President Bola Tinubu has said that his government will be providing 100,000 housing units for Nigerians over the next three years.
Tinubu disclosed this in his nationwide broadcast in response to the ongoing nationwide protest by Nigerian youths who are dissatisfied with the hardship that has become the country’s identity.
Tinubu, who in the broadcast told the youths that he shared in their pain, recalled that six months ago in Karsana, Abuja; he inaugurated the first phase of an ambitious housing initiative, the Renewed Hope City and Estate.
“This project is the first of six we have planned across the nation’s geopolitical zones. Each of these cities will include a minimum of 1,000 housing units, with Karsana itself set to deliver 3,212 units 28,” he said.
According to the president, in addition to these city projects, the government will also be launching the Renewed Hope Estates in every state, each comprising 500 housing units.
“Our goal is to complete a total of 100,000 housing units over the next three years. This initiative is not only about providing homes but also about creating thousands of jobs across the nation as well as stimulating economic growth,” Tinubu assured.
By this revelation, Tinubu has not only dimmed the hope of closing the country’s housing gap estimated at 28 million units, but also, by default, made a wake-up call to homeless Nigerians to brace to build their own homes amid crippling economic hardship.
This means too that the Renewed Homes Cities and Estates programme does not hold out immediate hope after all.
According to Funso Adebayo, a real estate consultant and marketer, “for a government that promised to deliver one million homes annually to be talking about 100,000 housing units in three years speaks volumes of lack of sincerity and commitment to citizens’ needs.”
Read also: Zulum opens 500 housing, resettles 1,100 households in Borno
Adebayo, who spoke to BusinessDay on the phone, noted that housing is a basic need of man and the Nigerian government should do well to recognise it as such.
At the just concluded Africa International Housing Show, Ahmed Dangiwa, the minister of housing and urban development, said that Nigeria needs to build 550,000 housing units yearly over the next decade to bridge the national deficit.
To achieve this, the minister said the country needs to spend N5.5 trillion.
In the same breath, Matthew Ashimolowo, senior pastor at Kingsway Christian Centre, Maryland, Lagos, said the country needs to build 700,000 yearly housing units over the next 20 years to bridge the gap, citing a World Bank report.
Analysts are of the view that whether it is 550,000 or 700,000, what the president has projected for three years does not make any dent at all in the national deficit.
“Even if it is 100,000 units yearly, it means the country will be running at a deficit of 600,000 units of the projected annual supply,” Mike Ozoh, an estate developer, noted.
Ozoh, who plays in the low-mid segment of the real estate market, added that the government shouldn’t bother itself with direct construction of houses for the people because, according to him, that is not their business.
“It is not their tuff; the government should encourage private sector operators to deliver housing by providing an enabling environment for them. That’s what we expect from them,” he said.
