Experts canvass enactment of Nigerian Housing Act
Stakeholders in the built environment are proposing the enactment of a Nigerian Housing Act that will ensure the provision of mandatory housing for the masses by the government.
Similar to the United Kingdom Housing Act, 2004, which among other things, makes provision for a system of assessing housing conditions and enforcing standards, the Nigerian Housing Act is expected to harmonise all the existing policies on housing and land administration into a law.
A professor of Housing and Urban Regeneration at the University of Lagos, Gbenga Nubi, who canvassed for the enactment of the Act and active government participation in the building industry, said that like the Universal Basic Education that guaranteed every Nigerian child access to primary and secondary education, there must also be access to decent housing for all.
“The Nigerian housing sector, in all its component areas, requires active government participation as a firm enabler and not just a regulator,” he said.
According to him, about 60 per cent of the present population of the country lack adequate housing, while an overview of the sector reveals that access to adequate and affordable housing remains elusive to many Nigerians in both the urban and rural areas.
Nubi added, “It is a necessity of government to give every Nigerian whatever they need to make sure that no Nigerian sleeps under the bridge like a dog.
“It is something that when it becomes a law, it will no longer be an obligation but a rule of the government. An Act will specify the age at which you can get your own house and the quality of housing, among other things. We have a building code, which should be an important part of the Act; the building code has not become law, but it should be made an important component of the Act.”
The expert said all the existing laws on housing such as the National Housing Fund should be put together under the proposed Act.
Nubi said, “The Act should specify the quality of houses and what they should look like, and should be the basis for a law that every house in Nigeria must meet certain specifications and every worker must have access to housing.
“Now, there are people who take the government to court that they didn’t do a particular thing, when there are laws and the government is not obeying it, because you know it is a law then you can take the government to court.
“People are taking the government to court concerning the violation of the Electoral Act, because there is a law; politicians can take the government to court, so also in the medical profession. When there is a law, the people can find something to fight with; but when everything is policy, it becomes optional for the government to implement.”
The Principal Partner of the estate surveying and valuation firm, Kola Akomolede & Co., Chief Kola Akomolede, said the Housing Act, if enacted, would strengthen the housing sector.
He added, “Any government that doesn’t obey it can now be prosecuted. For example, the National Housing Fund makes provision that the local and state governments should put a certain amount into the housing fund and that they should make workers to pay a certain percentage of their salary into the fund, but they are not doing it; not many people are doing it; but if it becomes an Act like that of taxation, people will have to obey it.”
He, however, noted that the limitation of the Act could be who would provide the housing.
Akomolede added, “The problem is who to provide the houses. I am sure there is no government that would want to make that kind of law because they know they can’t provide the houses that will be involved.
“Government must supply houses before they can make such a law; if they are not supplying houses, they cannot implement the law.”
A former Federal Controller, Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Olayinka Onaeko, stated that the country needed more funding than laws so as to bridge the housing deficit.
He said, “As far as I am concerned, we don’t have problems of laws or statutory problems. The problem with housing is funding and not relevant laws; we have more than enough laws, Acts and policies in the housing sector that are relative to housing provision.
“We have the Land Use Act and National Building Code, among others; they are all statutory laws. So, I don’t think getting another one is going to improve the number of housing units or reduce the deficit in the sector. The major problem is funding and it should be attacked by repositioning the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and other primary mortgage institutions.”
Nubi noted that with the Housing Act, the government would have no choice but look into the nation’s housing crisis.
He added, “The housing policy is very robust and is so large for every government to execute; if the housing policies and the building code are put together and we are able to back them as a law, when there is violation, it will be addressed in court.
“And the court will force the government to implement the law; it is a stage in any national development. There must be a law before it can be enforced.”
PUNCH.
