The lockdown that was enforced by different countries due to the rise in cases of coronavirus that hit the world, as expected, caused a global economic meltdown on a scale that was hardly imagined, and reviving these economies that were hit will be a greater challenge for bigger nations, let alone developing like countries like Nigeria that were still trying to grow their economies before the outbreak of Covid-19.
The pandemic severely crumpled economic activities and the housing sector and its construction in particular. It made it hard for many families to pay or renew their accommodations and seriously hurt their means of livelihood.
Countries like Nigeria and other Third World countries suffered the brunch of the effects of the virus, a non-respecter of borders as we saw most developed nations suffer major consequences brought by the pandemic. But, these countries did the needful for their citizens by providing them with resources to curtail the difficult consequences of the virus.
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Most citizens in Nigeria and other parts of the African continent were pushed to poverty and forced to adjust to substandard way of living as a good number of them complained of lack of assistance by the government to cushion the harsh realities of Covid-19.
Having had daily economic activities grind to a halt, the pandemic also stalled the progress of the country. And, as the pandemic was never expected and with the harsh conditions it came with, working on reviving the nation’s economy needs a potent force to pull through but, does the country possess such drive?
The government has responded with the policies that it came up with, like the National Social Housing Program meant to build 300,000 housing units under the Economic Sustainability Plan but, for now, it did not specify ways of protecting tenants and mortgage-holders, as well as support builders and lenders.
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These are the key areas the government should create and implement policies to aid in enabling many to immediately own their homes and not just the government taking hold of building processes. It may not really achieve its intended purpose even if the leadership of this country mean well for the masses.
There are some harsh situations that provide an opportunity for an authority to serve its followers like this current pandemic but, it seems the authorities are not exploring the moment. So, the government need to do better. It needs robust recovery measures for the housing sector as it is key to keeping a man and his household 50 percent alive.
