Housing: A Nightmare for most Nigerians

By ESV Truth Archibong

Man has always been in continuous search for a place to rest his bones after a hard day’s job on the field. To some, the dwelling place was in caves while others took refuge on trees. Over the years, man has built one form of shelter to another and the modern man has developed sophisticated buildings such that we are now talking about smart houses. Even as developed and sophisticated as housing is, to many, having a roof over their heads is still a nightmare. In Nigeria, accommodation problems are enormous and complex, differing in form and dimension between states, urban and rural areas. They relate to both quality and quantity of housing available and are perceivable through acute shortage in number of housing units, absence of basic statistics on housing, exorbitant house rents, severe over-crowding, squatter settlement in the cities, infrastructural deficiencies, problems of access to land and problems of affordability.

It seems like policymakers in Nigeria are not really aware of the magnitude of the housing problems facing Nigerians especially the low-income earners. Nigeria’s housing deficit is one of the highest in the world with current deficit estimated at about 20 to 28 million units which will require trillions of Naira to address. This gap is widening with rapid growing population and may get worse in near future where our population is expected to exceed 400 million by 2050. In the face of this growing housing deficit, rental on the hand have grown ahead of general inflation especially in urban centres. This has led to overcrowding, substandard living conditions and a growing demand for affordable housing.

Housing which refers to a place of residence is one of the basic man’s needs. It is a physical facility, unit or structure which provides shelter to its occupants and as an economic commodity; and a component of fixed capital stock; a means of producing wealth. The United Nations recognized the inter-relationship of housing with the socio-economic needs of man, thus its definition of housing as the residential neighourhood, micro-distinct or physical structures that man uses for shelter and the equipment and devices needed for the physical health and of the social well-being of the family and individual.

Housing is said to be adequate if such provision enhances the occupant’s socio-economic needs. Therefore, good housing is synonymous with human dignity, self-esteem and fulfillment. It provides the physical framework in which human socio-economic and cultural resources of man are realized, enriched and integrated. This standard cannot be said of Nigerian housing. Thus, the Nigerian housing question is primarily that of a crisis situation, manifesting and expressing itself in quantitative and qualitative forms. Lack of comfort and rudimentary infrastructure, congestion, unhygienic conditions, high densities and absence of organization make for ghastly experiences shared by the vast majority of the urban population. This result in the rapid emergence and deployment of slums and squatters’ settlement in our various urban centres.

In recognition of this enormous challenge in housing, various governments in Nigeria have evolved one programme or the other to tackle the menace. In the colonial period, it was in form of Government Reserved Areas (GRA) for the expatriates and in the post-colonial period mass housing. However, the first major attempt towards mass housing was the establishment of Federal Housing Authority in 1973. Thereafter, several actions were taken such as creation of Ministry of Housing & Urban Development, establishment of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), promulgation of National Housing Policy (NHP), Housing for all by year 2000 etc. among other major budgetary provisions. Several housing estates across the country were developed by both state and federal government through her various mass housing programme. However, the present democratic dispensation brought monetization of housing accommodation, where government owned estate for civil servants were sold out and no further attempt at providing her workforce with accommodation. Each successive government keeps talking about housing without any physical building. They keep formulating policies without implementation, the federal government, for instance is talking about 77,400 housing units nationwide which has not seen the light of the day asides the fact that this figure cannot scratch the housing deficit. These lofty visions and ideas of successive governments have since remained a mirage.

Since housing requires huge capital outlay, FBMN and PMI were established with the aim of providing Nigerians, especially the civil and public servants access to low interest long term mortgage finance. However, under the current system operated by FBMN and the PMI, one will need to spend years to access this mortgage finance to no avail. To access mortgage loan to acquire a property, the property must have a certificate of occupancy and the applicant should provide 10% equity contribution which federal government just directed that it should be suspended. The question that begs for answer is how many state governors sign certificate of occupancy even amidst its processing cost. For those who need mortgage to develop, they must have a land with certificate of occupancy which is even more difficult. These bottlenecks have rendered the activities of FBMN unrealistic and far from its intending vision of establishment. A deliberate and urgent restructuring of these institutions are highly desirable if government is sincere with her vision of housing Nigerians. These mortgage institutions should be strengthened financially to meet the high demand for mortgage.

The Land Use Act was primarily enacted to make land available to all Nigerians but this objective seems defeated as most property owners acquired their property through open market which is very exorbitant and out of reach of many. It is only laughable that land which government should make available to intending developers is unavailable but she wants to determine and control the rental value of someone’s sweat. Government should endeavor to make serviced plots readily available at reasonable value instead of trying to control rental value. If land is cheap and finance accessible, people can build houses and the demand for lettable accommodation will drastically reduce thereby forcing down the current high rentals.

At the heart of housing production is the building materials and incidentally most of these materials are imported. With the high exchange rate, the costs of these materials are beyond the reach of most Nigerians. This cost has resulted in importation of substandard materials which many think are affordable but not without its attendant consequence of building collapsed, lost of lives and millions of naira. Again, one is attempted to ask why no government is interested in making these materials available to Nigerians at reduced cost but is quite interested in determining rental value? With the new tax law, it is time for government to consciously provide tax incentives to importers of building materials or deliberately create waivers that will encourage local production of building materials.

Only 10% of those who desire owning a home in Nigeria can afford it, either by way of purchase or personal construction. The poverty level in the country is terrible such that owning a home is now considered a luxury. Therefore, if government can attack poverty, then ability to develop building will increase with improved living conditions.