By Femi Oyelola
In most developed economies, the housing sector is seen as an important sector for stimulating economic growth. But in Nigeria, access to affordable housing has, largely, remained an unfulfilled dream for the vast majority, most especially, the middle and the lower classes in the society.
The issue of the housing deficit has been growing from bad to worse and successive governments, since Nigeria’s independence, over sox decade, have been grappling with this recurring problem.
But it seems that they have just been merely scratching it at the surface, especially as the country’s population has been growing exponentially, making government’s efforts in this regard seemingly ineffectual.
Experts have identified food, clothing, and shelter as the basic human needs. Housing is one of the best indicators of a person’s standard of living and his/her place in the society. Its availability is crucial to the welfare of every human being. The performance of the housing sector is one of the yardsticks by which the health of a nation is also measured. No wonder that housing markets and housing construction in various economies has served as an engine of growth. The housing sector has typically played a leading role in the process of economic recovery from the depression.
It is in pursiut of government’s to address this disturbing menace President Bola Tinubu recently approved the construction of 1,000 housing units each in Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger, and Benue States to mitigate the housing deficit estimated at 20 million units.
Similarly, the Kaduna State Government has begun the construction of a megacity with a housing project to benefit 500,000 poor and vulnerable citizens in the state.
The Economic City project will be built in conjunction with Qatar Construction Company, under the Qatari-owned Sanabil Project.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State commended the Embassy of Qatar and Sanabil Project for keying into “the business-friendly environment” in the state and for choosing Kaduna as the location of its Mega Economic City and Mass Housing Project for the vulnerable.
Many states across the country are following the same steps to ensure that the housing deficit is reduced to the barest minimum.
However, in a reaction to this move, Prince Tejumola Akande, an estate valuer based in Abuja said the challenge of housing deficit did not start today, saying the housing deficit has grown progressively from 7 million housing units in 1991 to 12 million in 2007, 14 million in 2010, and subsequently 28 million housing units in 2022.
He stressed that the combination of a growing urban population, lack of an efficient mortgage system, poverty, increasing construction costs, high inflation, and declining household income, have made access to decent and affordable housing difficult for many Nigerians.
However, despite the enormity of the housing challenge, there is a lot that suggests Nigeria can turn the tide around, close the housing deficit, and steadily provide for the country’s needs.
The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) estimates that N21trllion will be required to close the housing gap, which suggests that the government cannot address the challenge alone and that only a collaboration between the government and private sector players will be adequate.
Chairman, Northern Surveyors Forum, Dr. Isah Funtua Abdulkadir, while speaking to Weekend Peoples Daily surmised that the issue of shelter or housing deficit is generally objective.
According to him, what is called a shelter, may not necessarily be shelter for everyone, so the issue that is most important to consider is land ownership after which you can decide the kind of shelter you like to have.
He lamented that since the return to democratic system in 1979 and even before, several governments have been consistently having policies on housing.
Dr. Isah Funtua Abdulkadir, however, said the issue responsible for the high housing deficit in the country is the implementation of policies formulated by past administrations.
He stressed that there’s nothing wrong with the policy, saying they are dynamic because they keep on changing it to suit the situation, but the main issue is the implementation of such programs
So inadequacy of shelter ordinarily is objective, however, government policy, ensuring provision of shelter is important and necessary. So speaking from that angle, any type of shelter is not sufficient.
The Surveyors explained that the fundamental issue for man is clearing the land, whether he purchases the land or how the land is guarantees the continuity of his livelihood either for farming or dwelling, that is the issue.
The focus here, he argued, is to ensure sustainability in the guarantee of a land tenure system for all the people in any particular community, state, or nation.
“By Nigerian law, all land belongs to the government and it is the Governor of a State who is the custodian, he’s responsible for keeping the lands on behalf of other citizens of the state, that is the trusteeship model, which is enshrined in the Land Use Act as in the constitution of Nigeria. What you use land for, and how you use it, is what matters.
“We remember the vision of the 1979 program, when Federal houses were built across the nation, but up till now, some are not inhabited, these are just a shelter for rats and snakes. The main thing is how the policy is implemented and how the people view it.
“We have this type of Shagari program but up till now, some are abandoned and not in use across the country, why? It’s the implementation, not the policy. Each administration comes with such policies, but the issue is how we sustain it,” he said.
Dr. Isah Funtua Abdulkadir said as a way forward, when Surveyors across the country recently gathered in Makurdi Benue State they brainstormed on “Land Tenure: Bridging the Gaps.”
He added that they looked at the policy, the way it is being implemented, and how suitable it is to bring out some authentic models that can ensure the guarantee of land ownership as well as land utilization and other things associated with land, especially, the conflict between herdsmen and farmers, between individuals, neighbours, friends and all the other ways in the transaction of land.
“We should Proffer scientific solutions to those problems that are associated with either the law implementation or the process. You find out that if you have land and you want to get certificate of occupancy, the time it takes, and how it is done, then how safe are you in the document you have?
“Now you talk of Ghettos in Urban Centers, this issue of this phenomena depends on the economic status of a man.
“You find places that are strictly well designed, well catered for, with all the necessary infrastructures, those are issues relating to the income or choice of the man.
“So there’s no country that is safe from having those ghettos you talk about, it is just an economical yardstick of the livelihood but then how can our towns and cities be well planned, how can we take care of the low, high, and mid-income earners?
“The provision is there in our policies. While we refuse to implement them, these are the critical issues.
“ I take you back to where we have GRAs, everybody who has come to the state wants to live in the GRA without its expansion, the plan is uniquely designed, and the ratio of the proportional number are all designed, other lands were converted to residential areas, all the plans are destroyed by the same people all because they want to be identified to be living there.
“So the policy that needs to be encouraged is urban renewal, expanding the city, giving land that will encourage decongestion of the urban centres by creating and opening new lands and well-planned lands, even the change came about because of the urban renewal, so these are things to be encouraged.
“The inward migration from rural to urban without having adequate provision and making new persons that are coming into the city to have plans even Abuja which is one of the modern cities, you find out a lot of details are now springing up, so it is up to us to implement the policy and ensure a continuous renewal plan.
“Some places that were designed 30, 50 years ago are now ghettos so we need to constantly have this plan for the future. Population growth is also a challenge, the rate of birth, and the rate of economic activities are also factors that increase or decrease the pressure on the land. Population and economic activities are factors to be considered in any urban settlement.
“The government’s duty is to fix policy, whenever they want to fix policy, all the parameter that needs to be taken into consideration has to be provided for full implementation which surveyors are instrumental.
“We take inventory, informed information about the location, who owns what, and the types of land, and then the planning comes into the picture, which will now ensure the implementation process and design. So vital information is the basis for any implementation and today, the capability of Surveyors to provide this information is well taken care of, the technology is there and it’s only to dispense the resources.
“For the implementation of housing programs, the basic information needed is vital. Surveyors are there to provide by mapping, evaluating, and then giving the necessary information that will now aid decision-making as regards the implementation policy, not necessary for the shelter, it could be any policy.
If anything happens somewhere, surveyors tend to find the solution quickly and accurately.”
However, Alhaji Mustapha Ibrahim, who is an Estate agent in Kaduna opined that Nigeria’s housing deficit is increasing in the figure every year without corresponding efforts to arrest the situation due to high price tags on ‘affordable’ houses and the low-income nature of people in need of accommodation, Rent-to-Own is a better option to address homelessness among Nigerians.
He added that rent-to-own is the solution to the housing problem in Nigeria, going by high costs of land, building materials, and housing construction in major cities in the country
With this arrangement, he said that more low-income earners could become homeowners, thereby reducing the huge housing gap in the country.
Reacting to this, the General Secretary of the Northern Surveyors Forum Surv. Musa Ephraim posited that shelter is very important and will continue to be important in terms of development.
He stressed that you can’t talk about development without shelter, saying all need shelter because as individuals, after all our activities of the day, we need a house to settle down or to carry out our daily activities so shelter is very important mostly in terms of developing this Nation.
“If you can follow the activities of what is happening with the number of growth rate increasing every day, I know as a country, we are trying but we need to put more effort so that we can meet a good target number of housing accommodation for people.”
Surv. Musa Ephraim however said what is called shelter by many are slums and for the government to provide shelter, some of the slums need to be revisited so that they can carry out more development on them to improve their standards.
“As a surveyor, if you talk of development today, you must look for a surveyor. In whatever capacity you talk of, you need a surveyor as they play vital roles from the beginning to the end of any project.
“So as a country, if you’re looking at how we would meet up with the number of shelters for our people or developing those slums to become world standard, a surveyor plays a vital role.
“Talk of construction, acquiring lands for developers to produce, creating more layouts, and many other factors.
“If we look at Kaduna for example, from the first regime, former Governor El-Rufai has played a very vital role for shelter, so many places were opened, look at Millennium City, you can’t compare what we have today with what it was in the past because so many developers came and invested to produce more shelter. So I will advise the new government to key into this agenda so that we can meet up with development.
“If you look at Nigeria today, we have many landmarks. I’m from Kaduna and over here, some places are yet to be developed, we have so much land. So if those lands can be acquired and given to developers so that they can work on it and there will be more houses, I think that’s a good idea,” he said.
