Housing is the driving force of the economy
by Fagbamila Johnson
The housing sector has been described as the driving force of the economy of any nation through which other sectors get their bite.
Airing this view in a chart with Compass Property recently, a real estate developer and property consultant, Dr. J. Onabanjo however regretted that Nigeria has not been able to tap into the huge opportunities available in the sector, saying that the country’s indifference to housing sector contributes to her backwardness.
“Housing situation in Nigeria is not only pathetic but equally woeful. We have millions of people in Nigeria without homes. Housing is a strong indicator of a developed economy.
The housing condition of a country determines its level of development. Over the years, the government have not put in enough interest in creating housing for the people. This lack of interest is not peculiar to housing alone. It shows in water, electricity, road and other infrastructural amenities.
This shows that some developing economies are not really interested in the welfare of their citizens,” he said. Onabanjo said when you talk about life, the major discussion is usually focused on electricity, water, housing, clothing and other essential amenities. He said the aforementioned essentials were the principal problems Nigeria had and until the government started taking those things seriously, the problem would persist.
Onabanjo said the problem stemmed out of inadequate planning. “If you are supposed to plan for 100 per cent and you made provision for 30%, that is not planning. If you are planning, you plan well. If you have a 100 million people for example and you make provision for only 500,000, it is no planning.
That is what we had during the Alhaji Shehu Shagari/ Kayode Jakande era. That we had pockets of estates here and there in those days is not an indicator of adequate planning. If you have good planning, it will be much more detailed than the Shagari type of estates. It will be continuous. Some people go to Lagos to go and die because of lack of accommodation. But when you plan, you take into consideration increase in population, demography, etc. This shows that Nigeria never really planned,” he said.
Onabanjo was of the opinion that the first step to take off would be to know how many houses are required in the country as a whole, break them down into states and local governments and then into wards, start from the smallest unit, like if a ward needed 50 housing units, start from there.
He also frowned at the government attitude towards land acquisition, saying that peoples negative reaction especially land encroachment and other illegalities emanated from government’s purposeless policy on land acquisition.
“When you acquire land and keep it for 30 years or more, people are bound to react but when you acquire land and you keep it for say two years, after which you utilize it, houses will spring up everywhere, be it storey buildings or bungalows. If the people see that the land acquired from them is being used, they will be happy but when you acquire land and you keep it for years, people will be angry. They will start encroaching on it. If we have genuine planning in housing, you start building houses that people will see and benefit from. When people see this they will be happy and willingly come to the government to donate land so that government can build houses for them. If we have situations like this, we will go a long way” he said.
While taking a sweep at private developers, Onabanjo said they capitalize on government nonchalance to milk the people dry.
“You make money from solving problems. Private developers know that the government is not building houses so when they build houses they over charge the tenants. Private sector can only build in bit and pieces but the government build en mass. If the two co exist side by side, people will ignore the over charged private developers houses. There is a lot of problems to be solved here”.
He believed that there was a lot of problems to be solved here as the government has not started looking at housing as being beneficial to the people.
“The government still look at it as a way of making money. Government is not looking at land acquisition as a way of helping the citizens but rather as a means of revenue generation. When these things happen, then it will not augur well for the people. When government acquire land from people, they should let the people know the purpose for which the land is acquired.
The document that back up the acquisition should show for what purpose government is acquiring the land for. Is it airport, housing development, universities or whatever? When people understand the purpose, it will be easier for the government but right now, it is the opposite. Acquired land should not be fallow. The local people should benefit from it. Welders, iron benders, carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers,etc. Nobody is going to fight you when they know that they are going to benefit from what you are doing. There are some lands acquired 30-40 years ago and are still like a forest. People are not happy.
“If this is done, other communities will call on the government to please come and do something in their area just as it did in the other community. Then there will be houses everywhere. When there are houses, it generates employment. It creates opportunities. It creates wealth. Then there will be harmony and advancement. Then it develops the economy, he said.
While citing the British government that was always building houses thereby creating massive jobs in the process, Onabanjo said the jobs so created spread balance in that community as it cut across all strata of the British economy.
