Bennett Oghifo
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr.
The minister stated this in his keynote address at the Concrete Ideas webinar organised by
Fashola said he had approached the subject critically, stating that one of the things he was confronted with on resumption as minister of housing, was the talk about 17 million housing deficit which was credited to the
"I invited the country manager for
He then called the Director General of the
So, he asked where the figure 17 million emanated from and the DG said if the analysis of that huge deficit exists then it means half of
The minister said he then went to the
"And I kept digging and found where 17 million deficit claim came from- it came from my ministry (Works and Housing) in 2012. There was a policy document and in the preface, somebody just put if there. I've called my predecessor on this desk and she said there was no data to support it.
"Quote me,
The minister said the theme of the webinar was ideal by saying 'New Solutions to
Fashola said housing problem arose with rapid urbanisation. "So, there is demand and supply issue. Now, even in those urban centres, and I've travelled to all of Nigerian states by road, there are empty houses, unused houses, unoccupied houses.
"Before we begin to build, the question is have we optimised the ones we have? Why do you have a shortage when you have unused assets?" Let's begin to think, do we have a 22-million housing demand? Because it is a business and if Lafarge is ready to build 22 million houses, then who will buy them?"
On his vision for urban housing in the country, the minister said land is a very crucial component in housing development but that it is controlled by the states and not by the federal government.
According to him, "Even if all the states government are building, as many of them are, housing is a commodity, so it is something that the private sector can leverage their entrepreneurial skills to deliver," stating that "in the last four years, the footprint of real estate developers is increasing."
He said government could strengthen that space by using its monetary and physical policy muscles to make it even more prolific to play in by bringing down the interest rates for lending and borrowing, and longer tenure financing.
He said he is having this discussion with the Minister of Finance Budget and Economic Planning.
He also stated that all the states houses of assembly and the states' Attorneys General "must rise up to intervene on behalf of their residents by way of rent control," stating that housing ought to be discussed in terms of ownership and rental.
He said, "Before you get to the ownership ladder, you get to the rental ladder first. But where you have people asking citizens to pay three years' rent in advance from salaries earned monthly, there is a mismatch and housing can never be affordable."
Another strategy he discussed with Lafarge was that there was need to change the building method to fit prevailing demand. For instance, people no longer demand 4-bedroom or 5-bedroom houses because they require small spaces and most use showers and not bathtubs. He advised that proper survey be done before developing a house for it to fit demand.
Fashola advised real estate developers to take into consideration a post-COVID world where people may want to do business remotely from their homes, even in their rural communities if they have broadband/internet.
He said post-COVID scenario is a defining barometer to determine whether rural-urban migration will continue. "Are we going to get to what it was like before COVID? What if we don't need offices anymore, at least not at the rate highrise buildings were springing up, and we can do a lot of businesses from home. We have to rethink our investment in real estate. If I can talk to you from my village because I have broadband, then why should I come to the city and be struggling for a house? It is going to affect how other businesses are arranged. Urbanisation, in my view, is what encourage the development of highrise clusters and it has also affected how we feed during work hours, fast food, deliveries around urban conurbations. Is this going to continue? So, as we plan to invest, let's think what does the future look like?
He also expressed his views about urbanisation and urban regeneration, saying there was a fine line between urban regeneration and gentrification. "Partnerships are instructive here and the private sector has a big role to play and it should be driven by data, science and to understand what the market says."
He said in the last one year, a national policy has been developed to increase the use of cement and stone in the built industry, especially for roads, and "as a result of that our ministry was challenged and we have responded to government by developing a real design manual for concrete roads, which we have shared with all the states of the federation and the FCT at the
"We are increasing the footprint of concrete roads in the country slowly but surely- the Apapa-Oworonsoki road, Obajana-Kaba road, Bodo-Bonny with NLNG, there is room for more concrete roads in the country and there is a design manual to guide everybody."
The minister stated that the nation was in "interesting and challenging times, especially in the built industry" where a lot of initiatives were taking place.
He said, for instance, there is the Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI), which is "the largest concession of public road ever undertaken on the continent of
He commended Lafarge for concrete ideas, saying since its inauguration in 2020, it has gone on smoothly.
The Concrete Ideas webinar of
The Panelists were, Dr. Ayo Tariba; Bldr. Kunle Awobodu;
The Chairman of
Adefioye noted that some recommendations from the two previous Concrete Ideas webinar were being implemented by the government in its policies, such as the implementation of the highway development management initiative (HDMI), by the
Also, the
The Country Chief Executive Officer,
He called on all key stakeholders within the sector to work together to find solution to
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