ATHE IMPACT OF HIGH COSTS OF BUILDING MATERIALS ON HOUSING DELIVERY IN NIGEREIA

ESV. ANDREW MEKWUNYE

During the early man days, the materials used for building houses are red sand for the wall and palm fronds and strong wood for the roofing. Later, modernization and modification of building materials started emerging; such materials like; corrugated iron sheets, Louvre blades, aluminum doors and windows, long span aluminum roofing sheets etc. In those days, building house is a lot easier compare to the present rate of construction. It is a known fact that, change must occur for the advancement of human existence which improves the lives of the people.

However, the prices of building materials currently have skyrocketed to the extent that some people can hardly build house again. The major component which is cement is very expensive and is no longer affordable for a common man in Nigeria today. There are some persons who can build their houses gradually based on their but, cannot do so again because of high costs of building materials. This high costs have impacted so much on housing delivery in Nigeria which the Federal government has not taken note of it in order to make budgetary provision. For example, this year’s budget did not even take cognizance of it in order to address the problem associated with the costs of procuring raw materials including other variables that are used to produce cement and iron rods; to ensure that the prices of building materials reduce gradually. This high costs have brought about shortage of accommodation in some cities in Nigeria. The people migrating from the villages to the town in search of white collar jobs find it difficult to rent accommodation because, rent has risen astronomically out of reach of such class of people. Many people currently live in uncompleted buildings and batchers. Some people who manage to start building houses, decide to roof one flat out of two flats under construction and occupy whilst the second flat will be roofed or completed later. Government also experiences same high cost during the construction of infrastructure, provision of social amenities e.t.c wherein the cost of project delivery will be very high.

Furthermore, high demand of construction materials contributes to high cost of building materials. This is because, a lot of people wants to own a house as a result of high cost of increased house rent including the people that needs privacy. It is obvious that there is monopoly of the production of building materials in Nigeria. A situation where one man has been granted licenses to solely produce cement and other building materials, there is every tendency that the price will be high being sole producer of these products. Fluctuation of Fuel and Energy costs is another factor that brought about high cost of building materials. Remember when this current administration removed subsidy on petrol and increased the fuel pump price which affected almost all the products used in the country building materials not exception. The cost of conveying these building materials from the factory to the point of sale to end user will be added to the product thereby increasing the prices. The fluctuation of the exchange rate is another issue that Nigerians find worrisome that control the economy not only building materials. Federal Maintenance Agency (FERMA) which is an agency of Federal Government saddled with the responsibility to carry out the maintenance of potholes and failed portions of federal roads should wake up to their responsibilities. Some portion of the road that failed are not always attended to on time thereby creating total road cut-off wherein big lorries carrying finished products from one location to another may fall and block the road. Even when the Agency are unable to carry out the repairs reason best known to them, the Agency will never allow the State Government where that portion of road failed to carry out that same repairs claiming that it is FERMA’s responsibilities yet people keep suffering for their inability. With these factors, housing delivery is no longer affordable by low and middle income earners in Nigeria. These factors in turn affect property value because, new building projects will not spring up and the existing properties in that area will not appreciate.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In conclusion therefore, the government through National Assembly should formulate or make policies to address the issue of high costs of building materials mostly the cement and iron rods . This will go a long way to cushion the effect of Hosing delivery/shortage which will in turn increase the affordability of houses by citizens in Nigeria. In the area of government constructing road infrastructures will reduce the costs of building materials in terms of transport cost. We often hear that Big Lorries conveying these materials spend some days on the road before getting to its destination thereby creating artificial scarcity which will on the other hand leads to increase in the prices of those materials. Road maintenance will cause stability of prices of not only building materials to some extent. Federal Government should as a matter of urgency make FERMA perform her responsibilities efficiently. Also, Federal Government should create a window to form Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the production of building materials industry as well as Partnership in Housing delivery. With government participation or involvement prices of this building materials can be controlled to some extent which will reduce the costs of project delivery for both public and private sectors. High rent and shortage of accommodation will gradually reduce.