NAN-H-37
Housing
By Uche Bibilari
Abuja, Sept. 29, 2017 (NAN) Mr Festus Adebayo, a developer has rated the performance of the Housing Sector as not impressive as the country marks its 57 Independence on Oct. 1.
Adebayo therefore called on the Federal Government to strengthen the existing regulatory body in the housing sector to ensure that only professionals operate in the sector.
Adebayo, the Chief Executive Officer and Coordinator, Abuja International Housing Show, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
He scored Nigeria’s housing sector at 57 as only 45 per cent, especially in the provision of affordable housing.
He said that at 57 years, the country needed to have addressed the housing needs of the citizens, especially those at the bottom rung of the society.
“57 is not a small number and that is why all stakeholders in the build industry must work together to make Nigeria great and build the sector to curb incessant building collapse and other problems,’’ he said.
Adebayo said that there was need to address the housing problems of the country, adding that this could be done with the cooperation of professional bodies in the construction industry.
He said that when the right people were allowed to operate in the housing sector, it would curb the menace of building collapse.
“The building sector should not be for everyone but for professionals; many people now bear engineers and engage in the building of houses, which is the major cause of build collapse,’’ he said.
Adebayo said that apart from building collapse, high cost of building materials, double digit interest rate on loan and lack of effective laws to back the activities in the housing sector were the bane of the sector.
He said that a lot had been done by the government to address the housing problems such as the establishment of the Federal Government Housing Loan Board however implementation was key to addressing the problems.
“Many policies have been formulated including the National Housing Policy but the country has only achieved little from such policies.
“As we mark the independence of the nation, we must remind ourselves of some of the problems facing the great nation in terms of affordability of housing,’’ he said.
He said that the government should look into the need to review the Land Use Act and establish foreclosure law that would put an end to lack of affordable housing.
He further called on the Federal Government to fulfill the promise of re-capitalising the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, saying that there was no better time than now to do that. (NAN)
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Edited by Grace Yussuf