The gap in Nigeria’s housing sector continues to grow, with the demand higher than what is available, and with this problem, the Executive Director, Sabre Works, Services, Kayode Fagbadebo, called on the Federal Government to double down its efforts in addressing the country’s housing deficit.
Fagbadebo said this at an event unveiling the company’s brand ambassador, noting that there is a pressing need for the provision of adequate and affordable housing for Nigerians.
He added that mortgage and financial firms needed to be empowered to power medium- and long-term housing project financing.
He said, “The National Housing Fund (NHF) and Federal Mortgage Bank are trying. But demand is more than supply and when you have a situation like that then the distribution of these resources and allocation is poor and sometimes it gets to the wrong hands.
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“So, the government needs to be deliberate and pay attention to that sector and ensure that those funds go to the developers that are ready to channel those funds to real projects.
“Government is trying to like bring some sanity into the sector with the launch of the cooperative housing development programme, where the government encourages developers to organise people into cooperative is that once you are in cooperative they know that there are real people that want to leave in those properties.
“If we need to do something about providing affording housing, we need to be more intentional, deliberate, and face that sector and realize that apart from getting food security right for us to keep people engage, we have to properly provide good and an affordable housing, if not they will be forced to be on the street.
“If you want to finance a long-term project and support the players in that market you need to match those projects with long-term funds and not short-term financing.
“That is why commercial banks have challenge in been able to fund medium and long-term real estate project and so we need mortgage banks to be empowered, finance companies to be empowered, we need foreign investors to incentives to be able to invest in the real estate sector in Nigeria.”
