Naomi Gabriel —
A report by the Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria (AHCN) has indicated how poor housing conditions are in Nigeria. The body also proposed an affordable housing development fund as solution to the problem.
The report faulted the federal and state governments on their housing policies and programs which it noted had failed to adequately address the housing challenges in the country that has a housing deficit gap estimated to be at 17-20 housing million units.
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According to AHCN, a special development fund under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should be created for States Housing Corporations and Federal Housing Authority (FHA) for rental and affordable mass housing provision.
The report further laments that Nigerians are yet to see the present government’s promised 1million housing units, revealing that the Federal Government has completed the construction of only 2,249 housing units in 34 states and FCT in the last five years out of the 4,694 housing units’ construction undertaken during the period.
The Nigerian government led by the All Progressives Congress (APC) had in 2015, promised Nigerians that it would deliver 1million housing units yearly, adding that it would establish a vibrant mortgage system with a single digit interest rate to ease home ownership. However, housing conditions keep getting worse as years roll by.
Prior to that, the Goodluck Jonathan administration had at the setting up of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) promised that it would drag down interest rate to single digit in order to enable affordable housing delivery.
AHCN is an umbrella organisation for all federal and state housing agencies, housing research institutes, mortgage firms and private property developers that plays a critical role in the housing sector.
