Unarguably, shelter is next to food in the ranking of man’s predominant needs.
Available records indicate that many Nigerians are still lacking decent accommodation in spite of the designed efforts of successive administrations to provide shelter for the citizens since the country’s independence in 1960.
A recent report by the World Bank put Nigeria’s housing deficit at 17 million houses.
The report indicates that the country will require over N59.5 trillion to meet the growing housing needs of its citizens.
Corroborating the World Bank’s report, Mr Gimba Ya’u Kumo, the immediate-past Managing Director of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), says that the bank will need about N56 trillion to provide adequate houses for Nigerians.
Kumo, however, concedes says that the figure is based on a conservative house construction cost of N3.5 million per unit.
“Fundamentally, the nation needs 16 million housing units to bridge the housing deficit in the country and providing these houses will cost N56 trillion at a conservative cost of N3.5 million per unit.
“This is a colossal amount which cannot be funded only through the National Housing Fund (NHF) but requires urgent injection of funds from both the government and the private sector.
“That is why we are also exploring offshore funding to boost financing for mass housing which the nation urgently needs,” he says.
Ironically, in spite of the increasing population of homeless Nigerians, hundreds of completed housing estates in different parts of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), still remain empty with no occupants.
Concerned observers insist that the high cost of residential accommodation in Abuja would have been reduced significantly if the unoccupied houses in several privately owned housing estates have been accessible and affordable to residents in dire need of accommodation.
They argue that it is morally and economically unwise to construct a building and refuse to either occupy it or rent it out.
“If the owners of such houses have been a bit flexible with their terms, the cost of renting accommodation in the capital city and its suburbs, which is very high, would also have gone down considerably,’’ they add.
A recent survey, conducted by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reveals that many of the private housing estates in the FCT have remained unoccupied, several years after their completion.
The survey also reveals that it costs between N2.5 million and N3 million per annum to rent a two-bedroom apartment in neighbourhoods such as Maitama, Asokoro, Wuse and Garki, while the cost of renting a similar apartment ranges between N800,000 and N1.2 million per annum outside the municipal areas.
Besides, it costs between N400,000 and N700,000 per annum to rent a two-bed room apartment in satellite towns such as Kubwa, Lugbe and Karu.
As a result, many residents bemoan the high cost of accommodation in the FCT and criticise most private estate developers for building houses that are “far beyond the reach of low income earners”.
Mr Donald Ugo, a resident and civil servant, advises the government to facilitate land acquisition processes in the FCT so as to enable civil servants to procure plots of land and build their own houses without having to patronise “shylock landlords and rent apartments at cut-throat prices.
“This is the only and surest way of making houses available and affordable to low income earners, not only in the FCT but also in other major cities across the country.
“Houses that have been left unoccupied for more than six months should also be confiscated by the authorities and auctioned to civil servants who need them,’’ he says.
Ugo, however, urges the government to regulate the prices of houses meant for lease and establish appropriate rent tribunals to check the devious activities of shylock landlords, particularly those in the FCT.
Sharing similar sentiments, Mr Maduka Maduabueze, another civil servant, urges the Federal Government to restructure the existing mortgage institutions in a way that they will make them to take due cognisance of the civil servants’ interests.
He observes that civil servants have not been finding it easy to access mortgage facilities in their efforts to own houses.
“There should be a specific scheme put in place for civil servants, particularly those working in the FCT, for direct allocation of plots of land to them, while asking them to develop the land within a specific time-frame.
“The FCT Administration (FCTA) and other agencies should allocate plots to cooperative societies of civil servants and help them to access mortgage financing,’’ he says.
Maduabueze says that owners of all unoccupied houses should also be made to pay property and tenement rates, adding: “From all indications, the unoccupied housing estates are no more than conduits to launder ill-gotten wealth.’’
Echoing a similar viewpoint, Mrs Ene Idache, also a civil servant, claims that many civil servants and other categories of workers could not own houses in the FCT because the strict land-acquisition processes and the lack of resources for housing development.
However, Mr Emeka Nwasike, a resident, recalls that the Federal Government attempted to tackle the growing housing problems in the country by launching a mortgage scheme for 10,000 beneficiaries in July 2014.
He says that the scheme, which was specifically designed to redress the constraints posed by poor access to finance in efforts to develop affordable housing in the country, turned out to be stillborn, as no tangible achievement has been recorded in the project.
Another resident, Mr Emma Akeem, nonetheless, advises the government to embark on direct construction of affordable houses, just as what obtained in the 1980s, to enable the average Nigerian to have access to decent accommodation.
“What private estate developers are doing now is to create social class problems, particularly in the FCT where only the affluent few can afford to own or live in decent homes.
“But I foresee a crash in the real estate market, especially in the FCT, because the income of most residents is not enough to enable them to purchase the houses built by private developers.
“Therefore, the developers will have no other option than to slash the prices of their houses in the nearest future,’’ Akeem adds.
The scenario, perhaps, explains the decision of the FCTA to map out strategies to check the Machiavellian tactics of the owners of unoccupied housing estates to hoard the houses until they could elicit “more favourable deals’’.
Mr Dominic Odenigbo, the Head of Aesthetics and Amenities, Department of Development Control of the FCTA, says that government will soon come up with a regulation that will outlaw inoccupation of houses in the FCT for more than six months.
He emphasises that the primary motive for constructing a house is its habitation, insisting that the motive would be defeated if after completing the house; it remains unoccupied for several years.
Odenigbo says that the owners of such unoccupied estates are apparently not eager to allow tenants into houses in their estates because their sources of income are questionable.
“Part of our conditions for granting building approval is that construction should commence not later than six months after approval and completed, at most, two years after.
“But we have observed that many of the houses in the city — a large number of them in mass housing estates — have remained unoccupied many years after their construction; and that is not acceptable.
“Some builders acquire these structures as a way of tying down illegally acquired wealth; so, they are apparently not eager to rent the houses out.
“To stop this trend, we plan to include a clause in buildings’ approval that will compel builders to occupy or rent out the houses, not later than six months after their completion,’’ he adds.
Mr Kalu Emetu, the Head of Public Relations Unit of the Department of Development Control, FCTA, also frowns at the ugly trend, saying that owners of unoccupied housing estates should be sensitised to the harms of their activities.
He stresses that if all the unoccupied houses in the FCT are made available for rent, the housing deficit in the territory will be appreciably bridged.
“It is wrong to construct a building and refuse to either occupy it or rent it out.
“If these builders are a bit flexible with their terms, rental fees in Abuja will be reduced, more people will be willing to rent the houses and the housing deficit will be consequently bridged.
“Some of the owners of these houses fix astronomical prices for them, while others even consider the social class of tenants that is suitable for their houses. This is very unfair to the residents of FCT.
“The new law will stipulate that after construction, a house that remains unoccupied for more than six months must have adequate security, while its lights must be on every night,’’ he says.
Nevertheless, observers call for the development of effective and workable mortgage mechanisms that will enable citizens to own houses and participate in the “Housing for All’’ initiative in a more pragmatic way.
They also underscore the need to make concerted efforts to ease the process of obtaining mortgage loans in the country.
“If the citizens are given liberal access to mortgage loans with good interest rates; many people will be encouraged to own houses and the current housing deficit in the country will be reduced considerably,’’ some say.
All the same, observers express the hope that government at all levels will speedily implement the decisions reached at the recent Habitat III Africa Regional Meeting in Abuja in order to facilitate the attainment of the goals of the “Housing for All’’ programme.
“The government must also take steps to ascertain the true owners of unoccupied apartments in estates across the FCT and why such houses still remain unoccupied,’’ says an observer.
By Sani Adamu, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
