Harnessing private sector’s credentials to combat housing deficit

When the United Nations said that 96, 000 new affordable houses must be developed daily to cater for a projected three billion citizens of the world that would need affordable houses by 2030, the challenge sounded like something that is happening in a distant land, which Nigeria was insulated from.

From the seven million housing units that the country needed in 1991, it moved to 12 million in 2007, 14 million in 2010, and subsequently 28 million housing units in 2022.

For instance, despite all the promises made by the Federal Government since the return of democracy, the country has not taken delivery of up to three million housing units in the last 20 years, even with the joint efforts of states and the Federal Government.
  
The very poor performance of the immediate past Gen. Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government in the housing sector lends credence to the fact that only scant attention is paid to the provision of affordable shelter. Buhari’s administration delivered less than 8, 000 units of housing in eight years.

From the above scenario, it is glaring that housing is a major national challenge that neither states nor the Federal Government, or even both can comfortably address hence the compelling need for partnership with the private sector to gradually reduce the deficit. 
  
According to the United Nations (UN), adequate housing constitutes part of the right to an adequate standard of living in Article 25 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 11.1 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The UN, which also maintains that other international human rights treaties have since recognised, or referred to the right to adequate housing, or some elements of it, such as the protection of one’s home and privacy,” added that, “the right to adequate housing is relevant to all states, as they have all ratified at least one international treaty referring to adequate housing and committed themselves to protect the right to adequate housing through international declarations, plans of action or conference outcome documents,” the body added.

Lagos, because of being the country’s commercial nerve centre, and as a result of its swelling population has a serious challenge at hand as far as slashing its housing deficit is concerned.

In addition to this, with the World Bank’s estimate that by 2030, Nigeria would be the third most populous nation in the world after China and India, Lagos would play host to the largest number of persons quartered in a single state going by its burgeoning population.

Unverified sources claim that less than half of the number of persons who arrive in the state daily fail to go back to where they came from thereby exacerbating its housing deficit, and also mounting immense pressure on available infrastructure.

Adequate accommodation, apart from being a basic necessity of every human being, is critical to social and economic development. Also, stable and affordable housing is particularly important in breaking cycles of poverty and remains a significant contributor to the economy of nations, including developed ones.

While Lagos stands ahead of others in the choice property market, a lot still needs to be done as far as housing development for the lower and middle class is concerned, especially considering the number of residents in the state.

The state’s decision to partner with residents to create residential housing schemes that would benefit a wide spectrum of society years ago has continually been applauded by many.

Until recently, subscribers to the Fortune Garden Residential Housing Scheme, Ogudu, Alapere, were uncertain regarding what fate awaited them after subscribing to the scheme in 2007.

After making payments, they made several attempts to take possession of the plots of land allocated to them without success. But after several appeals and meetings with previous administrations, their 16-year wait ended last month when God answered their prayers and they were presented with their plots of land.
  
While they consider themselves lucky, subscribers to some other residential schemes introduced by the state government are still praying that their turn comes sooner rather than later. They include the Orisan (Oko-Orisan) Water Front Residential Scheme in Lekki Ajah; the Ogudu Garden Valley Residential Scheme; the Igbogbo Residential Scheme in Ikorodu, and the Paradise City Residential Scheme in Gbagada.

While the Sanwo-Olu-led government has partnered with some real estate developers to deliver on major and mini-housing schemes in some neighborhoods across the state, including those that raise the state’s housing stock, it will earn more plaudits by also ending the long wait for other scheme subscribers, who have also paid for the plots and issued with Certificate of Occupancy (CofO), but without taking possession of their plots of land. 
Allottees In Race Against Time To Actualise Fortune Garden Estate

IN a notice to fellow allottees of the scheme on September 3, after taking possession of the facility on August 31, the chairman of Fortune Garden Residents Association Bosun Falore, after congratulating them for trudging on towards the realisation of the housing scheme, issued a clarion call to jumpstart the actualisation process while awaiting the government’s assistance.

He said: “I would like to specifically acknowledge the allottees and representatives that sacrificed their time to visit the site on Thursday, August 31, 2023. With the assistance of the scheme officer and representatives from the Lagos State New Towns Development Authority, the drainages agency, and the Survey Department, your commitment to this cause is commendable.”

While appealing to the state government to execute its initial obligations, which include the construction of a drainage system in line with the Master plan, developing the road infrastructure within the estate, and assisting in the removal of third parties who have encroached illegally on some plots within the facility,” he however, added that “it has become apparent that the government may be facing constraints, whether in terms of capacity or budget, which may hinder it from fulfilling these obligations promptly.

“Therefore, it is imperative that we all come together and take matters into our own hands to secure what rightfully belongs to us, since the government has already issued us with Certificates of Occupancy, affirming our ownership.

“I kindly request the cooperation and solidarity of all allottees in this endeavor. An initial payment of N20,000.00 has been agreed by the executive as payable by all allottees. …In addition, because of the need to involve ourselves in the capital project of opening up the land, we must be prepared to make significant individual contributions to the tune of N200,000 per allottee payable before the end of September if we are to take physical possession of our land ..”

Falore added: “Our collective determination and unity will be the driving force behind our success. Let us stand together, shoulder to shoulder, and work diligently to achieve our common goal.”
  
Asked to create perspectives on the dire housing situation in the state, Falore said: “Unfortunately, I don’t have the statistics of housing shortage in Lagos State. But one can hazard a guess that there are not enough houses to satisfy the populace judging from the fast way and manner in which vacant flats and apartments are taken up by willing tenants. The government is also doing its best to provide housing for the masses with the commencement of LAGOS OHMS designed to help residents who are first-time buyers to own affordable homes through mortgage finance.

“As regards the effect of the failure of the state government to deliver the lands purchased by over 130 subscribers to the Fortune Garden Housing Scheme, it is very easy to conclude that allottees would have solved part of the housing deficit in the state assuming that the handing over of the scheme and provision of the associated infrastructure had been put in place by the government within the past years. The allottees are, however, grateful to the government that we have now taken possession of the allocated plots of land.

Insisting that other government-initiated residential housing schemes if actualized would drive down the housing deficit in the state, the association chairman regretted that “some of the allottees of the scheme who are supposed to be landlords are still tenants in some other parts of the state, and in some cases, the allottees are dead without realising their objective of owning a house in Lagos State.

Commenting on scaling down the government’s involvement in the drainage and road networks to one major drainage and road, Falore, an accountant said: “The allottees are fully aware of the financial constraints faced by the government, which may have hindered its ability to provide all the essentials for inhabitants. We understand the challenges of managing resources in a densely populated and rapidly growing city like Lagos.
The allottees have been patient and understanding of the financial constraints faced by the government.

Falore expressed gratitude to the officer in charge of the Fortune Garden Scheme for being of “great assistance to the allottees within her official capacity. She is very sympathetic to the plight of the allottees.”

Lagos Way Ahead Of Many States In Reducing Housing Deficit
Governor Sanwo-Olu, last June, while inaugurating a 72-unit housing scheme (comprising two-bedroom and three-bedroom flats) at the Ndubuisi Kanu Housing Estate in Gbagada, said that the state government will do everything possible to make the residents comfortable in terms of accommodation, and also reiterated his administration’s commitment to the provision of adequate and affordable housing to all residents.

At the inauguration, the governor who was represented by his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, said that the initiative would go a long way in ameliorating the acute shortage of housing in the state, even as he informed that two other housing schemes were being inaugurated simultaneously at Agbowa and Ikosi-Ejirin to boost availability of accommodation. 

Speaking through Dr. Hamzat, the governor maintained that the state government has done a lot to set new benchmarks for housing provision in the country.

“In the last four years, we have done a lot in terms of housing provision through our various agencies and by partnering with the private sector. His words: “We have succeeded in completing 19 different estates including the newly inaugurated housing schemes,” Sanwo-Olu said.
  
Last year at the commissioning of a 492-flat housing project named after the first civilian governor of the state, Lateef Jakande, in Igando, Sanwo-Olu, said: “One of the key strategies we will embrace is a global housing policy in which people can become homeowners through an inclusive and convenient financing system based on their incomes. This policy, along with the outright purchase of houses built by the government, will support a sustainable system in which homes are consistently made available to a larger number of our people.”

A professor of estate management, at the University of Lagos, Austin Otegbulu, agrees with Sanwo-Olu that Lagos has set new benchmarks for housing provision in the country.  

“In all sincerity, Lagos State is making a good effort to provide housing to its citizens when compared to what happens in other states even though they can do better considering the quantum of its internally generated revenue,” Otegbulu said.

While broaching the delay in commencing some residential schemes by beneficiaries, Otegbulu said that when planning housing delivery, it is important to take into consideration available funds at each point and take up only projects that can be sustained by available funds. This, he said, calls for project phasing, warning that the current practice fuels unsatisfied demand, thus exacerbating housing poverty and the gap in the city.

Otegbulu, an estate surveyor and valuer said: “Bureaucracy is another problem. This can cause project delays, increase in project costs, occasional cost overruns, and project abandonment. The sad end is the inability of the government to complete the project on schedule. By the time it is completed, some of the subscribers may not be available to take over the accommodation.”

Giving his perspectives on steps to fast-track reduction of housing deficit in the state, a former chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Lagos State Chapter, Mr. Kola Adefila said: “Since the government has all the powers in allocating lands for housing, it should not take time. The only problem they could have is, maybe, wanting to provide infrastructure in such places before parceling them out to subscribers of the scheme, but those are still things that should be done seamlessly. When people subscribe to schemes or land, they should be given a timeline so that those interested and who have paid would start planning how to develop. Delay is a minus on the part of the government,” he said.
  
He emphasised that the best way to solve the state’s housing challenge is for the government, or the National Assembly to review and amend the Land Use Act to make it much easier for people to acquire land for housing as well as register their property titles.

Adefila said: “Even if you buy a plot of land from an individual, you still have to go through a cumbersome process of registering titles. In the olden days, when you acquired a plot of land, you applied and the Deeds of Conveyance can be registered. It was not as cumbersome as we have it now. During the tenure of Alhaji Lateef Jakande, he used the Land Use Act effectively.

“He acquired all lands from FESTAC to Badagry, Epe, and excise communities out of it. So, all the land is held in trust and government ceded to the communities, and so if you are buying a plot of land from the community, you still have to go through the process of getting proper title and use it as security for loans.”

Nigeria Must Be Strategic, Creative, Partner Private Sector To Cut Housing Deficit
PROFESSOR Otegbulu and Kolapo Akinmade, a private property developer, both believe that there is a need to be both strategic and creative in attempting to solve the housing challenge.

According to Otegbulu, to provide affordable housing, there is a need to be strategic, and approach the problem holistically and innovatively, by avoiding waste and unnecessary costs through value management and functional design.

“Adoption of vertical expansion through high-rise development will be an idea in good currency. There is also a need to encourage and adopt sustainable local building materials.”

Akinmade in sharing the local building materials theory said: “Whatever we do as a country to solve our housing challenge, immense considerations must also be given to reduction in the price of building materials, and the use of locally available materials in home construction. 

“These days I sympathise a lot with Nigerians when I see how much that they have to cough out for a three or two-bedroom apartments. State governments are also making so much noise about 300 units of these houses that they are building. If we want to be sincere, what will this number of houses do in a state with a population as little as three million residents, where more than half of that number are in the middle class and never owned homes? If we want to be serious in this country regarding the provision of accommodation, we must partner with well-meaning private-sector players.

“The fact that a greater majority of Nigerians die without being homeowners is a disincentive to happy living considering the role that shelter plays in enhancing the quality of life. To date, only an insignificant percentage of Nigerians- not more than 20 to 25 percent are homeowners, and that is unacceptable because of the importance of housing to man. This negates national development,” he said.

Akinmade continued: “In a country where mortgage facilities are very scarce, the tokenism being displayed by many state governments in the name of housing development must give way for serious actions, including very extensive initiatives and partnerships with serious-minded private property developers. There must be a conscious effort by the government to revive the mortgage system that is neither here nor there. While the mortgage is a big thing abroad with millions buying their homes through it, here, it exists by name, and the impact is scarcely felt. It is time the Federal Government created a buzz around it and got youthful Nigerians that have just been employed, or young workers to subscribe to it.

For Aham Nwankwo, a development expert and resident of Lagos State, it’s time for “our governments to get creative to radically bring down the cost of building a house. If truth must be told, 80 per cent of Nigerian workers cannot afford to pay for what these governments call low-income earners’ accommodation. So, I insist that it’s time for us to get creative and realistic.

“According to the UN Habitat: ‘Positioning housing at the centre contributes toward building better settlements and cities because of the transformational impact of housing on social, economic and environmental outcomes. The body also notes that ‘improving housing affordability is a prerequisite of progress toward sustainable cities and communities.’ I strongly think that it is time for us to act right and resort to international best practices to solve the niggling housing challenge. But there is no denying the fact that the private sector has a serious role to play in solving the country’s housing challenge.”