By Kingsley Adegboye

The Managing Director of Family Homes Funds FHF, Femi Adewole, has disclosed that poor implementation of housing policies and programmes remains the stumbling block in the provision of mass housing in Nigeria.

Speaking at the just concluded 16th Africa International Housing Show AIHS, in Abuja, Adewole said that access to affordable housing has remained a critical challenge which has not been resolved substantially.

“Although there is no shortage of policies and programmes enacted by various governments to tackle this problem, effective implementation remains a persistent dilemma”, he noted.

He added that the housing challenge in Nigeria is presented in two primary forms; inappropriate housing supplied to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and the right proportion of existing stock and substandard housing which do not meet widely accepted standards.

According to him, “About 75 per cent of the 42 million housing units we have in Nigeria are substandard. These challenges pose constant threat to citizens as many struggle to survive due to lack of food and sustainable shelter”.

FHF boss revealed that over the last seven years, the government has succeeded in initiating quite a number of initiatives which have the potential to tackle the housing challenges headlong.

“The government continues to support the Nigerian mortgage refinance company, officially established in 2015 which guarantees and enables you to access the capital market competitively to finance mortgages. At the end of Q1 2022, the institution has refinanced an excess of N24.5b mortgages.

“The mission of NMRC is critical in deepening and increasing access of Nigerians on low income to housing, particularly home finance“, Adewole noted.

He explained that the government also provides infra credits to motivate a wide range of investors, particularly the Pension Funds, to invest in key infrastructure projects including housing.

He said the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Housing Authority now have a formidable and experienced board and executive management team who are well positioned to lead the transformation of the two critical institutions in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to drive affordable housing delivery in the country.

Meanwhile, earlier in his goodwill message, he extended the greetings of the Vice President, who could not make it to the opening ceremony of the event due to health issues.

Adewole, however, reiterated Osinbajo’s commitment provision of mass housing in the country, noting that “The role that housing plays in the provision of employment and transformation of the economy of a society is enormous and immeasurable.

He then sued for continued synergy between the public and private sectors in a bid to effectively deliver on the government’s housing mandate.