Kingsley U.N. Chikwendu —
The President of the Association of Housing Corporations in Nigeria (AHCN), Dr. Victor Onukwugha yesterday revealed that housing challenges in the country may have ‘defied all solutions’.
He disclosed this in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, at a 2- Day National Workshop on ‘Addressing Housing Challenges of Low and Medium Income Earners Through Alternative Building Materials’ combined with the ‘109th Council Meeting of The Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria (AHCN)’, hosted by the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI).
Onukwugha also said that the country’s housing problems range from lack of a holistic approach to housing matter, lack of finance and high infrastructural development cost.
“It is no longer news that in the recent past, housing challenges in Nigeria seem to have defied all solutions, he began.
“These problems range from lack of holistic approach to housing matter, lack of finance, high cost of building materials, high infrastructural development cost, appropriate implementation of policy direction and affordability challenges, among others.
“Despite diverse housing policies and strategies evolved and various theories and ideas propagated and shared in so many fora like this in time past, the challenges of housing availability, accessibility and affordability are still very much with us”.
The AHCN President was however optimistic on having remedies to the increasing housing challenges in the country.
“We therefore require a new approach to solving challenges of housing provision especially for vulnerable Nigerians which informed our resolve to hold the National Workshop to critically x-ray available alternative building materials that could be used to address housing challenges of the low and medium income group, he continued.
“Several options and strategies have been tried to address housing challenges in the past and the nation is still bedeviled with rising housing deficit ranging from inadequate housing finance to service both the demand and supply end of the market, crawling mortgage market, affordability question, land administration quagmire and incessant building collapse among others to instability of housing policy implementation.
“It is important that we look inward to create sustainable solutions that will address housing challenges and rising housing deficit in our nation.
“It is hoped that this workshop will create a sustainable pathway of maximizing inherent opportunities in utilizing available and alternative building materials to address affordable housing challenge for the low income group in our society, Onukwugha added.
