From our housing stand (18)
One thing that greatly attracted the attention of the public at the inaugural June 12, Democracy Day celebration on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 in Abuja was President Muhammadu Buhari’s vow to tackle poverty.
Buhari said in his inaugural speech that his administration would ensure rapid and positive growth in the economy to move Nigeria away from poverty. The key feature of this growth, he said, is to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
“This administration has laid a foundation of taking bold steps in transforming our country and delivering our people from the shackles of poverty,” Buhari emphasised.
He mentioned the means to drive this. “First we will take steps in integrating the rural economy to national economic grade by extending access to input to rural farmers as well as credit to rural micro businesses and opening up many critical feeder roads.
“Secondly, all small scale enterprises in towns and cities would share facilities currently available so that we can continue to encourage and support domestic production of basic goods to improve our lives.”
Unfortunately, the president did not mention the very critical and most reliable tool for job creation – housing. Apart from providing accommodation to millions of homeless people, housing is apparently the most practical tool for express job creation, especially at the grassroots. A single housing project has capacity to engage as many as 15 professionals and artisans – architects, surveyors, engineers, bricklayers, carpenters, tilers etc. Not only that, producers of building materials like cement, tiles, roofing sheets, paint also feel the bustle.
And housing projects are all over the country because everyone needs a house. Indeed, there is nowhere humans live that there are no construction works. Housing therefore, becomes the veritable means for accelerated economic growth. This is fact known by nearly every government.
As we may recall, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had during electioneering in 2015 promised to deliver a million housing units annually. The party’s manifesto reads: “Create additional middle-class of at least 2 million new homeowners in our first year in government and 1 million annually thereafter; by enacting a national mortgage system that will lend at single digit interest rates for purchase of owner-occupier houses.”
This has not been pursued with the needed vigour to yield profound results. And there is no official proclamation that the ruling party has jettisoned that commitment.
Viewpoint Housing News therefore, calls on government to take practical steps that will engineer the housing industry if truly 100 million people are to be taken out of poverty. Foremost, Buhari administration should give life to policies and programmes that will bring about hustling in the housing sector.
Good as the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN)’s National Affordable Housing Delivery Programme for Nigerian Workers is, the bank should be encouraged to do more by bringing back the suspended Estate Development Loans (EDLs). It is through EDLs that many developers can be carried along in the housing delivery journey.
For EDLs to be effective, the call for FMBN recapitalisation should be heeded. The Bill for recapitalisation of the bank can be dusted up by the new Assembly, tweaked if need be and passed for president’s assent.
Similarly, the Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs) should be strengthened so they can perform up to expectation. The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) can prove how useful it can be by refinancing the loans.
While all this is happening, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) unit in the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing should review its programmes and engagements with investors in housing and work toward speedy affordable housing delivery.
Also, government should look into the problem of the numerous unoccupied houses. Apart from being dead assets, these houses are a symbol of a wasted economy. How can a country fight poverty while it at the same time wastes its resources?
