Housing shortage is one of the major issues of concern and successive governments have always paid lip service to it.
In 1991, the National Housing Policy was promulgated in order to find possible solution to housing problems in Nigeria. The main objective of the policy was to make affordable housing accessible to the low income group. Regrettably, this has largely remained a mirage. According to the International Human Rights Agency, every level of government is obliged to provide affordable housing for the needs of its citizens. This is considering the fact that the housing sector is a critical development index. It is one of the indices for measuring the overall well-being of the citizenry.
In advanced countries of the world, like the United States of America and Britain, the sector contributes between 30 and 70 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). On the global scale, investment in housing accounts for between 15 and 35 percent of aggregate investment worldwide, while the sector employs approximately 10 percent of the labour force with an attendant positive effect on unemployment and criminality.
Borne out of this concern, the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, encapsulated affordable housing scheme in the agenda of his administration with the theme, ‘Building the Future of Ogun State Together.’ Appreciating a huge deficit in accessible housing for the low income earners as a growing concern, he has allocated a large percentage of the resources available to his administration towards ensuring that residents in the state have decent roofs over their heads through the active involvement of the Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC).
Consequently, the agency has commenced the development of Kings Court Estate covering about 48,685.34 square metre, approximately 4.87 hectares of land. This is located along the Presidential Boulevard, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta, the state capital.
The proposed estate is estimated to accommodate 51 villas of five bedrooms and an attached boy’s quarters with other social facilities that include a shopping mall, club house, recreation centre, potable water, swimming pool as well as uninterrupted power supply, among others.
The initiative, according to the Managing Director of the Agency, Mrs Ibiyemi Adesoye, is to aid the growth of the state’s economy and make it an investment hub in Nigeria.
In addition to that, there is also another proposed Family Homes Estate at New Makun City involving collaborative arrangement with the Family Homes Funds (FHF), an initiative of the Federal Government’s Social Housing Project, aimed at making housing affordable for the low-income earners in the country.
Coincidentally, Ogun State is one of the pilot states already chosen to test-run the scheme. And currently, the scheme is ongoing with 36 units of studio flats, 456 units, each of 1 and 2 bedroom flats and 72 units of 3 bedroom bungalows at various stages of completion.
With this new development, residents of the state can now be assured of a world class, secured, peaceful and serene environment to live in at an affordable price. This is part of the commitment of the Abiodun-led administration towards making housing accessible and affordable to the good people of the State.
To this end, OPIC together with the Ogun State Housing Corporation have been unrelenting in efforts aimed at ensuring that the project is expeditiously delivered on schedule.
The good news is the inclusion of the civil servants as part and parcel of the policy initiative. With successful completion of the housing schemes, state workers can now be assured of access to affordable housing that would not affect their take-home pay.
• Oluwaseun Boye, a Principal Information Officer with the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Ogun State, wrote from Abeokuta.