Oralusi seeks mortgage facility for low-income earners

Says problem of affordable housing is access to capital
Chairman, Nigerian Capital Development Fund (NCDF) Group Plc., Hareter Babatunde Oralusi, has said a major issue in provision of affordable housing in the country is lack of access to capital for developers and the off-takers.

He said if there were no credit system for low-income earners, improving affordability of homes would be impossible.

Oralusi, while speaking with The Guardian in Lagos, yesterday, also said that Nigerians needed to have access to mortgage, adding that it is crucial to mitigate the nation’s housing challenge.

He emphasised that if there were a well-structured mortgage system in Nigeria, the problem of housing would be resolved.

According to him, the government has a big role to play because most of the private sector players are more profit-oriented and need to build projects in high profile locations like Ikoyi, Victoria Island and others so that they can have high returns.

He said: “We don’t have the culture of long-term investment in Nigeria and that is why government’s intervention in the housing sector is key. This new government can look into mortgage financial facilities for low-income earners to have access to homes and incentives for developers to be able to build homes in low-income environments. Everybody comes to Lekki, Ajah, Victoria Island, Lagos and Abuja because these locations are private sector driven, targeting just one per cent of the population, while about 99 per cent of the population struggle for themselves to own homes.”

He, therefore, called for economic extension by states whereby people could live and work within their environment and don’t have to go through the city’s traffic and stress.