Problems and Prospects of Mass Housing in Nigeria
The issue of mass housing has remained a nagging one in the development of Nigeria with no foreseeable end in sight. Correspondent, ALLEN ODUNZE in Abuja takes a look at the problems and the prospects: Issue of mass housing for workers and Nigerians at large has continued to assume a centre stage, with the public and stakeholders increasingly accusing government at all levels of caring little about providing shelter, or at least, making shelter affordable. Only recently, the Minister in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar, agreed at a function that the problem of mass housing has remained very critical in the Capital Territory, with little or nothing being what the FCT Administration alone can do about it.

There has been high demand of the few available houses by the teeming residents of the FCT. In the words of the Executive Secretary of the FCTA, Alhaji Alhassan, every passing democratic dispensation, politicians who came to Abuja, having won election from their states to the National Assembly, do not go back to their states. At best, only one out of every three goes back at the end of his term in the National Assembly, thus over-stretching the facilities on ground in the Federal Capital Territory.

The most out-stretched infrastructure in this regard is no doubt, housing facilities; (houses, water resources, electricity) etc. Perhaps, all these led the minister to what he referred to as the clarion call by his administration on assumption of office about 15 months ago on the private sector to come and partner with the Federal Capital Territory administration in real property development for the residents of the Territory. In other words, the minister was saying that government alone could not handle, albeit successfully, the task of providing affordable housing for the people as well as office accommodations for government business as it were.

This is aside, other programmes of government in the areas of infrastructure development, security of lives and property, among others. At the ground breaking ceremony of the Windsor Garden City at Lugbe, FCT recently, Dr Modibbo Umar, again re-visted his earlier call on private investors to partner with the FCT Administration to make the dream of affordable shelter a reality. Specifically, the minister called on all those who have been allocated plots to commence development of the plots.

That was as he equally assured that the present administration in the FCT was not after demolition of buildings, nor into chasing residents about from one location to another, but was concerned with the well being of every resident of the Territory. This he said was because Abuja is a Centre of Unity for every Nigerian no matter his ethnic group, religion or creed. However, the minister stated unequivocally that the only set of people the Territory would not contain while the administration lasted were criminals and any person who has ulterior motive for coming to the FCT. Modibbo Umar acknowledged the position of adequate shelter for the people in the holistic development of man.

To him, adequate and affordable shelter was paramount for the improvement of the living environment of any people as, according to him, "adequate shelter would help in the nurturing of healthy citizens thereby making them contribute positively in the sustenance of the said environment where they live." Already, a broad housing framework for the FCT has been developed with a Housing Committee for the Territory equally in place. According to the Minister, the new framework defines the vision and objectives of Mass Housing development in the FCT. He added that appropriate guidelines are loudly specified for both the Federal Capital City and the Satellite Towns.

For example, the minister has at a different forum said that his administration intended to pursue the provision of 300 housing units in each of the six districts of the FCT, stressing that everyone who has opportunity of having plots in the entire territory should expectedly strive towards developing such a plot. Little wonder, he easily gave the nod to the Professor Akin Mabogunje-led Presidential Committee for the implementation of the Houses for Africa mass housing project in Abuja, through which the Windsor Garden City is now proposing 10,000 housing units for the FCT. But, government pronouncements are not all that are required on the issue of mass housing for the people.

The problem of housing financi n g cannot be o v e r - e m p h a - sized if any headway is expected in solving the problem of mass housing. Globally, housing is s fundamental issue that goveernment and the private sector have to tackle healdlong. To my mind however, from the Federal to the local government level in this country, non has shown adequate commitment and interest yet in the provision of houses for her citizens, particularly those of the low and medium income class. It has always been a case of paying lip-service which has been the bane of governance in this part of the world over the years.

This is pathetic. Recently at a stakeholders' meeting in Lagos, South-West Nigeria, a call was made by a real estate developer, Mr Olisa Ebigwe, the managing director of Soe Property D e v e l o p m e n t Company Ltd, that governm e n t s h o u l d a l l o w r e a l estate d e ve l - o p e r s access to using the over N915billion pension funds for real estate development, rather than continuing to get the money stashed away. His grouse was that there was no justification for leaving the money elsewhere, what with the annual increase of over N15billion on the money, and the people continue to live under the bridges. Even those who make attempts to build for themselves some sort of houses are frustrated by the high cost of building materials.

"The people are saving this money for the rainy day when they are out of active employment, but rain is beating them now because they have no shelter over their heads, then of what use is the money if it continues to be stashed away." Continuing in his view, Mr Ebigwe decried that banks are never available with loans to property developers, but were only interested in funding importers; a situation he said was not helping the masses of the country.

Speaking further in the same vein was the President of the Association of Professionals of Nigeria, Mr Bunmi Ajayi who said the inability of government to contribute in the funding of the housing sector was not acceptable to the APBN. He noted that pension funds remained vital to the housing financing for workers of both the public and private sectorss, adding that government should create an enabling environment for the housing financing through making accessible the pension funds for real estate developers for the provision of houses for the public.

Mr Ajayi equally called for the liberalization of the Land Reforms Act and a second look at issues relating to titles, stressing that it would not be expected of developers of real estate to develop properties with borrowed funds from banks, as according to him banks do not understand housing financing, but rather always prefer short term lending. Equally speaking on the occasion, the Lagos State chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Mr Moses Ogunleye, bared his mind on the 7-Point agenda of the present administration and what it portends for the mass housing sector.

According to him, the 7-point agenda of the President Yar'Adua administration has nothing in store for mass housing for the citizens of this country, a situation he said was not good enough for the overall growth of the citizens of this country. He then said that to give the 7-Point agenda a human face particularly in the housing sector, there has to be extensive reform of the Land Use Act, ownership and Titles to properties. This is a statement of fact that the nation's Land Use Act has become obsolete and requires reform.

Besides, when the Act was promulgated in 1978 by the then Head of State, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in a rather suspicious manner, the nation's population and the demand for land were not what they are today. Land, we know is the chief factor in housing development followed, of course by finance. So if there is no land and there is no availability of funds for the property developers, whatever we claim to be doing in the area of mass housing might well be a wild goose chase. One thing that these speakers emphasized in unison was that since the banks are never available for the real estate developers for loans, and since the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and other mortgage institutions do not meet the housing financing needs of property developers, government should make good her perceived intention of providing houses for her people, and the time is now.
Ezugwu Benson Whyte


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