In order to speed up the delivery of mass affordable housing for millions of homeless Nigerians, a group of concerned stakeholders have advised the country’s Ministry of Works and Housing to reimagine its current approach and seek more engagement with astute professionals whose experience and expertise will come handy.
This was the central recommendation of a webinar organized by Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN) on Thursday with the theme: ‘’Works and Housing: the Future Prospects for Delivery of Affordable Housing Post Covid-19.’’
The webinar which was one of the series being organized by the advocacy group was moderated by Festus Adebayo, promoters of Housing TV on AIT and TVC and leading affordable housing advocate
Notable speakers included Surv. Ugochukwu Chime, GMD Copen Group; Prof. Gbenga Nubi, University of Lagos; Arc. Nya-Etok Ezekiel, Chairman, Forum of Advocates for Social Housing; Engr. Harmony Kunu, CEO, East Africa Regional Project Director Workers Affordable Properties (WAP) Ltd. Rwanda; Chukwuma Katchy, PPP Expert; Efty A. Garba, Chicago based Housing Expert; Onwuemele Francis, Canada based Mortgage Expert.
The stakeholders advised the ministry to live up to its constitutional roles and be an enabler of housing development and a champion of relevant policies – a responsibility clearly stated in the national housing policy.
One of the major steps the ministry should take, according to the stakeholders, is for it to desist from being involved in the direct construction of houses. They say if the ministry hands off from direct construction, it will prevent political contractors from holding the ministry to ransom through shady or inability to deliver on those projects.
The stakeholders argued that such trend has plagued the country’s housing sector for so many decades, and it is one of the reasons why the country has such a massive housing deficit.
According to the moderator, Festus Adebayo, the webinar was also a response to the recent proclamation by President Buhari that the government has only delivered about 2100 houses. This according to speakers at the webinar is a far cry from what is expected to scale up housing supply in Nigeria.
The revelation by the President proves that there is a huge gap in terms of delivery and it should be a cause of concern for all, and this is why all hands must be on deck. They believe that government alone cannot do it.
The speakers at the webinar and members of HDAN, which is composed of all housing sector professionals and chief executives believe that if the government must deliver its target of 300,000 houses per annum, then the only way to achieve it is to collaborate with private sector professionals whose age-long experience and technical know-how will be a guiding compass for execution.
The stakeholders believe that it is indeed possible for the government to deliver up to 300,000 houses per annum, but it will only be realistically possible through a public private partnership (PPP).
While government supervises the initiative and projects, the private sector according to them is supposed to provide the funding and technical expertise to deliver the houses.
They called for the adoption of this unique PPP system where private sector players come to the table with their experience, technology, governance and finance while the government supports with incentives, land, regulatory framework and an enabling environment.
With this, the stakeholders said that the government does not need to strain its already lean purse to fund the 300,000 housing units, but can instead use those resources for other interventions. This is according to them is a globally tested approach to housing sector development.
They contended that the delivery of 300,000 affordable housing units per annum is clearly doable with this mindset which should be accompanied by an effective policy regime and collaboration among all housing stakeholders.
The group also reminded the Federal Government to put in use the National Housing policy and also give necessary push to the Building Code so that it will be an urgent matter of consideration in the national assembly.
They also called on stakeholders who want to participate in the affordable housing delivery program to have their mindset set in a way that quality is not traded for profit. The issue of standard they said, must also not be compromised by the government and those who are engaged in one way or the other must be credible and have a proven track record of performance.
As partners in progress, they urged all state governments to support housing development plans of the Federal Government by providing access to land and passing important policies like the model mortgage foreclosure bill to law and generally providing an enabling environment for all players including the private sector developers.
They stressed the importance of housing as a source of economic development and expansion for the states. Housing isn’t only about the provision of shelter, but also a means of increasing revenues and providing jobs.
Another critical problem in the sector which the government must address according to the speakers is the issue of high interest rates. They advised the government to speedily consider a one digit interest rate for mortgages.
The government according to them should begin to summon the much needed political will to not only plan but execute its projects. The nation, they said, needs to move from just making policies and move to acting on already existing policies.
They stressed the need to get the inventory of existing projects within the country and fine-tune new ways of achieving affordability for the end buyers.
Also, they called for the adoption of modern building technologies which will speed up housing development and at the same time deliver high quality at less cost.
