housing deficit. Everybody, except he, agrees there is a serious housing problem in this country, more so in our urban centres. Experts, including those in the United Nations agree that over 30% of the population lack comfortable accommodation. We have evidence of this in the towns and cities where slums and shanties have sprung up.

The minister is partly right to say that “we see empty and unoccupied houses and we need to begin to understand this problem,” adding that it was time to begin to think of how to unlock and bring the empty houses into the market. He then asked: “If we have things that are not used, does it make sense when we say that we have deficit of things available but not used?”

But we have a problem with his reasoning. Yes, in the very cities he mentioned, there are many private estates built by individuals, some done with funds fraudulently acquired, that are unoccupied. The rents are simply unaffordable to the majority of residents. In other words, there are two ways to define housing deficit: availability and accessibility. For, some reason, the minister chose to ignore the second. This is why we said he was only partly right.