Yinka  Kolawole
The failure of the National Assembly to make appropriate legislation to regulate property development has been identified as a major impediment to housing delivery in Nigeria.

Chairman, Development Policy Centre, Ibadan, Prof. Akin Mabogunje, said this in Lagos, last week, during the plenary session at the Kuramo 2010 Conference on Housing entitled, “Future Planning for Housing and Urban Regeneration – Global Trends.”

Mabogunje, who was Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Housing and Urban Development, said that there was room for advocacy by housing experts to ensure that the laws were deliberated upon and passed by the National Assembly.

According to him, housing requires an understanding of the legal foundation to succeed. “The legal bases for housing development in the country are very deficient. Many of our laws are not well articulated to make it easy.

“For 12 years, l have tried to promote housing, but it has not been easy. Now, there are laws. We have amended those laws also. Unfortunately, the laws are still pending before the National Assembly five years after our work as Presidential Committee on Housing and Urban Development was completed,” he said.

President, Chartered Institute of Housing, United Kingdom, Prof. Paddy Gray, said that all the tiers of governments must propel a functioning housing market through legislation.

He said that international organisations and non_governmental organisations were also involved to integrate ideas and strengthen capacities for groups to negotiate for land for development.

According to him, building new houses is only aspect of the picture, which unfortunately people focus on all the times. He said that the real solution was with urban regeneration and looking at the quality and maintenance of existing houses.