An estate developer has identified bureaucracy and alleged corruption among some government officials as major obstacles limiting housing delivery and affordability in Nigeria, despite policies aimed at creating an enabling environment for private sector participation.

The Chief Executive Officer of Harmony Gardens and Estate Development Limited, Saheed Audullahi, said while the Federal Government had introduced measures to support private developers and improve housing delivery, some officials in government ministries and agencies continued to create unnecessary bottlenecks.

Audullahi alleged that some directors within government agencies had exploited loopholes in the system for personal gains, warning that such practices discourage developers from engaging in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects.

Speaking with journalists in Lagos, he said Nigeria requires transparent systems that reward competence and patriotism rather than corruption. “We believe solving Nigeria’s housing crisis goes beyond building houses; it is about creating a sustainable system that makes home ownership accessible and affordable for everyday Nigerians,” he said.

Audullahi said his firm was working towards democratising home ownership, stressing that housing should not remain a privilege for only the wealthy.

He also expressed concern over the activities of fraudulent operators in the real estate sector, saying weak regulatory enforcement had allowed some individuals to disguise themselves as developers and use land banking schemes to defraud unsuspecting investors.

“We currently lack proper regulatory enforcement, and that has created room for some people disguising themselves as developers to turn land banking into a Ponzi scheme.

“Their targets are mostly innocent Nigerians, especially those in the diaspora, who are lured with unrealistic return-on-investment promises. Some of these individuals market government-acquired land or properties that genuinely belong to other families with valid titles, all in a bid to defraud unsuspecting investors,” he said.

He urged genuine developers to focus on value creation, infrastructure development, title perfection and community development rather than speculative practices.

Audullahi commended the Federal Government’s housing initiatives under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, particularly the Renewed Hope agenda, describing support mechanisms through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated Real Estate Investment Fund (MOFI) as steps in the right direction.

However, he said the government needed to intensify public awareness campaigns because many Nigerians were still unaware of available opportunities to own homes through flexible payment structures.

“Housing accessibility is no longer impossible, but the information has not adequately reached the grassroots. Once awareness improves, more Nigerians will begin to take advantage of these opportunities,” he said.

On the adoption of alternative building materials to reduce construction costs, the developer said Nigeria’s heavy dependence on imported materials remained a major challenge. “We are not industrialised enough as a nation. We rely heavily on countries like China and Turkey for building materials, and as long as we continue depending almost entirely on imports, those countries will continue to influence our construction costs,” he said.