Vice President Kashim Shettima has said despite efforts by governments at different levels, the country’s housing deficit remains huge as N21 trillion would be required to effectively bridge the gap.
Vice President Shettima stated this Sunday night in Sokoto, Sokoto state, at the groundbreaking of the construction of a 500-unit housing estate by Governor Ahmed Aliyu.
According to experts, by the annual average rate of N7.47 trillion credit to the real estate sector, it will take an estimated three years to provide 28 million housing units for the population.
This is on the premise that the population remains unchanged over this period.
However, the country’s population keeps increasing, creating more gaps in the housing needs.
The Nigerian population has been growing by 3.2 per cent annually, based on a 2006 population census estimate, which grew the population from 140 million in 2006 to an estimated 224,847,127 as of Monday (September 11, 2023), according to the Worldometer estimates.
This is based on the latest United Nations data.
This is why housing deficiency grew from seven million in 1991 to 28 million in 2023, leading to overcrowded and obsolete housing infrastructure.
Shettima
To fix the challenges in the sector, Vice President Shettima said Nigeria would require not less than N21 trillion.
Speaking at the groundbreaking of the construction of a 500-unit housing estate in Sokoto, the vice president said: “Nigeria has a deficit of 28 million houses and we will need N21 trillion to meet our housing needs. This step taken by the governor is highly commendable and worthy of emulation by other state governments.
The governor has started well by completing the roads and flyovers he inherited.”
Governor explains project
In his remarks, Governor Aliyu said the 500-unit housing estate would be for civil servants based on an owner-occupier basis.
He said: “This is a project that was initiated by the former Governor of the state, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko but was later abandoned by the immediate past administration but we are determined to complete it for the benefit of our workers and the general public.”
The governor said the project, located at Wamakko local government area of the state, would cost the state government N7.3 billion to complete.
The event which was to mark 100 days in office by the administration was attended by former governor of the state, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Abubakar Kyari, Minister of State, Water Resources and Sanitation Bello Goronyo, and a former deputy governor of the state, Mukhtari Shagari, among others.
Minister pledges to reposition sector
In a related development, Minister of Housing and Urban Development Ahmed Dangiwa has promised to reposition the ministry to function optimally in the delivery of housing to Nigerians.
Dangiwa, who spoke when he received members of the Nigeria Institute of Architects (NIA) in his office in Abuja, said the ministry would function as the organ that can provide policy directions to the housing industry.
He declared: “Most of the housing policies are under review to ensure that they are in tandem with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in growing the economy and creating job opportunities for citizens.”
The minister also explained that reviewing these policies would create an enabling environment that could lead to economic growth, catalyst for job creation and lifting Nigerians out of poverty.
On building collapse, he assured that the collective inputs of the professionals in the built environment and state commissioners and ministry would curtail the menace.
Earlier, NIA President Enyi Ben-Eboh had listed areas impeding the practice of architecture, urging the minister to regulate influx of substandard building materials by working with Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to create a unit that would solely deal on imported building materials.
Ben-Eboh also urged the minister to ensure architects were involved in the National Development Plan (2021-2025) to help the Federal Government achieve the mandate of providing 500, 000 – one million houses yearly.
Meanwhile, Shelter Afrique has raised $100 million during the issuance of the local currency bond for Nigeria housing operations, as part of a medium-term loan to the tune of $250 million.
Chairman of the board, Dr. Chii Akporji, conveyed the news to the minister in his office during which she announced that the minister would chair the yearly general meeting, scheduled next month in Algiers.
She also solicited the minister’s intervention to ensure Nigeria offsets its outstanding capital subscription of $21 million.
“Even though it was approved during the previous administration, the funds were not released before the tenure ended,” she said.
Responding, the minister pledged to ensure continued collaboration with Nigeria, commending them for the restructuring being undertaken to transform it from its current state into the Shelter Afrique Development Bank.
