Some experts on housing development have blamed the National Assembly for slowing down the growth of housing development in the country, by delaying the passage of some bills on housing pending before it.

They contend that the non-passage of the bills, some of which have been in the National Assembly since 2004, was retarding the growth of the sector. The bills are the Amendment to the Land Use Act, Amendment to Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) Act and the Amendment of National Housing Fund (NHF) Act.

In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the experts said that the non-passage of some of the bills since 2004 was already affecting the sector adversely.

The Mr Fortune Ebie, pioneer Managing Director of Federal Housing Authority (FHA), said that none of the bills had gone through first reading in the National Assembly. “I am not optimistic about growth in the housing sector this year unless the National Assembly passes those housing bills before it since 2004. The government needs to change its focus and be interested in ensuring a robust housing sector in 2011,” he said.

According to Ebie, the housing sector has functioned till date without necessary laws to propel its growth. He said that the extant laws were obsolete and needed to be reviewed, adding that nothing tangible would happen in the sector until this was done.

Dr Samson Adegoke, a lecturer at the Department of Estate Management in Osun State College of Technology, said that stakeholders should set up a think-tank on those bills. He said that the think-tank would represent the interests of the sector at the federal, states and local government levels.

According to him, there should also be a stakeholders’ committee to lobby and influence the legislators and ensure the passage of all the bills. Adegoke said that although the environment was now ripe for off-shore funding of middle and low-income housing, the funds would not come in without these bills.

The lecturer said that there was also the need for stakeholders to create a data bank where information on housing in Nigeria could be got easily. He said that all figures being rolled in the sector are rooted on speculations and not based on intensive researches.