Tackling Nigeria’s housing shortfall

By Onoruoiza Mark Onuchi

With an exponential population rate and sluggish infrastructural climb, Nigeria’s housing shortfall has reached an all-time high. Pouches of urban areas seem to be recording some impressive swathes of eye-catchy spiral architectural ensemble while hordes of hinterlands are in there worst state with pools of endless flood ravaging derelict structures seeking redemption. From the cluttered clusters of Zamfara to the dingy slums of Ajengunle: the story of structural blisters permeates the orgy narratives of the sizeable low-income earners.

Sobanjo leaves in a rickety hovel in the Ginti area of Ikorodu hinterland, far flung from the Lagos bustle. He is in his mid-thirties battling to stay afloat. Owning a house he calls his own has been his lifelong dream but his meagre earnings from his daily grind as a construction site labour will not give him a chance to. Sobanjo’s plight aptly captures the graphic tale of near-jobless tramps under the poverty threshold in their huge numbers splashed across the country.

With a huge housing deficit and abysmal infrastructural wobble, successive governments have continued to handle the issue with kid gloves.  With plethora of issues to deal with, President Buhari’s second term ministerial cabinet is not likely to be constituted until after two to three months in his second term, a setback with a grave impact on every sphere of the economy.

With a huge housing deficit and abysmal infrastructural wobble, the former Nigerian Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola upon assumption of office maintained that the National Housing Programme as driven by past governments was a mere ‘policy statement’ that has grown to become a behemoth and he however pledged his commitment to roll his sleeves to develop a roadmap for sustainable housing in Nigeria which started with rigorous planning. This he kick-started in 2016. By 2017 he stated that through the National Housing Programme 2,736 new housing units were been delivered across 33 states and 3,823 housing units up for sale in some states of the federation. This sounded excruciatingly appalling for a nation with a population of over 198 Million as announced by the National Population Commission and an estimated housing deficit of 25 Million and skyrocketing as posited by stakeholders. The current government is still maintaining 17 Million housing deficit, this figure was first established during the era of former president Olusegun Obasanjo (2006) by the United Nations on Human Settlement (UN-Habitat). We then had a population of 140 Million. If we are then to go by the incremental deficit of 900,000 annually considering annual urban migration 13 years after 17Million was mentioned then we would be talking 28.7 Million housing deficits.

Nigeria remains Africa’s biggest economy and 2.57% of the total world population, popping the urbanization code with an annual average delivery of at least 2 Million homes will be very modest to say the least if we must get somewhere reasonable in another decade… or else the current arrangement based on the paltry trend of less than 100,000 housing units annually would be considered the hoax of the decade.

With the passage of the National Housing Fund (establishment) Act 2018 many termed as highly faulty and defective with a draconian regime, what is the hope of the common man? Despite budgetary allocation of N30, 969,671,325 on construction/provision of houses which will be spent mostly under federal government’s National Housing Programme nationwide in addition to other schemes aimed at Housing delivery, the government must rethink a more proactive housing strategy in the remaking of the continent’s most populous country.

With an annual urban population growth rate of 6.5%, Nigeria must wake up from its lingering slumber. By 2050 Nigeria is projected to hit 440 Million, positioning it as the third-largest country in the world, what hope lies ahead?

The issues that surround the Nigerian construction landscape are plethora, a conundrum with a capacity to overwhelm its citizens. For instance, the incessant report of collapsed buildings has continued to trigger concerns amongst industry stakeholders. According to the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, no fewer than 54 buildings collapsed within a space of 4 years (2012-2016) across the country with high casualty level.  Poor geophysical site assessment, substandard practices to contest rising cost of building materials, lack of an enabling environment, poor building regulation and assessment, lack of building codes enforcement by regulatory agencies, have become the bane of the sector’s progress.

While Africa is snailing behind on infrastructural development and housing, Europe is leading the rest of the world with infrastructural transformation and affordable housing considered monumental due to the foresight the leaders have, unfortunately for Nigeria with its heavyweight resources is wallowing in reverse gear syndrome.

The need for the government of Nigeria to champion a strategic nationwide housing roadmap and financing is critical. The government must make it as a matter of priority to develop sustainable and elastic cities while providing clean, green and affordable housing in urban areas in order to save the future from impending disaster.

SMART Housing Policy will also serve as a good option, SMART is an acronym for Safe, Mixed income, Accessible, Reasonably priced, Transit-oriented (SMART) as developed by the City of Austin 2014 housing policy and Services. This throws spotlight on smart growth and this is also in line with the UN definition of ‘a house as a secure home where a person can live in peace and dignity’.

Aggressive campaigns should be encouraged by NGOs; Public sector participation must be triggered as all hands must be on deck.

It is hoped the nation embarks on massive housing development especially high-rise residential structures with user requirements and social-cultural wellbeing in mind. Let all the industry stakeholders get cracking on the nation’s housing future!

ONORUOIZA MARK ONUCHI is a Management Consultant and Business Strategist and Member of the 2019 Workforce Magazine Intelligence Board.

markonuchi@gmail.com

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ONORUOIZA MARK ONUCHI is a Management Consultant and Business Strategist and Member of the 2019 Workforce Magazine Intelligence Board.

markonuchi@gmail.com