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By Chinwendu Obienyi
To meet the needs of Nigeria’s housing sector, whilst helping it meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) Plc says it intends to launch the impact board soon even as it said it has raised over N72 billion for real estate companies quoted on its platform in the last 10 years.
Its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Oscar Onyema, stated this during the 16th Africa International Housing show 2022 themed; “Housing for All- The Role of Governments in Creating an Effective Enabling Environment” which held in Abuja recently.
Delivering a keynote address titled “The role of the capital market in solving the housing problem in Nigeria”, Onyema noted that there is pressure on available housing and other infrastructure in urban areas as Nigeria currently faces a severe housing deficit as regards estimates by the Federal Mortgage Bank and the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) which indicate a deficit of at least 28 million housing units.
He noted that despite the sector’s 5.34 per cent GDP contribution, the challenge in the sector remains a far cry from developed economies where contribution to GDP is in double digits, depicting the interconnectivity between the housing sector and economic growth. Onyema said that although the government has embarked on various reforms and interventions in this sector to bridge the existing deficit, there is a need to adapt ingenious financing methods to meet the pressing need as the government cannot do it alone.
