A real estate expert, Mr Festus Adebayo has appealed to the Federal Government to show commitment and exercise strong political will in ensuring speedy growth in the housing sector in 2018.
Adebayo, Managing Director of FESADEB Communications Ltd., convener of the annual Abuja International Housing Show, made the appeal on Wednesday in an interview in Abuja.
“For the betterment of the housing sector in 2018, the Federal Government should show strong commitment by exercising the political will to make the housing sector grow.
The expert frowned at the poor performance of the housing sector under the present administration since its inception, adding that the sector has not done well due to lack of political will.
“The performance of the housing sector since the inception of the APC government has not been commendable; the sector has not been doing very well.
“Most of the estate developers in 2017 were not working.
“There was no access for loan from the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) because the closure of the Estate Development Loan (EDL) due to malpractices of some estate developers.”
The EDL is a facility granted to private developers, state housing corporations and housing cooperatives to bridge the housing deficit through mass housing.
He noted that in 2017, there was lack of political will and record of high cost of building materials, which affected development in the sector.
According to him, most of the houses constructed in 2017 were beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerian citizens.
“The civil servants up till now cannot have opportunity of having the houses within their reach.
“The issue of Land Use Act is still a barrier, access to land in the country is still a problem, and there have been cases of multiple allocation of land. All these affected the sector in 2017.”
