Chucks Omeife, is the Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer, Build Consult Limited. In an interview with DAYO AYEYEMI, he decried the high cost of building materials in the country, especially cement, urging stakeholders to devise construction methodology that can reduce cost of construction in terms of both technology deployment and materials.
What is your advice for stakeholders in the built industry in 2024?
The built environment defines the level of civilisation of a country hence activities in the sector are very important to national development, especially the economy. 2024 is a critical year for the built environment as prices of things are going up and especially building materials. It is a sad commentary that today in Nigeria a bag of cement is selling for around N5,500.00. This is outrageous and a set-back to the perceived growth of the sector so far. The stakeholders must as a matter of urgency devise construction methodology that can reduce cost of construction in terms of both technology deployment and materials to be used. This is the only way to survive this hydra-headed problem of outrageous price of a critical construction material. The price of fuel has complicated things in such a way that cost of production for virtually all materials and consumables has gone up. The construction industry has not been spared either. The effect of non availability of foreign exchange for importation purposes is another matter on its own. The fact that most finishing materials are imported is a justifiable reason for price increases. The impact of all these will be well appreciated with time. The building industry must start thinking outside the box starting from design to construction and materials. There has to be a paradigm shift in our approach to housing delivery as a whole. A dire situation in the country today demands creative thinking as a survival tool.
More Nigerians are in need of housing now. What should be the response of the government in 2024?
The government has, over the years, exhibited lackadaisical attitude towards housing provision. This attitude stems from the inability to link the impact of housing to national development and stability in the family structure, which can enhance economic growth generally. A lot of sector in the economy, both now and in the past, has received government support both in terms of financial support, loans and incentives. I think it is high time government intervened in the housing sector to boost the private sector capacity to deliver on housing for Nigerians. There is a multiplier effect of the activities in the housing sector in the national economy. This must be appreciated by government and something done in an effort to contribute to the dwindling economy of the country.
Despite the housing shortage in the country, Nigeria’s government has a lot of abandoned properties adorning Lagos landscape. What would you advise the government to do with these vacant properties in 2024?
The issue of abandoned government properties has remained a recurring decimal in our nation. The unfortunate thing is that government does not seem to understand the impact of non-utilisation or loss of this asset contribution to national development. An abandoned property is like a waste with minus zero contributions because in the event of its revamping, cost will be incurred to re-habilitate such properties. Whichever way we look at it, the life cycle cost will be high . Government must be decisive on what it intends to do with this abandoned properties that adorn all corners of the country and consider the value they can contribute to national economy if they are rehabilitated or sold off.
Major factors contributing to high cost of houses are cost of land, building materials and labour, among others. How can these hurdles be solved to enhance home ownership amongst Nigerians.
The issue of home ownership must be fundamentally addressed by the government. The major challenge to this initiative is the cash and carry mentality of home providers who cannot be blamed. The capital outlay for housing development is huge and the fund sourced is subjected to various associated cost and period for return of the fund. These providers or investors cannot embark on long-term payment for houses hence it must be on cash and carry basis. Government also are limited in what they can do in terms of mortgage arrangements because of lack of data base of citizens. Until we are able to resolve this problem of data where all citizens can be tracked, the idea of mortgage can only apply to civil servants at the moment as their contribution to the National Housing Fund is deducted from source and can be guaranteed. Unfortunately, the civil servants form only a small nucleus within the national population. Government must intensify effort on the issue of data collection, management and continuous verification.
What are the new ways to tackle the menace of collapse buildings in 2024?
The problem of building collapse has become cancerous not because there are no solutions but because of the obvious lack of seriousness on the government side to enforce the building regulations and building control laws that are in place. If we look at the various buildings that had collapsed over the years, one thing is very instructive, each has contravened the law one way or the other. It is either lack of proper documentation, lack of approval or contravention of building control laws. In each case, the law has been contravened and the expectation is that government should apply the full weight of the law as a deterrent. However, what we see is culprits being given a soft landing which emboldens them to further commit same infractions in the future. The fact that there are no consequences for wrong action is one of the major issues promoting wrong-doing in the built environment. Government must be seen to be firm and resolute in the application of the laws, which it has put in place to stop this malaise or reduce the occurrence to the barest minimum. The solution to building collapse is not a rocket science, since the laws are in place, what is required is government determination, commitment and support of all stakeholders, the built environment professionals and Nigerians generally. It is my candid opinion that the existing regulations and building development control laws in most states are adequate to tackle this menace of building collapse. What is left is the resolute application of these laws to the letter and ensuring the culprits are brought to book. This can be the beginning of sanity in the built environment.
You once talked so much about the Malaysia’s affordable housing model during your tenure as NIOB president. Can you refresh us about it ?
A study tour of The Malaysian housing policy many years ago by the Nigerian Institute of Building shows an initiative that combines quality, quick delivery process and affordability in housing provision and delivery. The model which is a government initiative is a structured mixed housing development. In this initiative, the policy is designed to create a robust and an interactive housing estates where both the high income earners, middle income earners and the low income earners live within a layout . The affordability aspect is designed in such a way that the high income /middle income earners subsidise the purchase of low income earners or group, making their price very affordable. In a typical land layout, the development model is mixed to accommodate all strata of the society. Government as the initiator of the development provides land free to developers who designed various house types with compulsory 30 percent of the layout earmarked for the low income group. The initiative is designed with human face and with government living up to their responsibility of providing affordable housing for the people. The government and the developer agreed on price for the low income earners based of the price placed on the luxurious house type for the high/middle income group.
This is a model that can work here in Nigeria if there is sincerity and government’s readiness to provide enabling environment for housing development. Developers are not allowed to have a field day in terms of pricing as adequate feasibility and viability study is carried out to enable developers to break even and realise marginal profits on their investment. This is unlike in Nigeria where developers have to buy the land, provide infrastructure and build the houses. In such situation government cannot moderate pricing in an investment that it has not contributed anything to? Even in some cases where government provided land, the insincerity, both on the side of government and the developers, has made prices of housing to be unaffordable to the majority of the people.
What about the issue of finance, mortgage?
Despite the high cost of houses developed in Nigeria, there is no adequate mortgage system that can facilitate housing purchase on behalf of the people. This had slowed down the development of housing which has accumulated over the years causing the high deficit in national housing stock.
However the issue of housing affordability is a play or interaction of many factors which includes majorly the low percentage of the local component content in housing development. Unfortunately as at today majority of input component into building construction are imported especially the finishing materials. The few components that are locally produced are not optimally produced hence the high level of importation of building components which sadly have flooded the building materials market across the country.
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