FG housing programmes have failed –Adebayo

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Africa International Housing Show (AIHS), Barr Festus Adebayo, has berated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government for failing to deliver on its housing manifesto.

Adebayo, who spoke with journalists at the 16th edition of the AIHS held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, on the theme: ‘Housing for All: The Role of Government in Creating an Effective Enabling Environment,’ said government has no business building houses.

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He said: “Take for instance the All Progressives Congress (APC) in their manifesto, where they promised in 2015 that they would be delivering one million houses every year. If you visit the housing estates they have been building, I am not sure they have built 10, 0000 houses a year. Seven years have gone down the line.”

He decried that government’s affordable housing was out of reach of an average worker, saying one bedroom for N7.2 million is unacceptable to stakeholders in the sector.

“N7.2 million for one bedroom in Taraba and Jigawa is unacceptable to us. The government has no business building houses. The business of the government is to create enabling environment and formulate policies that will help the growth of the sector,” he added.

He said a panel session for politicians, especially candidates for next year’s general elections, was being held to discuss the role of government in the housing sector.

“Our advice to those aspiring to hold political offices next year is to try and understand how to achieve this goal of affordable housing. It’s not just to go and write anything in your manifesto; fake promises that are not attainable and that is one of the things we are going to focus on. We want to advise them, we want to re-orientate them and we want to engage them on how best to achieve this housing agenda,” he said.

He stressed that housing is key to economic growth and tackling the insecurity that has besieged the country for decades now.

The Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, while declaring the event open, said access to affordable housing has been a major challenge that remains substantially unresolved.

Represented by the Managing Director of Family Homes Fund (FHF), Femi Adewale, the vice president said although there is no shortage of policies and programmes enacted by various governments to tackle the housing challenge, implementation of the policies remained a problem.

He, however, said the federal government was taking the challenge seriously.

Osinbajo said, through the FHF, the FG has delivered 25, 000 homes across 11 states and is hoping to complete 50, 000 in 2023.

“Since it commenced operations in 2019, the Fund has demonstrated what is possible with a clear and strong commitment to the delivery of affordable housing at scale. By December 2022, it would have delivered about 25000 homes across 11 states with strong prospects for up to 50000 homes in 2023,” he said.

He maintained that over the last seven years, the FG has put in place important initiatives aimed at improving access to affordable housing, stressing that the government has supported the Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) to strengthen the mortgage sector.

He said: “As at end of Q1/2022, the NMRC has refinanced about N24.5bn of mortgages. The work that the institution does will ensure that Nigerians can have increased access to longer tenured home finance which in turn will improve affordability and therefore access to housing.

“Through the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) working in partnership with a number of Development Partners, the Government established InfraCredit. InfraCredit provides local currency guarantees which provides a strong motivation for wide range of investors particularly Pension Funds to invest in key Infrastructure projects including housing. The establishment of InfraCredit has the potential to mobilise much needed investment from pension funds and insurance companies in the housing sector.

“Through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, the institutional reform of two key agencies — the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Housing Authority has commenced. Both Institutions now have very strong and experienced Board and Executive Management Teams.”

75 per cent of houses in Nigeria substandard –VP Osinbajo

The Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yomi Osinbajo, has said 75 per cent of the country’s houses are substandard.

The VP, who was represented by the Managing Director of Family Homes Fund, spoke at the Africa International Housing Show in Abuja yesterday.

He said: “Our housing challenge presents itself in two primary forms. We have the issue of inadequate housing supply to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population most significantly for people on low income and young people. Secondly, a large proportion of the existing stock are sub-standard housing which do not meet the widely accepted standards of Habitability, Safety & Security, Comfort, Sanitation, Accessibility, Infrastructure, Social amenities and Socio-cultural adequacy by the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO). For instance, a PWC study indicated that as of 2019, 75% (31.627 million) of the 42 million housing units in Nigeria were discovered to be sub-standard.”

He said the challenges have persisted with the increasing social and income inequalities in the country.

“At the extreme, many households are faced with the dilemma of survival between food and adequate shelter. This is not congruent with this administration’s vision for a better Nigeria where even the weakest amongst us have the dignity of a decent home.

“Whilst the challenge of inadequate or no – housing undermines the quality of life of many Nigerians on low income, it also denies our economy and therefore our collective welfare the growth that is possible through a vibrant housing market,” he added.