By Yinka Kolawole
The mortgage system adopted by Lagos State government under the administration of Alh. Lateef Jakande which enabled many Lagosians to become house owners left the government with huge debt and is unsustainable.

Chairman, Lagos State Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS) Committee, Mr. Olasupo Shasore, faulted the system while addressing strategic stakeholders in the real estate sector, at a seminar on Tenancy Laws, Arbitration Rules and Mortgage Bill in Lagos recently.

According to him, though the arrangement was popular because it was affordable for residents, it proved to be unsustainable considering the amount of debt incurred by the administration to execute the housing progamme.

Shasore, a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, lamented that the chronic housing shortage in the country is not receiving the required assistance from the mortgage finance sector of the economy. He said with 14 million units housing deficit across the country, at about N3.5 million per unit, the nation needs about N14 trillion to bridge the gap.

“bridging this gap requires housing investment of about N14 trillion (at N3.5 million per unit). Mortgage finance contributes just 0.5 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is relatively low when compared to other developing countries, 10 per cent in Mexico, 25 per cent in Malaysia and 29 per cent in South Africa,” he stated.