The Federal Government has been urged to identify what is needed to achieve the proposed 50,000 new houses per year under the new reforms.
This, the real estate experts said, was necessary in order to avoid past failures.
According to the experts, achieving 50,000 new houses annually in the current business climate was challenging but feasible with a strategic approach.
The experts, who are from both the private practice and academia, who spoke with Nigerian Tribune in separate interviews on Sunday, included the Managing Director, Cromwell PSI Ltd, Mr Sola Enitan; Principal Partner, Ubosi Eleh and Co., Mr. Chudi Ubosi and a professor of Estate Management, University of Lagos,Gbenga Nubi.
While Enitan and Ubosi suggested the need for government to provide the enabling environment for the private sector to see the need and encouragement to invest heavily in housing in consonance with the needs of the people, Nubi maintained that government has the responsibility to directly provide social housing for the low-income Nigerians.
Their suggestions became imperative following the inauguration of Housing Reforms Task Teams last week by the Minister of Housing, Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa, urging commitment to Renewed Hope agenda for housing and urban development.
The four newly inaugurated reform task teams are the Housing Institutions Reform Task Team, Multi-Agency Project Delivery Task Team, Land Reforms Task Team, and the Building Materials Manufacturing Hubs Task Team.
Part of its terms of reference of the multi-agency project delivery task team includes developing a comprehensive strategy and roadmap for the construction of 50,000 new houses per year.
Ubosi called on the government to work on the politics and bureaucracy that always accompany such plans if it intends to achieve the mandate of constructing 50,000 new houses per year.
“It’s not the business of government to build houses. The business of government is to provide the enabling environment for the private sector to build,” he said.
On what is needed to achieve housing target, he maintained that government must identify what it needed to provide 50,000 units of housing annually.
He asked: “Does the government have land already available? Where are they? Is the land serviced and infrastructured? Titled?”
If no, he said that must be the first step, noting that acquisition of land, payment of compensation and providing services take time, pointing out that 12 months would be tough to accomplish these.
“Then, of course, what is the design and type of houses? Targeted at whom? Selection of contractors. Mobilisation of contractors. Supervision and management of construction works etc. Again, these are all stages towards achieving the targets. It would require a miracle for government in Nigeria as structured and currently undertaken to scale these hurdles in even 24 months,” Ubosi said.
Professor Nubi argued that 50,000 housing units for Nigerians in a nation with 10 to 20 million housing units deficit is like a pebble thrown into the ocean.
“And as long as we are running the policy of new liberalism and market driven, then, it goes to the highest bidder of course,” he said.
Nubi urged government to state clearly those the 50,000 housing units are meant for.
According to him, government must provide social housing for the teachers, fire fighters, nurses, key workers in the community, and those who are earning below market rent and cannot afford the market rent.
“All over the world, government provide for them, so, we have to distill the process. We have to know what the responsibilities of the government is . “Government should stop telling us “we want to build 50 housing units” for who?
“Define it and let’s facilitate, let’s create enabling environment for those who cannot afford to buy it in the market.
“Let there be monthly system whereby we don’t need to do cash and carry, we don’t need to do incremental or progressive housing construction,” Prof Nubi said.
On possible way to achieve the housing units, Enitan said that it would require the federal government collaborating with private developers to share the burden of financing and implementation.
