Across the country, social housing is no longer on the agenda of virtually all state governors, and those that have little interest in it are embarking on Public Private Partnership (PPP), rather than using their state housing corporations to execute housing projects.

Statutorily, housing corporations were created as government agencies to execute public housing programmes and undertake the development of housing estates by acquiring, developing, holding, managing, selling, leasing, or letting movable or unmovable property in their respective states within the overall framework of the National Housing Policy.

Unexpectedly, due to the comatose nature of many states’ economies, they have abandoned their responsibility of providing homes for their citizens’ and this is worsened by the vast scale of funding gap in the housing market.

For instance, in 2023, about 23 states showed commitment to housing, while 13 others relied on federal agencies and the private sector, through the PPP arrangement to deliver houses that are beyond the reach of low-income earners.

Figures obtained from the Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria (AHCN) depict abysmal failure and insensitivity to the housing needs of the people in the states, while governors’ responses to the provision of affordable housing were nothing to write home about.

As of September 22, 2023, Nigeria’s population was estimated to be about 225.5 million based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data. The staggering population figure portends enormous opportunities in the construction and housing sector. With Nigeria’s current median age at 17.2 years, there is no doubt that home ownership will remain a priority and a major need of the people.

Although there is controversy over the accurate statistics of the housing shortage, it was estimated that the nation requires 700,000 houses yearly to close up the deficit. However, the current administration plans to collaborate and conduct the first government-sponsored Nationwide Housing Survey.

The Guardian gathered that both the federal and state governments have not met the expectations of prospective homeowners in delivering affordable housing. Under the Bola Tinubu administration, the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has launched the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme, which is aimed at delivering 50,000 housing units across Nigeria under phase one.

The cities are to have 1,000 housing units per site, in one location in each of the six geo-political zones and the FCT, while the estates will have 250 housing units per site in the remaining 30 states. Already, groundbreaking ceremonies have kick-started 6,612 homes in 13 locations across the country.

But despite the efforts of federal authorities, The Guardian gathered that some states are doing less on housing. Some 23 states are not paying attention or engaging in housing projects. They are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Borno, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, and Kwara. Others are Nasarawa, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe and Zamfara states.

The 13 states that have completed 13,594 houses, and have ongoing projects at various stages of completion are Bauchi (2,500 units); Bayelsa (492 units); Enugu (314 units); Benue (230 units); Cross River (1,500 units); Edo (241 units); Kaduna (201 units), Kano (469units); Katsina (460); Lagos (6,540 units), Niger (80 units); Ogun (534 units) and Oyo (33 units).

With the poor performance of the states in funding housing, The Guardian learnt that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) was able to support and commission 1,071 completed housing units in eight states out of over 3,560 homes under the National Affordable Housing Delivery Programme.

Additionally, in May last year, the bank also commissioned 72 housing units with the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) Millennium Multipurpose Cooperative estate under the FMBN Cooperative Housing Development Loans window, another four estates comprising 257 units in Katsina, one estate of 180 units in Anambra, four estates of 404 units in Enugu, three in Kano and one in Taraba.

Furthermore,, the bank has committed more than N8.2b facilities to deliver 2,096 housing units in Kwara. As of August, the bank had disbursed N139.6 billion to 24,332 NHF beneficiary projects while it spent N38 billion to build 5,443 housing units on the ministerial housing pilot scheme of the Federal Ministry of Housing.

While commending the FMBN’s giant stride in the last one year, AHCN noted that the plan to increase the National Housing Fund (NHF) contributions to N285 billion yearly, and fund 100,000 housing units with a new strategic direction will no doubt help to close up the rising housing deficit.

However, one major obstacle that would affect the FMBN’s plan and drive is the non-remittance of workers’ contributory funds to the bank, according to the immediate past AHCN President, Dr Victor Onukwugha. He also deplored the appalling performance and the little or no responses to the provision of affordable housing in virtually all the states.

“This statutory responsibility, however, is gradually becoming history as the majority of these corporations are being neglected and deprived of exercising these roles. Most of these housing corporations could not execute any tangible housing project as the political activities characterised the first five months of last year,” he said.

The trend now in most states and federal ministries is state ministries of housing are duly involved in direct housing construction under the guise of PPP, while state housing corporations are rendered redundant. The federal and state ministries are principally created for policy formulation, while state housing agencies are statutorily saddled with the implementation of government policy of housing provision.
Onukwugha said: “Ministries both at the federal and state levels have no business in direct construction. Usurpation of the statutory responsibilities of housing agencies in housing construction and development (which has become a norm) for federal and state governments by ministries is purely an unnecessary duplication of duty, which will in the long run cause a distraction, needless rivalry, unfair competition and sheer wastage/repetition of efforts and resources.

He called for renewed government’s commitment to social housing, disengagement of ministries from direct housing construction, establishment and the creation of a special development fund under the CBN Intervention Fund for state housing corporations and Federal Housing Authority (FHA) for rental and affordable mass housing provision.

To mitigate and provide succour to these segments of society, he stressed that government involvement and commitment to social and affordable housing is inevitable.

“The impact of the removal of petroleum subsidy is grossly affecting the low and middle-income earners, and rendering many homeless as a result of a surge in construction costs and materials, as well as, hike in housing rental. These segments of the society are confronted with inadequate resources and affordability issues that militate against the provision of roofs over their heads.”

According to him, governments need to come up with deliberate policies to encourage the provision of social housing through attractive tax rebates and incentives, such as specially crafted housing finance backed, and supported by appropriate laws that will regulate the process both on the supply and demand sides at a single digit interest rate.

He said that the government should be at the forefront of promoting these materials to service the needs of the low-income group. Importation of building materials that are readily available locally should be discouraged through high taxes and outright bans.

“With rising instability in the foreign exchange market, the use of local building materials should be deliberately encouraged and promoted to arouse acceptability by the general public, who has developed apathy for its usage.”

A Professor of Housing and Urban Regeneration at the Department of Estate Management, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Timothy Nubi, said that state governments lack the understanding of the housing industry. “They see housing as charitable services; they don’t know it is part of economic development. There is no economic development without housing and construction as housing is the foundation of any economy.”

Nubi urged the government to pay attention to the housing industry, adding that it will solve Nigeria’s employment, security, and poverty challenges. He also made a case for the reform of the mortgage sub-sector, saying that the development of any economy is assessed through its mortgage growth.

AHCN Executive Secretary, Toye Eniola, told The Guardian that states’ housing agencies can rarely function without the support of the state executive in terms of fund mobilisation, land acquisition and administration. “Most of the housing corporations are not functioning because their governments do not consider housing as a priority, and as an agenda to be driven.

According to him, the original concept is that housing corporations function as the state agency responsible for housing provision. “Many are idle today because most governors see housing as a long-term investment with huge capital outlay, and they quickly want to undertake projects that can be finalised within a short period.

“Few that are interested in housing make use of the private sector that can take care of their interest. It is not that these housing corporations have ceded their responsibility to the private sector but just that housing corporations have been neglected by governments.”