What govt must do to solve Nigeria’s housing crisis

•Why buildings keep collapsing

By Vivian Onyebukwa

Nnamdi Mba Emmanuel has urged the Nigerian government to fix the economy and regulate housing policies to solve housing problem in the country.

Emmanuel is the Managing Director /Chief Executive Officer of Serenity Settlement Limited, a real estate firm. Born and raised in Enugu, where he has lived most of his life, he hails from Onitsha, Anambra State, He attended schools in Enugu State and was studying Music at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, when he decided to join the real estate business with the hope to establish himself first before going fully into music.

In this interview, he spoke about the issues surrounding the real estate business.

Why did you decide to shift to real estate business instead of music?

My reason for studying music was that I was into music production, but at a point, life hit. So I had to look for another thing to do. So I got into real estate business.

Tell us about your real estate business

I started buying lands and reselling, flipping properties, and started building gradually.

How long have you done that?

It’s been five years now. I started since 2020.

Most people are going into real estate business. Why do you think it’s like that?

That is the business, especially if you’re a developer, because there’s a lot of money in real estate business. That’s why people are going into it. So, yes, it’s a lucrative business.

Is that why land is so expensive now?

Very expensive, but it depends on the area where you’re getting the land.

Even houses too are expensive now. Why?

Yes, but some houses are overpriced though.

Many people are going into the buying and selling aspect of real estate business. Is that where the real money is?

It’s caused by the scarcity of houses. I feel like most people have bought these houses and have plans probably to resell in the future. For instance, personally I have some I’m using for short lease. So it depends on the purpose you want to purchase. Some people buy, keep, and use it for business by reselling it. So that basically depends on what you want to do with it.

It’s not cheap to rent a house these days. What is the reason?

That’s true. Personally, I’ve evaluated the whole thing. I’m going to say that part of it is greed from the developers and the agents too, because if you look at some houses, there’s no reason why they should be worth that amount, even the rent. So that’s why some people have been calling on government to come and regulate the industry because everybody now wants to make money. Part of it is also greed. So I feel that if government regulates this, it’s going to be affordable for people.

Does it also have anything to do with the state of the economy?

If you come to real estate business, everybody is greedy. So it doesn’t have to do with anything economy.

Most of the developers attribute it to the high cost of building materials such as cement and so on. How true is it?

It has nothing to do with that. They overprice it. They just take it up too much. It’s still greed that I am talking about. Everybody wants to make money. You see someone who probably built a house with N100 million or N110 million, and the person wants to sell it for like N400 million. They want to make a huge amount of money. That’s the problem. Again, people are buying it just to boost their ego, but if you look at it, you know that the house is not worth that price. So that’s why most people have been calling on government to come and regulate the real estate industry.

In addition to regulating the industry by the government, what else can the government do to cushion the effect of housing deficit?

Housing like in other countries, there’s a certain amount one is supposed to pay if one wants to build. If one also wants to rent, there’s a certain amount the person can pay. One cannot put the price above that. So it’s regulated. I feel like everybody is just doing what they like because the government doesn’t have any interest in that area. They just allow everybody to do what they like. But if it’s like other countries, the government shows interest in what the people do. Here, everybody is free to do what they want to do. That’s why. But I feel that if the government comes in and regulate it properly, then probably set up a body that is reporting some houses if it goes above a certain limit, the government should come and know why their houses are placed at that particular amount because they need to be regulated.

There have been frequent cases of collapsed buildings recently. What do you think is the cause?

Everything has to do with greed because at the end of the day, some people sell a house for N500 million, but they use substandard materials for it. If you’re to sell a house for that amount, then give the buyer the value for his money by using quality materials. But you see that they want to use inferior materials and make a whole lot of money. So if the government is serious about checkmating the building contractors, because I believe there’s a body set up to regulate and to come and check when the building is coming up, the incidents of building collapse will reduce. But Nigeria is a third world country, so it can be easily manipulated. You just pay them and they overlook it. There’s supposed to be a proper check on everything that is going on. So everything has to do with greed, but if you’re to be greedy, give the buyer the quality.

Successive governments have promised to build low-income houses for people, but it ends up in the hands of people that can afford them, not people that the houses are meant for. What do you think can be done?

The honest truth is, the economy still plays a role in this, because if you check on the people that the houses are meant for, civil servants, you check their salaries, and check the cost used to build the house, it won’t be easy for civil servants. For a common civil servant, it would take time to build a house of his own. For him to buy too, he cannot afford it. So it’s just crazy.

What do you think the civil servants can do regarding owning their personal houses?

People are moving into the interiors to be able to afford housing, either as a project or for rent. Houses and empty lands there are cheaper though it’s beginning to go up, but it’s still cheaper than the highbrow areas. I was having a discussion with my friend the other day, and we’re like, there’s no house in Lagos that is worth N500 million. That is the truth. They are just overhyped and overpriced. Then when you come, they say it’s ocean view, because it’s Banana Island. They are selling the locations, not the house where somebody can buy just one bungalow, maybe on one plot of land.

You mean a bungalow can cost as much as that?

Yes. A bungalow for N150 million, and you discover that the person that bought it would still demolish it. So they are buying the location and the land because then you could use the same money to build exactly the same duplex.

Apart from regulating the industry, what else do you think the government can do to help solve the housing problem in the country?

Personally, I feel like the first step to help the housing problem is to correct the economy so that things can be affordable. I’m going to use other countries as an example. When things are affordable, the price for a house is not going to be an issue. Like I said, a civil servant earning N250,000 or probably N300,000 monthly, it’s not enough for the person to even buy a house. You know how long the person has to save up to buy a house. So the government should first of all fix the economy so that people can earn more money and there’s more value so that if you hold N500, 000, it would have a huge value. That’s the first step to fix it. For the price of houses, I don’t see it coming down anytime soon because it’s still going to keep on going up.

Apart from fixing the economy, what else can the government do for individuals to be able to own a house?

Owning a house is a very big struggle because, for instance, a house of N150 million, the first question is, how are you going to get this money? It’s a very huge amount of money. So when it comes to that, that’s a very tricky question. For me, I started off with taking loans from people, my friends that I knew that had the money. So they were helping me and I was buying properties, flipping, and we were doing businesses and I would give them their own percentage. So at a point I felt that the money had started coming, so I could now stand on my own. So when it comes to what individual can do, it’s very hard because if the economy is not good, there’s nothing one can do.

What are the challenges in the real estate business?

The main challenge we face is cost of building materials. Things are going high, and at the end of the day, if a building is done, I’m going to try to make some profit from it, obviously. For instance, when I’m done putting my price, it’s going to be hard for people to afford it. So sometimes a building stays for a very long time without a buyer. Before you could get someone that could afford that kind of a house, it takes time.

It’s very stressful having to go to the site, and all that. As a developer, I’m always on site from Mondays to Saturdays, making sure that things are going on well, because the moment you look away, probably what they’re selling for N100,000, they say they’re selling for N500,000. So that’s it. Basically the challenge is, people are not affording it. It’s not easy. I would like the government to look into it though, the first step is fixing the economy.

What can you say about the high cost of building materials, cement particularly?

That’s the first step. You have to use block before you start fixing all those other things. Manufacturers and distributors put a price for cement based on what the economy is. So everything still boils down to economy because the manufacturers and distributors cannot run at a loss on their business. The more things are getting more expensive, you see that the price of cement will still go up. If government can fix the economy, they have stabilized everybody