By Luminous Jannamike, Abuja

The Chief Executive Officer, Millard Fuller Foundation, Mr. Sam Odia, has chided stakeholders in the housing industry to stop acting aloof of the yearnings of citizens for affordable homes.

He gave the advice while speaking at the 15th Abuja International Housing Show with the theme: ‘Sustainable and Resilient Housing Solutions for a Post Pandemic World’ in the nation’s capital.

He stated that half of the problems bedevilling Nigeria’s housing sector would be solved if the country amended the Land Use Act, made more off-take financing accessible, and provided quality yet affordable homes to the bottom 40 percent of the population.

Therefore, Odia said that rather than paying lip-service to the challenges, there should be innovative housing solutions that take cognisance of the economic plight of the masses.

He said, “We have to come to terms with the reality rather than to continue to sink our heads to the ground like ostriches. We talk about affordable housing without recourse to the earning power of the common man. We also talk about off-take financing and the perennial challenge of the Land Use Act. However, what we really need are innovative solutions to these problems.”

“Whether we like it or not, 80 percent of ongoing house construction in the country is completely devoid of the Land Use Act.

“The reason the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing said Nigerians are not homeless is because most of us live in poor quality houses situated in informal settlements,” he said.

Odia said the main cardinal to solving the challenge of affordable housing in Nigeria was to develop tiny but expandable housing units that can fit into the pocket of a minimum wage earner.

According to him, Millard Fuller Foundation has developed 1,000 units of such houses across the country in the last 15 years.

He described the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria’s N1m home improvement loans as the future of housing finance, and said that poor citizens could subscribe to it as the first step in their journey to home ownership.

Other speakers at the event were: Minister of State for Works & Housing, Engr Abubakar Aliyu; Minister of State, Works & Housing, Ghana, Freda Prempeh; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Minister of Environment, former Minister of State for Works and Housing, Surv. Suleiman Hassan Zarma; Minister of Environment, Mohammad Abubakar; the CEOs of leading real estate companies amongst others.

They left no stones unturned in advancing the argument that providing housing was key to solving most of the social problems in the society, because of the economic implication of building construction, especially jobs that were created in the entire value chain.