By Yinka Kolawole

The provision of affordable housing for the low and middle income strata of the society is the social responsibility of government, and should therefore wage war on factors considered as obstacles to such provision.

Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Chief Kola Akomolede, made this declaration in an open letter to the new Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, (LHUD), Ms Ama Pepple, on how to resolve the obstacles facing the housing ministry.

He identified three major obstacles as high cost of land acquisition, high cost of building materials and high cost of finance, describing them as monsters which the minister must confront if she wants to be remembered for good after leaving office.

“Firstly, she must start the war against high cost of land by proposing a bill to first remove the Land Use Act from the constitution to make it amenable to necessary amendments as and when due.  Unless this is done, the common man will continue to have little or no access to land.  Under the law, even if the Federal government wants to provide houses for the masses, she has to beg the states to give her land and if any state refuses, there is nothing the government can do.  So the proposed private partnership can only work in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The issue of governor’s consent, which had been an albatross against the transfer and perfection of title to land, should be immediately addressed among others.  Easy access to land is the first step on the way to affordable housing for the masses,” he said.

Akomolede noted that there is no way affordable housing can be provided at the present price of major building materials. “Cement, which is a major component in our building system, is now about N2,500 or more depending on your location.   The minister must make proposals to the government on how to bring down the cost of cement and all other building materials. Other measures include giving grants or very low interest loan to cement manufacturers to expand their production capacities, removing import duties on cement manufacturing equipments (This was done for GSM equipments),   removing excise duties on cement manufactured in the country.”

He urged government to allow the importation of cement for the next 12 months at no import duty as an interim measure, which should stop as soon as the local manufacturers have completed their expansion projects. The estate surveyor called for a two-pronged attack on the high cost of finance.

“The minister must propose to government a way to make finance available at affordable rates of interest as it obtains in developed countries to both property developers and individuals who want mortgage to buy a house.  Interest rates on mortgage are between 3 per cent and 5per cent in most civilized countries but here in Nigeria it is between 18 per cent and 24 per cent. By the time property developers add this to their cost of production of houses, the houses cannot be affordable at all.

For people who want to buy these houses, it is difficult to meet the monthly or yearly repayment even on a long time basis. For example, the monthly interest alone for a loan of N5 million is N75, 000.  This does not include capital repayment yet. How many people can afford this in a country where the minimum wage is N18, 000 per month?   And you can hardly get a house that will cost less than N5million,” he stated.

Akomolede also called for the review of the National Housing Fund (NHF).  ”The NHF is a veritable vehicle for collection of money for mortgage but government lacked the political will to implement it to the letters.  Experts must be assembled to re-examine the law and remove areas of conflict in it and recommend how it can be implemented for the benefit of all.”