Housing deficit in Nigeria is being put
at between 12 to 18 million. This perennial shortage witnessed today has
bloated over the years due to increasing population, rural-urban migration,
unemployment and inaccessibility to reasonable funds for developers and buyers;
and of course, insufficient and skewed government policies. Professionals and
government alike have identified these problems, proposed solutions and maps
out, almost on daily basis, intervention programmes and advocacy fora. But in
all these, all we see are many turnings without a movement. Olusesan Ogunyooye
takes a look at the challenges of mass housing in Nigeria; and writes...
The poser therefore is why has there
not been a solution? Or shall we say all the solutions suggested at these
conferences and workshops are just good on the pages of the papers and for
academic purposes? What factors militate against implementing these solutions?
Do we also have ‘cabal’ in the housing sector? Who is holding us back; the government
or the professionals? Who is killing Mass housing in Nigeria?
For Professor Timothy Nubi of the
University of Lagos, “speaking about housing problem in Nigeria has become so
unchallenging that what you just need to do as a speaker at a conference or
seminar is to change the cover of your paper to depict where you are speaking;
you don’t need to change the content because the issues have not changed. So
what you discussed 10 years ago is still relevant today because all we do in
the industry is talk without action. In fact, when you call for seminar or
conferences, people already know what you want to talk about; there is nothing
new to be said”.
Many apparently shared Prof. Nubi’s
view on attending fora where housing issues will be discussed. The just
concluded Lagos Architects Forum (LAF 2012), is a quintessential example of
this disillusionment. While Prof, Nubi chose to voice his frustration, others
simply grudgingly attend and dose off on their seats or chose to boycott the
event – understandably because ‘there is nothing new to discuss’.
At the just concluded LAF 2012, like
other fora before it; mass housing was identified as having the potential
reduce crime rate, generate employment, reduce rural-urban migration, increase
the nation’s GPD, and interestingly, it was argued that mass housing can tackle
the security challenge facing the nation. But the big question is why has mass
housing been left fallow to decay and aggravate the national problems?
For Prof. Nubi, it is lack of focus on
the part of professionals, laziness and corruption in the civil service, and,
insensitivity and insincerity on the part of government. He said; “I was a
member of the presidential committee on national housing during the Obasanjo
administration. We proposed a two million housing project in four years to the
government. They asked questions, and we told them that it is possible because
we have studied how Mandela proposed one million houses in South Africa and he
was able to deliver 950, 000 units in his four years. We also studied Gambia’s
four year plan of one million and how they deliver 850, 000 in three years.
These are smaller countries, so Nigeria can do two million units in four years.
When our service was extended to the Yar’adua administration, the Federal
executive council gave us an ovation when we presented our framework. But some
civil servants killed that project. We were kicked out of the Federal Housing
Authority (FHA)”.
“If
that project has succeeded, we might not have Boko Haram today because ‘It is
only those who live in glass house who don’t throw stones’. If you sleep and
wake up under the bridge, you will throw bomb. If an average Boko Haram guy has
a house in Maiduguri or Kano, he won’t bomb the place because he knows he has a
stake there. But our built sector is less innovative”.
“When the Americans speak of the
American dream, part of that dream is that one day; an average American will
own a house. For a long time, there was nothing like voters card in the U.S; it
is your Deed of Conveyance that shows you are a citizen. This is because they
understand that once you own a property; you will be loyal to the state”.
On the other hand, housing has been viewed a
systemic approach to solving Nigeria’s unemployment challenged. It has been
argued at many fora that the construction sector, if maximally explored can
absorb off the street jobless youths who are finding succour in crime and
terrorism. As a way to corroborate this submission, Prof. Nubi lamented that it
has also been an identified solution a long time ago, even before the advent of
Boko Haram, but no one looked in that direction.
“The two million housing in four years
project that we worked on for the Federal Government was to kick start with 10,
000 units. We asked the quantity surveyor to give us an estimate and they told
us that 10,000 housing units of two and three bed rooms will require 33 million
concrete blocks, 110,000 windows, 110, 000 doors, etc. Can you imagine an
industry that will produce 33 million blocks? Can you imagine an industry that
will produce 110, 000 doors and windows? Can you imagine in a space of four
years when we push it to two million units? Where will you have that demon
called unemployment?
“Shelter Afrique did about 500 housing
units in Uyo and for that period of time the rate of kid-napping and armed
robbery reduced because every able bodied youth was on the site laying bricks,
bending iron and so on”.
On the issues of corruption in the
civil service and insensitivity on the part of government to tackle the housing
needs of her citizens, Prof Nubi continued that; “Nigeria borrows $5 million
yearly to buy and distribute mosquito nets. We proposed to kick start our two
million housing units in four years with a N25 billion grant; nobody listened
to us. And I wonder who will use that net. Where will they hand it? Is it not
people who have houses who hang nets? Is the government unaware that it is a
poor environment that breeds mosquitoes?” So the idea is the government keeps
borrowing to buy more mosquito nets as the environment degenerates and some
people are making more money as more slums emerge.
On his part, a Nigerian naturalized
U.S property expert and Principal Partner of Okpa & Co. Mr. Edward Okpa,
who practice in Dallas, also agrees that the problem with housing in Nigeria is
not ‘what’ but ‘how’. He explained that the industry may not grow because
professionals are too complacent and enjoy their comfort zones.
“The professional groups themselves
are limited. They don’t have lobbies group. I am a certified appraiser, I hold
a real estate licence, and I’m a property tax consultant in the US. When we pay
our dues, part of it is used to lobby state legislature and national congress
on certain policies because the laws changes almost every two years.
So our professional groups hire and
pay people in Washington D.C who monitor legislations that come up before
congress. Does Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV)
have anyone in Abuja they pay to do that? Does
Nigerian Society of Engineers have a lobbying group? What laws have they
written to suggest to the Federal Government and say ‘this is what needs to
happen’?
What can be clearly implied from Mr.
Okpa’s point of view is that all the professionals do is meet regularly and
lament, and in some cases raise funds through registration, exhibitions, and so
on; and after that everyone goes away without a clear cut approach about how to
implement their resolution or pressure the authorities to act on their
resolution.
“When was the last time any
professional body in the industry invited a member of the legislature and made
suggestions on legislations that concerns the industry? The same goes to the
bankers; why are we paying 20% interest rate on borrowed money? How can the
industry survive?” Okpa queried.
However, professionals in the industry
are not conceding to Mr. Okpa’s submission, according to Chief Kola Akomolede, the private sector
cannot be involved in the provision of low cost housing because it is not very
profitable compared to the high-brows.
“This is why we have always advocated
that it is government that can do that. If you take Lagos for example, you will
find out that most of the private developers are concentrating on Ikoyi,
Victoria Island, Lekki, a few in GRA, Ikeja and so on. And these are places
that the common man cannot afford the rent or sale. But these are areas where
they can make maximum profits; they are not interested in houses as a social
responsibility. So it is government that can come to the aid of the common man”.
Today, 80 per cent of houses in the
country are built by individuals and it takes an average of 15-21 years for an
average Nigerian to build his/her own house. This opens up the lacuna in the
funding subsector of the industry and the cause of the incessant collapse of
building. According to Prof. Nubi “it is only in Nigeria you hear people say ‘I
want to build a house’; in other climes it is ‘I want to buy a house”.
On the whole, the challenges in the
housing subsector have been identified and the solutions highlighted. It
therefore behoves on practitioners and government to re-channel their strength
from what the challenges are and what the solution can be to an advocacy
vanguard ready to pressure the stakeholders to match words with actions and
implement policies that will ensure that the socio-economic benefits of housing
and the real estate industry are fully harnessed.
Enough of telling us what the problems
are and what the solution should be. It is time to act.
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