Experts in the real estate industry in Nigeria have bemoaned the deplorable living condition of workers, saying that it is not acceptable for workers who are contributing to pension funds to live in substandard houses.
The experts, who advocated for bridging the housing deficit in the country estimated to be in the neighbourhood of 22 million units called on the government and major players in the real estate sector to consider working with pension funds administrators for adequate funding of the sector.
These submissions were made recently as part of recommendations made at the fourth edition of the Real Estate Outlook Conference held at the Landmark Tower, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Organised by Alphacrux Limited, a leading real estate, the event themed “Repositioning Nigeria’s Real Estate Industry for a New Decade”, brought together stakeholders who spoke extensively on ways to make homes affordable for the average Nigerians and how government policies could help make this a reality.
They harped on the need for effective planning strategies, data analytics and research, technology and need for more collaboration among players to unlock the opportunities in the sector.
Speaking at the event, Tobi Adama, CEO, Alphacrux Limited said infrastructural upgrade could help to address housing deficit in Nigeria.
According to him, “If we can look at the area of infrastructure critically in partnership with the government, this challenge can be solved. The reason why people want to live on the Island is because of proximity to work. If you are not working on the island, you won’t want to be on the island. We need to look at the use of waterways, helicopters and trains as means of transportation to various destinations. So if you will marry all these different approaches together, then I think we will get somewhere”.
Advocating for infrastructural upgrade at Lekki corridors, he pointed out that with Lagos being over populated and shortage of space for development, developers should consider other states for real estate development.
He explained that the real estate industry in Nigeria is still at its infancy, stressing that much is still desired to tackle estate deficit as well as different resources to tap into for the realisation of house for all.
Ayo Ibaru, Chief Operations Officer at Northcourt Real Estate said Nigeria is underestimating the size and complexity of housing deficit problem, adding that the government needs to establish a framework to accommodate affordable housing components.
“While we are trying to sort out the land use act, let us look for other alternatives. If we don’t have a house that has funding opportunities and is less than N5million, I am not sure we have started dealing with the affordability issue,” he said.
Ibaru also suggested implementation of social housing, where the government could decide to take large lands usually in areas that are far from the city and build 1000 to 5000 units, adding that Nigeria could not solve 17 million housing deficit with 100 or 300units.
