Nigeria requires N20tn to fund housing — Nubi
A professor of Housing and Urban Regeneration, University of Lagos, Gbenga Nubi, has said that the country requires between N12tn and N20tn to solve its housing needs.
Nubi stated this while delivering the 13th inaugural lecture of UNILAG, in Lagos on Wednesday, with the theme, ‘Beyond bricks and mortar’.
He said the sum would help to reduce the over 16 million housing deficits in the country.
According to him, by 2030, the cities of the world would host 80 per cent of the global population and Nigeria needed to brace for the challenge.
The professor noted that there was general ignorance on the issue of housing in the country, adding that housing was an important driver of the economy, accounting for a significant portion of the GDP in developed countries.
He said, “Housing is the cure to Nigeria’s problems because the problem we have in the country today is little compared to what is ahead if housing issues are not addressed.
“No matter the level of wealth of a country, its people are judged by the quality of the way they live and currently, a large percentage of Nigerians spend 60 per cent of their income on housing.”
Nubi said about 70 per cent of people in the country, especially in Lagos as the commercial centre of the country, lived in slums.
He said, “Slums are where criminals are bred and the general insecurity in the country can be attributed to this. About 60 per cent of the present population of over 167 million lack adequate housing and though the inadequacy is felt more by the less advantaged groups even the middle class have started to feel the pain of acute housing shortage.
“The profound impact of decent shelter in a sound environment on the lifestyle, health, growth, happiness and productivity of an individual cannot be overemphasised so that the lack of it is one of the worse forms of poverty known to man.”
He noted that the deficiency in addition to projected demographic trends pointed to the need for several million of housing units to be built across the country in the coming years.
According to him, the private sector controls about 70 to 90 per cent of the total housing stock.
“The sector is dominated by private individuals who build incrementally at informal level, resulting into multiplication of substandard housing, housing collapse and growth of slum settlements. The only way out of the housing dilemma is industrialisation and privatisation of the housing process, which can only be achieved through the re-engineering of housing development companies,” he said.
PUNCH.
