Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola (third left); Minister of State, Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Shehuri (left), and others at a stakeholders’ meeting on housing in Abuja, recently.
AFTER a critical appraisals of the various reforms put in place by the Federal Government on how to end accommodation challenges in Nigeria, stakeholders in the housing sector have come to the conclusion that given the efforts put up so far, and if sustained, the country may not be far from achieving a reasonable goal in that direction.
It is believed that although challenges of housing provision, both in terms of quality and quantity, appear to be the same all over the world, but in Nigeria, it is a complex case. Hardly would any event organised by professional bodies in the built environment pass without touching issue of paucity of housing delivery in the country, yet, not much has been achieved.
However, some practitioners in the housing industry are of the conviction that for close to two years, practical approaches, devoid of mere rhetoric were proffered by competent stakeholders that include the Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola.
A prominent real estate consultant, Chief Dapo Aderinsola of Premium Development, while commending the current administration’s efforts at tackling the problem, once told Nigerian Tribune that the medium and low income segments of the population, most of whom live in urban centres, suffer severe housing crisis.
According to him, solving the problem in a most practicable way is to follow the steps of the first civilian administration in Lagos State, led by Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, under whose workers at all categories applied and received allocations, according to their financial capacities. “A similar approach was adopted by the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, under Mr Babatunde Fashola.
“Good enough, the roadmap to meet the housing shortage is to evolve nationally acceptable designs that respond to and accommodate Nigeria’s socio-cultural diversity, which every stakeholder applauded,” he said, urging the Federal Government not only actualise the plan, but to ensure its sustenance.
In the minister’s assessment of his ministry’s performance, he noted that having evaluated some 21 options available, based on research, government has adopted some designs with input from a diverse team of architects across the country:
The options, according to him, are one, two and three bedroom bungalows, with court yards, that respond to the climate condition and cultural leanings in the North-East, North-West and North-Central parts of Nigeria; and blocks of 16 and 24 flats of one, two and three bedroom bungalows and bungalows of one and two-bedroom in the South-South, South-East and South-West of Nigeria and the FCT.
“The designs focus mainly on the greater majority, most vulnerable first-time home owners, who do not earn large incomes; junior workers in private companies; young families where husband and wife can pool their incomes together to qualify; artisans, drivers, market men and women, officials whose income bracket falls within grade levels 9 – 15 in the public service.
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