By Lekan Bilesanmi

Mr. Adekunle Raphael-Monehin is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Tobykemsworth, an estate management/development firm. In this interview, Raphael-Mohehin speaks on the challenges in the housing sector and the initiatives to resolve them.

Adekunle Raphael-Monehin

There is no doubt that the challenges in the housing sector are complex. How deep are the problems?

When it comes to the housing sector in Nigeria, it is a bit difficult. We have different players in the industry. We have private organizations trying to see how they can help the people to have shelter over their heads. However, government is not helping. Meanwhile, the players have to go to the banks to get loans, but the interest attached to it is crazy, yet, you are thinking of having a low budget housing for the masses.

The affordable   houses  built through bank loans are yet   to be sold, and yet the interest is running. At the end of the day, by the time you add your cost, the houses are no longer affordable. But, as far as we are concerned in   Honeywell Gardens, we go by our slogan, ‘Providing shelter for all’. We are trying to see how we can be of help to the society and help people have shelter over their heads.

Because of the killing interest attached to loans in Nigeria, we are trying to get foreign partners so that we can provide affordable housing. That is why we are not acquiring lands in high brow areas. If you are purchasing land or houses in Ikoyi, we know how much it is going to cost.

That is why we have gone to areas that people can afford. By the time we put up the structures of say a two-bedroom or  three-bedroom bungalow, we are trying to see how it can go for about N4.5 m, so that by the time we come with our foreign partners,   we can then have the option of mortgage so that you can, for between 5 and 8 years, have opportunity to pay up.

And however small you may pay as you come in, you move in and you continue the rest of the payment   as if you are paying   normal dues. Once you conclude your payment, you collect your papers. And when you begin the installment payment, there is no interest to it, we are the one   paying the interest on the loans collected.

What are those areas you think government should be intervening but is not doing enough?

We have federal and state mortgage houses. There are banks in that direction too, but what we have since discovered is that they have certain people they select for their partnership arrangement. And those who sincerely have the vision to provide shelter for the masses are pushed out.

This is why most of the players can hardly meet up. The housing policy is another issue. It is not consistent.   Unlike before, mortgage banks are not for everybody; other wise, with their support for people like us, we would have gone far. If I borrow money from the commercial banks with interest between  25% and 28% and I start paying back immediately, that means they are not really giving me capital.

There is no grace of say two years or more for me to use the capital. If you are given funds today, they expect that, by the following month, you start paying back. That means you are returning the capital without using it. These are some of the challenges we face,   and that is why I think government is not doing enough. And when it comes to documentation   and titleship   of properties   from government, it can take  eternity to be processed. The state government puts a lot of bottle necks on your way. If you look at the public-private-partnership, PPP,  state governments choose who they want to do business with. It is not on merit but on who you know. Until you start paying balls, you really cannot do PPP with any state government.

So where do we go from there?

Government should have a meeting point with the   players, especially the small ones in the industry and give them opportunity, give them incentives like, ‘if you do XYZ, we shall provide this and this for you’.

How can the issue of funding be sorted out?

I think the best way the issue of funding can be managed is, for example, we are trying to get foreign funds which come to about 4% per annum, and here in Nigeria, they are telling   you it is 28% per annum , that is killing. Let the government check the viability of what we are doing, you can then give funds that you know interest will not be too much. I think setting aside a special fund will, to some extent, reduce the problems facing the housing sector. If the developers can access the funds, and the government too checks the viability of what they are doing, you can then provide the funds.

We are a country of 170million people. How many houses should we really be looking at?

Considering the statistics of the country, I don’t think you can really place a number on how many houses you can provide because those that are not up to 18 cannot be said to be qualified for shelter. And we have undergraduates, some of whom are still with their parents.

Of course, in one or two years when they would have graduated, they will be looking for their own shelter as well. But as far as we are concerned, if you give support to the small players, they will provide shelter to a lot of people who, by the way, constitute a large percentage of those looking for shelter. At Honeywell Gardens, from our three locations, we can conveniently provide 800 houses. And if you can provide 800 houses for 800 families times three, that is a lot. Meanwhile, we are moving to other areas, to develop other facilities. So, it is something that we have to be constantly developing; as you are developing, migration is also following suit. So, development must continue.

You have estates across Lagos and Ogun States?

Yes, we do. Honeywell Gardens is a project of real estate management. We are basically providing shelter for the masses such that they can pay instalmentally and acquire their own homes so that they become landlords one day.

You are supposing to be a launching a project. What is it about?

It is a home launch coming up in September. We want to launch our prototype structures such that investors from the private and public sectors as well as foreign investors can come in. It is also to get generate funds so that all  different types of  houses on ground at different locations can continue.