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From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
For several decades, successive administrations have used housing deficit as a campaign tool but nothing has been done to solve the challenge. It always ended up as titillating illusions. However, on assumption of office on August 22, 2023, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, vowed to slay the dragon.
Firstly, he needs to know the real number of Nigerians lacking shelter.
So, he is collaborating with the National Population Commission (NPoC) to take stock of houses in Nigeria.
This is as stakeholders and experts in the built industry have agreed that the 17 million and 28 million deficit being thrown around are fictitious and unrealistic.
Notwithstanding, Dangiwa has set up a team to take stock of all empty estates across the country with a view to increasing their ground rent from single to triple rent if the owners fail to sell or rent them out after three months.
Furthermore, the Minister, last week, inaugurated four task teams to facilitate the removal of all legal impediments towards owning cheap houses in the country.
These legal encumbrances to be demolished involve a thorough review and facilitation of necessary legislative amendments of relevant housing industry laws including the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act,1992; Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) Establishment Act, 1993; Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Act,1973, and PenCom Act (to allow for increased investment in housing).
“For years, our nation has grappled with conflicting and unsubstantiated figures regarding this deficit crisis. The range of estimates, varying from 17 million to 28 million, has not only been a source of embarrassment but also a hindrance to effective policymaking and strategic planning.
“We plan to fix this national embarrassment by developing and implementing a mechanism to deliver reliable housing data to guide policy formulation. We have begun a strategic collaboration with the National Population Commission (NPoC) on housing data. The plan is to work with the commission to design and implement survey instruments specifically tailored to address housing-related questions to arrive at the actual housing deficit during their upcoming population and housing census exercise.
“We understand clearly that the housing deficit is not solely about the quantity of structures but also about the quality of living conditions. So, we want to know whether the homes that Nigerians live in provide access to good sanitation, proper toilets, sufficient living spaces, a healthy environment, and other essential amenities. We have written to Mr. President and we are hopeful that with his approval for the conduct of the census, we should fix this problem and put an end to this national embarrassment.
“To ensure that housing agencies under the supervision of the ministry are optimised to deliver on the target of providing affordable homes to Nigerians, we have composed a Housing Reform Team of experts, stakeholders, agency representatives, professional bodies and the academia to develop a robust framework for reform of the housing sector including thorough review of relevant laws and facilitation of necessary legislative amendments.
“There are lots of abandoned estates, especially in Abuja and the vicinity. I think, in some other states, we do have a few of them. We want to take stock of all those abandoned houses. Then, we interface with the owners of the abandoned houses. We’ll ask them what they want? Do you want to keep these houses? If you want to keep them unoccupied the government will charge you triple ground rent instead of the single ground rent that we charge. That will force them to put it on rent for whatever amount or sell them off because you can’t keep saying that we have housing deficit when we have a lot of empty houses that are being completed and left unoccupied. So, we have told the Department of Lands and Urban and Regional Planning in our ministry to take stock of those estates and give us the names of the proprietors so that the owners of those estates will be informed of our plans. Any estate that stayed more than three months unoccupied we’ll start charging them triple ground rent. That’s what we intend to do” he said.
At the 50th anniversary celebration of Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Dangiwa condemned the agency for building a meager 50,000 houses in 50 years, saying that 50,000 housing units delivery since its inception is not acceptable.
“Pursuant to the re-defined roles, the National Council on Privatisation in May 2013, approved FHA’s commercialisation. The aim was to reduce the magnitude and scope of financial support of the Federal Government and allow the authority to adapt to changing business requirements. At this time FHA had only managed to deliver 37,000 houses in its 40 years of existence.
“Now, ten years after commercialisation, records show that FHA has only delivered a cumulative of just over 50,000 housing units. That shows an average of 1,000 houses per year in 50 years. This is not acceptable, especially from Nigeria’s foremost housing agency that has so many institutional advantages that it can leverage on to deliver more results.
“During the Shelter Afrique Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Algeria, I discovered from my engagements with the Algerian Government that an agency like the FHA delivers between 400,000 and 1,000,000 million houses annually. In fact, in a particular year, that agency delivered 1,060,000 houses. This underscores the need for FHA to aggressively upscale its delivery capacity.
“I am also pained to say that analysis of all the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) that the FHA has entered into over the years has delivered little or no value to the country. This is also not acceptable. FHA needs to wake up to its responsibilities.
FHA must see its 50th anniversary as a moment of soul-searching and resolve that the next 50 years will tell a different story. Like they say, we cannot change the past, but we can shape the future by doing things differently.
“FHA is one agency that has the licence to interact meaningfully with other agencies. So, the ministry expects FHA to make judicious use of this advantage in the broad strategy of the government to deliver housing to Nigerians.
“I want to see the FHA go to the capital market, issue bonds, and raise funding to deliver mass housing projects across the country, market them, pay back the loans, and declare profit,” he said.
Corroborating the Minister’s position on the housing data, stakeholders said all the figures flying about are unrealistic as there is no data to back up such claims.
In his submission, immediate past president of Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Olayemi Shonubi said that such figures are baseless as there’s no data to substantiate the various claims.
“If you go into the hinterland I am sure that there are houses there that are vacant. Majority of the people have migrated to Lagos and Abuja because that’s where they can find meaningful or gainful employment and have security. If we have good internet network, 24/7 power supply and people can set up factories and industries in those areas, they don’t have to go to Lagos and Abuja. So, those houses in the villages or towns will be occupied. That will probably reduce the so-called housing deficit. That’s on one hand. On the other hand, if there’s a way to encourage local production of building materials I am sure, that will also make the cost of materials to be cheaper. When we are talking of social housing or affordable housing, some of them are even done by councils. For instance, if infrastructure is available all over the country, local government chairmen can build houses. I am sure, that will also help. So, if all these can be factored in, we should be able to reduce deficit.
On his inaugural speech, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa said that one of the things is to collaborate with the Nigerian Population Commission (NPoC) to actually do housing census. Without data, everybody keeps talking about housing deficit. How far are we sure. If you go to the hinterland, most of the houses there are vacant. The owners are in the urban centres – either in Lagos or Abuja. So, we need to actually undertake the housing census to be sure of how many houses we need.
Yes, we see people on the streets or under the bridge.
Like I said, people had walked from the rural areas to the urban centres such that the urban centres have become overpopulated. Then, it will appear as if we have housing deficit.
When you are saying there’s deficit, in the urban areas, we have empty houses in the rural areas. So, the figures are not realistic. That’s what I am trying to say in a nutshell. So, we need to first carry out a housing census to be sure. Let’s even have a correct data to work with. In fact, there are houses that are empty in Abuja. So, how do we keep talking about deficit?
If they are not affordable, then how can somebody build a house and leave it unoccupied? Some people say that there’s a bit of money laundering. It does not make sense for anybody to put money in an investment that does not yield anything,” Shonubi said.
In his own contribution, a strong member of Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) and an expert in the built industry, Architect Gbenga Agbelu also noted that the figures flying about are inconsistent with what is on ground. For him, the government should be serious with its social housing programme.
“We don’t have the correct data for such now. Nobody in the built industry has come out to say that he has done a survey to know the deficit. That figure is a mirage.
The government can reduce the deficit by providing social housing for the poor. You cannot ask a market woman to buy a bungalow for N28 million. It won’t work,” he said.
A Jamaican who’s also in the built industry and one of the doctors without borders, Dr Marcia Russell, moved for mortgage as a panacea for housing deficit.
According to her, Jamaica has no housing deficit because once a child is 18 years, he/she begins to save for mortgage. The result is that both the father, mother and children have their own individual houses. So, she suggested that Nigerians should leverage on mortgage to own their house.
