The Chairman, Senate Committee on Housing, Senator Barnabas Gemade, says the committee will explore the possibility of helping the Federal Housing Authority to benefit from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s N30bn Real Estate Development Intervention Fund.

Gemade, who stated this in Abuja when he led his colleagues on an oversight visit to the organisation’s headquarters, said the committee would work with relevant agencies to fast-track the restructuring and commercialisation of the FHA.

He said the FHA had depended solely on Public-Private Partnerships to deliver houses since government funding for it had stopped.

Al-Amin also pleaded with the Senate committee to facilitate the completion of the ongoing reform process in the FHA by hastening work on the amendment of the law establishing it.

According to Gemade, urgent legislative action is required to fast-track the reform and commercialisation of the FHA, which has been ongoing since 1992.

PUNCH.

Nigeria’s first female town planner, Mrs. Catherine George, has said that all levels of government need to pay more attention to the funding, implementation and monitoring of town planning projects.

She said funding and implementation had been major setbacks in town planning projects, thus resulting to the abandonment of many projects.

George spoke at the public presentation of her book entitled: ‘Basic principles and methods of urban and regional planning, 4th edition’.

She said, “The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners is 50 years old and I think we have come a long way in planning, but what I have noticed that has to be addressed is the issue of implementation. We have town planners in the country, not as many as we should have, but we do have them but implementation of plans is very important.

“If you identify the needs of a community, draw up a plan, make the community to participate in the process and the plan has been approved by the government, the plan has to be funded, that is critical.

“If not, the land acquired will be left and squatters will settle there; it is important to fund projects and this is our greatest challenge. The government needs to pay more attention to planning implementation, funding and monitoring. The professionals can only identify the needs of the communities, draw up plans and submit their plans, but the government needs to prioritise these.”

George stated that all stages of planning had to be adequately funded by the government, beginning from the grassroots level to the local, state and the federal governments.

She said she was inspired to write the book to encourage students of environmental sciences in most developing countries who did not have access to planning books and journals that were relevant to their work.

“There is a dire need for current publications talking about the challenges we have in planning,” she said.

PUNCH. 

With the rising housing deficit in the country, stakeholders in the building and construction sector are calling for more investment in housing development from the growing pension fund.

The Chairman, Association of Estate Agents in Nigeria, Mr. Chudi Ubosi, said at a Mandatory Continuous Professional Development Programme of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Lagos State Branch, that it had become clear that there was a critical shortfall of housing as demand outweighed supply by a ratio of 1:10.

According to him, there should be increased investment in the housing sector as N59tn is needed to bridge the deficit with 700,000 units annually as against the 100,000 units currently being supplied by both the government and the private sector.

“The investment should also focus on the lower end of the housing pyramid, while regulations should be amended to allow the PFAs to put money in the Close Pension Fund Administrators to enable them invest in housing.”

The Chairman of the occasion and a former President of the institution, Mr. Yinka Sonaike, said housing had been a recurring decimal in the country and that efforts should be geared towards reducing its deficit.

The Director-General, National Pension Commission, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who was represented by Mr. Ibrahim Kangiwa, said that in 2014, the Pension Reform Act was reviewed to cover federal, state and local governments and that it provided opportunities for increased investment of pension funds in infrastructure and housing development as well as allowed for part of contributing workers’ Retirement Savings Accounts balance to be used as equity contribution for residential mortgage.

According to the DG, the total value of pension fund assets under management and custody with the licensed pension operators was N5.6tn as of May this year, adding that there was a deliberate effort by PenCom to increase pension investment in infrastructure and housing.

She, however, noted that investment of the fund in housing was limited by the cumbersome nature of that type of investment.

“Direct investment is currently not allowed due to liquidity and valuation issues. Traditionally, real estate is complex; when you need to get your fund out, real estate may not be easily disposable,” Anohu-Amazu said.

The Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, Mr. Eric Fajemisin, said the amount accumulated from pension in the last 12 years was nowhere near where it should be, adding that contrary to popular belief, the fund was not idle.

He said housing issues must be treated with a holistic approach that would include policy intervention and strong political will, adding that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria had estimated that N56tn would be required to meet the shortfall in the country’s housing needs, but that the current sources of housing finance were not adequate to bridge the supply deficit.

Fajemisin stated, “The Nigerian housing sector is supported by favourable demographics but fraught with a huge supply deficit and ineffective demand.

“It can play a special role in the economic dialogue in Nigeria as it generates employment, increases productivity, raises standard of living and alleviates poverty.”

The Chairman, NIESV, Lagos branch, Mr. Offiong Ukpong, said that the pension fund, if well directed, could solve the country’s housing needs now and also be a secured investment for the future.

PUNCH.