What should be done to ensure Nigerians are properly housed —Oyedele

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2 months ago

Oyedele

Olufemi Oyedele, an advocate of affordable housing, is the Managing Director/CEO, Fame Oyster & Co., a real estate consulting firm. In this interview with DAYO AYEYEMI, the chartered estate surveyor and valuer, speaks about how high rate of employment and ridiculous low income of workers have denied them access to housing. The expert seized the occasion to remind the government that the right of citizens to adequate housing, standard of living should be upheld, suggesting what can be done to ensure that Nigerians are properly housed.

It seems nobody is interested in providing low-cost housing anymore going by high cost of materials, yet many Nigerians are homeless. What’s your take?

Nigeria is a signatory to adequate housing which is part of the right of citizens to 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 which was adopted by the General Assembly (GA) of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) on 16th December, 1966.

Housing takes a special space in the objectives of the UNO because housing can considerably solve the problem of extreme poverty.

Any government that can successfully erase line of different branding in its housing landscape will successfully erase extreme poverty in its polity.

Low-cost housing is already in extinction in Nigeria. Level 1 to 4 supposed to be low low-income earners and not 1 to 10. So, if Level 1 to 10 is now the classification of low-income earners in Nigeria, then we have structural economic problem and not only housing problem.

If levels 5 to 10 which supposed to be middle income earners have fused with the low income earners in Nigeria, then we must first address the income disparity which is economic problem before we solve the housing challenges.

What’s really the issue?

Housing is a composite product, that is, different products like cement, blocks, gravels, wood, windows, doors, roofing materials are combined together to form a house and the price is a function of the cost of the composite materials brought together to assemble the house.

If there is high rate of employment as we have in Nigeria and ridiculously low income of workers, housing products will be overpriced. An average worker will not be able to afford average house.

It is difficult for government to promote low-cost housing considering the minimum wage of N77,000 per month in Nigeria because housing is not a priority of government yet. There are huge housing deficits that the meagre efforts of government are negligible and inconsequential. About 28 million housing units are required to house about 140 million people and for Nigerians to have adequate standard of living.

N15 million and N25 million for one and two-bedroom apartments, respectively, are overpriced and out of the reach of common man which they are meant for.

According to research findings, Housing Affordability Index (HIA) of Nigeria is N6.5 million for one bedroom apartment and N8.5 million for two bedroom apartment respectively in cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Any amount over this HIA is out of the reach of the common man and overpriced.

The issue with low-cost housing provision in Nigeria is that we have neglected industrial housing which is the in-thing in modern housing construction. We allow so many people to embark on housing start without adequate resources. There are ridiculously too many abandoned housing projects in Nigeria. These projects are exerting too much pressure on our building materials markets. The consequence is overpriced products.

What is the way out?

What can be done to address this issue to ensure that Nigerians are properly housed is one, Federal Government must establish Construction Industry Commission (CIC) which objectives will include provision of adequate housing in Nigeria. The CIC will also recognize housing as the right of all citizens and ensure that no building start commences without the support of a formal financier in the form of mortgage bank or commercial bank.

The CIC must be under the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

Two, government, which is a serious signatory to the housing articles of the UNO, must be ready to embark on social housing for government’s workers, teachers and traders.

Three, efforts must be intensified to evolve local building materials and to promote the use of effective walling materials like wood and clay bricks which will make housing affordable.

There should be establishment of manufacturing companies dealing in ceramic products, especially water closets and tiles. If the will of government is there, we shall surely solve our low-cost housing challenges in Nigeria.

One factor that has remained a constant decimal in all the countries where there is housing adequacy is the will of government to provide housing adequacy. All the governments of these countries see housing as a right and ensure that they provide adequate shelters for their people. That will is still missing in Nigeria. We are trying to achieve too many in housing within short period and with inadequate resources. Why will government start housing estates in more than a location without completing one if not due to politics? Housing is not an end but a means to an end.