By YINKA KOLAWOLE

The Lagos State government is adopting the use of technology in several ways with the aim of boosting homeownership for residents of the state.

Governor Babatunde Fashola stated this recently in Lagos at a forum that brought together various stakeholders in the real estate sector. According to him, this is evident with the automation process of consent to land titles, which enables him to sign electronically thus easing land approval system in the state. In addition, he noted that unveiling of the Lagos State Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS) website has ensured that residents can easily apply to own a house under the scheme in a transparent manner.

“We are going a long way with technology. The automation policy is really progressing as I can sign land occupancy anywhere online. Lagos HOMS is on the website, you don’t need to come to the government house or know anybody to be successful in the homeownership. It’s part of our commitment to efficiency and transparency,” he said.

Fashola asserted that Lagos HOMS underpins his administration’s effort to create a sustainable financing mechanism that could provide affordable homes for the middle class. He said the scheme is a typical sustainable affordable housing strategy, adding that by the scheme’s first anniversary it would have produced equal number of housing units which the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) had struggled to produce in its  22 years of existence.

The governor noted that his administration took a number of practical painstaking steps to ensure that the homes were affordable in every respect because allotees could pay over a period of 10 years, instead of once. “It is affordable because the interest rate will not exceed 9.5 percent whatever happens to the Nigerian economy. Every mortgage payment you make every month is not into a bottomless pit, but towards owning your own home, just use your mortgage calculator to determine the size and type of house you can afford,” he said.

According to Fashola, the state is not indebted in any way in the provision of the houses, but developed them based on “Build to deliver at cost recovery model” in addition to using tax payers money. He said this has made it imperative for all Lagos residents should endeavour to pay their taxes, noting that is the only way by which government could generate enough funds to execute more of such projects. He noted that one of the sustainable mechanisms instituted by the state to drive the scheme is the monthly savings of N500 million from the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR).

Fashola also stressed the need to understand the difference between low cost housing and affordable housing, noting that the former is nearly impossible since construction inputs like financing, materials and skills are not low cost. He particularly frowned at the situation whereby residents were asked to pay a two-year rent in advance in an economy where they receive their salaries in arrears. “We see it as wrong when a society pretends that all is well when people are asked to put forward two years rent in advance when they are getting monthly wages in arrears something is wrong. And if we are also comfortable with it there is something wrong with us,” he stated.