Stakeholders: Funding, Inadequate Data Causing Housing Crisis in Nigeria

Raheem Akingbolu 

Among other challenges causing housing crisis in Nigeria, stakeholders in the sector have identified lack of funding and data deficiency as major stumbling blocks in the sector. 

They disclosed this at this year’s Knight Frank Lagos Property Conference held in Lagos, with the theme: “Pragmatic Solution for Housing Delivery: Charting the Roadmap today in Lagos.”

The senior partner/CEO at Knight Frank Nigeria, Frank Okosun, in his welcome remark admitted that housing delivery remained high while financing options are limited. 

He said, “We have challenges in the area of funding in spite of having one of the highest housing deficits globally. As such, irrespective of the harsh economic times, those of us operating in the build segment of the business must still find a way to deliver homes to Nigerians.”

The Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company, Kehinde Ogundimu, said one of the biggest challenges confronting housing in Nigeria was that of data.

He said, “We are working on how to come up with a platform that will make data available for users in the real estate industry. Currently, we are working with government agencies on data initiatives because we believe that data is critical to this sector and collaboration is also essential to that effect.”

Setting the ball rolling, the keynote speaker, the Chief Executive Officer, Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund, May Hamid, said in order to achieve social justice, the government must ensure that housing subsidies reach those in genuine need.

She further underscored the significance of implementing multiple income assessment validation tools to help in that regard.

She said, “Article 78 of the Egyptian Constitution stipulates that The State guarantees citizens their right to adequate, safe, and healthy housing, noting that the constitutional obligation is the main reason for establishing the Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund to ensure that the right to housing is guaranteed and sustained.

 “SHMFF is implementing a smart subsidy strategy through allocating (direct demand-side subsidy) graded according to beneficiaries’ incomes to improve transparency, purchasing power, and access to finance. In addition, a mortgage interest subsidy is provided to encourage lenders to participate, reduce interest rate risk, and improve affordability for beneficiaries.”

In the same vein, the Chief Executive Officer, Afriland Properties Plc, Uzoamaka Oshogwe, pointed out that, for many years, there have been talks about the housing deficit in Nigeria but nothing has changed.