World Bank to partner developers on housing reform
By Yinka Kolawole
World Bank is ready to collaborate with property developers in Nigeria, under the aegis of Real Estate Developers Association of Nigerian (REDAN) to boost the housing reform agenda of the federal government.
Senior Housing Finance Specialist, Non-Bank Financial Institutions, Mr. Simon Walley, leading representatives of the global bank at a roundtable session with top executives of REDAN in Abuja, various challenges facing the Nigerian housing sector, especially as being perceived by the international communities. He lthat the Nigerian has not adequate attention to the “important” housing sector but has concentrated only on tackling infrastructure and power.
Walley asserted that the World Bank was ready to work with REDAN to support the country in capacity building, proper survey, and large scale technical assistance. He added that having a special session with a group such as REDAN in the sector and fashioning out possible ways of working with it, was important and necessary to achieving a major progress in its proposed support to the sector.
“The government has not demonstrated enough willingness in her zeal to pay adequate attention to the housing sector, even though REDAN is standing to support the country in capacity building, proper survey, large scale technical assistance etc.
“We observed that REDAN is an organised informal sector in the Nigerian real estate. It is our intention to help REDAN help themselves. We promise to furnish the association with some vital report carried out on the Nigerian Housing sector to enable REDAN to assist the government in housing reform agenda. We shall also work with the group in several other areas that will be beneficial to the sector,” he stressed.
National President of REDAN, Chief Olabode Afolayan, said the session afforded members of the association an opportunity to review operations in the real estate sector, and further strategise on tackling the challenges within the sector, with a view to effectively managing and devising sustainable programmes from international perspectives.
“It has always been a common observation that Nigeria’s long time financial system for housing, which is the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), has been overwhelmed with enormous challenges and this has complicated the efficiency and the purpose of which it was established.”
Data on affordable housing delivered is most times inaccurate. Managing the informal sector of housing in Nigeria is not well-articulated in terms of mortgage financing; the lack of regulatory authorities that should stop mortgage bankers from diverting to business of real estate developing has not been firm. Mortgage banks take jobs of estate developers thereby creating conflict of interest.
It was observed also by the World Bank that internal and external factors have made FMBN as the only secondary mortgage bank plagued with enormous difficulties in managing both the National Housing Fund (NHF) and the Estate Development Loan (EDL),” he stated.
