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The deficit in the housing sector is very huge, in-fact some experts say over 17million of homes are needed, yet authorities seem not to have strong will to address the shortfall. Why do you think achieving housing for all has become so difficult in Nigeria?

It became difficult since the time of the colonial master because they didn’t see housing as a priority. On the individual level after food and clothing, housing is the next basic necessity but on the government level, it’s not. They would rather give priority to road and road don’t go anywhere except to connect houses, offices or sporting activity. For several years, there was even no ministry for housing until professionals cried out and when it was created, they would give the ministry money to work. For several years it was the ministry of works and housing and the concentration is always on works but housing is just a small part of it. The colonial master got involved in housing as a result of the Buboneic plague’, which happened in 1960’s in central Lagos. This brought reclamation and redevelopment. 

They needed to rehouse the people there and that is why they started Surulere housing estate and for the first time, government built houses for the people. Whereas in abroad and in their own countries, more than 50per cent of housing fir instance in Britain is built by council which is an equivalent of state government. When they were ruling us, the federal, state and local government never get involved in housing. They only got involved when they were providing housing for their own officials in Government Reserved Areas where the white will have a house with a very large compound and at the side of it, they will build a small boys quarter for the black man to live. Unfortunately when our own brothers took over from them, they continue with the trend.

Because the officials have houses, they don’t care about the generality of the people and even till today, the attitude has continued. Shehu Shagari, and Lateef Jakande era were the administration that took housing as a priority. In-fact, Shagari campaign slogan was ‘Food and Shelter’. Shagari built houses in all local governments of the federation; unfortunately, politics and corruption marred the project. At the state level Jakande built houses at prices the people could afford.Government getting out of participation in housing doesn’t work in the third world. If you take council housing out of the houses in London, the whole place will be empty.

The first issue is government not taking housing very seriously, the second is finance, there is no mortgage system that can enable the public to buy house, the cost of acquiring land is so much and even documentation is a lot of problem.

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