By Chukwuma Umeorah
Chairman, IFT Realty Limited and developer of Shalom Park Estate, Oluremi Oshikanlu, has said that most Nigerians are unable to afford their own homes due to the high cost of land, materials and absence of government support, warning that private developers alone cannot fix the country’s 28 million housing deficit. He said that if these challenges are addressed, Nigerians will easily acquire their own homes.
“No private investor can really build low-cost houses. Anywhere in the world, it’s impossible. No private investor can really build low-cost houses. It’s just too difficult. You need government policy and funding support to complement the work we do,” he said.
He made this assertion at the official launching of Shalom Park Estate Condominiums which held in Lagos recently. Oshikanlu stressed that Nigeria’s cash-based economy is hurting the real estate sector. According to him, government must step in by acquiring land, providing infrastructure, and enabling low-interest mortgages with long tenures and affordable rates through institutions like the Federal Mortgage Bank. “Real estate cannot thrive on cash. We need mortgages, real ones.
Give Nigerians a 30-year mortgage at 6 per cent interest rate, remove the cost of land, security, and permit delays. Let government give developers a design, tell us the expected cost, and give a fixed profit margin, then you can deliver a house for N20 million with N5 million profit.”
He explained that the high cost of construction is passed on to buyers, making even modest homes unaffordable. “Sand is N165,000 per truck now. Cement is N11,000 per bag. Before you start talking profit, your cost has already gone beyond what many Nigerians can pay,” he said.
Oshikanlu proposed that developers build basic housing shells while buyers complete finishing based on personal taste and budget. “Finishing is taste. This door can be N250,000 or N50,000. Let people finish their homes to their own standard,” he said.
He also highlighted the role of diaspora remittances in real estate investment. “Our greatest export is not oil, it’s our people. The informal diaspora repatriation is the real foreign direct investment stabilizing Nigeria. Every day, millions of dollars, pounds, and yen roll in to fund real estate purchases,” he said. He added that diaspora buyers are now revitalizing ancestral communities like Ogbomosho, Epe, and Ijebu Ode by building estates where locals had long abandoned investments.
However, he acknowledged that the surge in diaspora investments has widened the affordability gap for Nigerians living at home, who face inflation and lending rates above 30 per cent. He also lamented the multiple levies and regulatory hurdles developers face. “We paid all the development levies, did the roads ourselves, installed the poles, and still handed it all over to the electricity distribution company. Government collected money but didn’t contribute. That’s why costs go up.” Oshikanlu disclosed that despite running his real estate business for nearly 20 years, the firm was yet to recoup its investments.
Oshikanlu stressed that real estate can revive the economy, pointing out the multiplier effect of housing construction. “The sand supplier eats, the truck driver eats, the pure water seller eats, even the food vendor who had no job eats,” he said.
Addressing criticisms that developers inflate prices, Oshikanlu argued that inflation and exchange rate volatility are the real culprits. “When I sold houses at N21 million, my cost was N15 million. But by the time I was done, the cost was N60 million. What do you expect me to do?”
He urged government to prioritize housing as a national project. “The government can decide to build 10,000 houses per state. They have the power. The governor owns the land. It just requires political will,” he said.
Oshikanlu reiterated the call for a coordinated housing policy involving government, developers, unions, and cooperatives. “You can have journalist estates, NURTW estates, civil servant cooperatives. Government provides land and backing, developers build. That’s how to solve the housing problem.” He urged the government to emulate past low- to medium-cost mass housing initiatives like the Jakande estates, LSDPC, and Shagari estates among others.