At a time when many Nigerians have no roof over their heads, many empty houses, mansions, estates in Abuja highbrow areas should be something of great concern, especially to those in authority.
With an estimated housing deficit of over 17 million units, the foreseeable future of the housing sector in Nigeria, no doubt presents a grim picture.
It is no surprise that even in Abuja, some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) still sleep in slums and other unsafe places like motor parks, major bus stops, filling stations, street corners, under the bridge and uncompleted buildings.
In Abuja, names such as Asokoro, Maitama, Jabi, Wuse 2 and Gwarimpa are places associated with wealth and fame. The mansions are well-built, tastefully furnished, high fences with stern looking guards. Due to the expensive nature of the place, you only find the high and mighty in the society living there. People, who reside and have properties in such highbrow areas, are usually politicians, diplomats, top ranking civil servants and successful businessmen and women.
Unfortunately, most properties in these highbrow areas are hitherto empty either because their prices are exorbitant or the owners cannot be reached. For instance, one plot of land (in a good location) in Asokoro or Maitama goes for between N120 to N150 million.
Perhaps, this explains why over 80 percent of Abuja residents reside mainly in the satellite towns and remote communities where they can easily afford the rent. On the fringe of Maitama is Mpape, an urban slum with a high population density. Also at the back of Asokoro is Asokoro extension, a growing slum with a huge number of people.
Despite this huge amount and coupled with the prevailing economic situation, it is said that some politicians and top government officials are clandestinely buying properties and building houses with fake names.
Akintayo Adaralegbe, a real estate developer and investor and the Chief Executive Officer of T Pumpy Limited, said those abandoned estates in the Federal Capital were not genuinely owned by the masses, but said they were owned by corrupt politicians and government officials.
According to him, “If somebody has used his money to genuinely buy the land, would he abandon his plots? All those abandoned estates you are seeing, they are not genuinely owned by the masses.
“They are owned by those that embezzled government money. They are just looking for where to keep the money, I can assure you of that. They are not owned by people who are genuinely yearning for homes.
“As you are now, you know how long it will take you to build a house. Will you now leave such a house and be staying in a rented apartment? That is impossible. It is those that have plenty of money and are looking for where to keep it that will have buildings like that and abandon them.”
Currently, the number of houses in Abuja, especially in the highbrow areas, waiting to be rented or sold is quite huge.
This comes at a time the federal government says it is constructing some 300, 000 housing units across the country. This is being implemented under the National Social Housing Programme of the Economic Sustainability Plan with which government hopes to create 1.8 million jobs within the construction value chain.
A walk around Asokoro, Maitama, Jabi, Wuse 2 and Gwarimpa revealed that most of the houses are not occupied. Most of these mansions have high fences while the few with low fences are encircled with electric fence or barbed wire stopping intruders. One common feature one usually sees is banners or inscriptions of ‘for sale’, or ‘to let’ at the gates of some of the mansions, which have been there for months or even years.
Sadly, what you see in most of these ghost mansions are security guards, who fend off intruders and tidy up the premises. Some of them who bare their minds said some of the unoccupied buildings had been empty for years.
Idoko, a security guard in one of the buildings located at Katsina-Alla Crescent, Off Yedseram Street, Maitama, Abuja disclosed that the owner of the house barely visits except during festive season in which he could stay only for few days.
He pointed out that due the prevailing economic situation in Nigeria, some guards employed to secure and maintain the buildings, rent out part of them unknown to the owners, especially buildings whose owners rarely visit.
In Abuja, most well built houses are averagely sold for a minimum of N500 million within the city centre. Some even go for between N800 million and N1.3 billion. Some of the investors who spoke to BusinessDay, hinted that the easiest means of offloading excess cash in Abuja was via property acquisition. They said a four-bedroom duplex with four baths in Maitama, Asokoro, Garki or Wuse District could costs as much as N500 million.
Sadly, it is not the best of time for real estate investors in Nigeria as the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically slowed down business.
At the moment, many investors are not only counting their losses in terms of unsold properties, but also wishing the COVID-19 pandemic would soon become history because of the irreparable damage it has caused business globally.
Abdullahi Salihu, the CEO of Saud Homes Limited, said the demand for properties, both residential and commercial, has been quite low since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Salihu expressed worry that most construction sites shut down as a result of the lockdown order, adding that since the partial lifting of the lockdown, many have not been able to resume due to soaring costs of building materials and variation in the bills of quantities.
While bemoaning that interstate lockdown had increased building contract breaks, he pointed out that as an investor, the abandoned houses in the FCT have really affected their businesses due to the fact that other clients, who may be interested to invest might be scared to acquire property because they were not sure of it.
The investor also alluded that part of the low patronage in properties was that people were scared to be scammed because most of the houses had no direct link to the owner.
Salihu, therefore, canvassed that for the real estate industry to rebound, there must be a robust tax system and effective regulation put in place by the government.
His words: “In Nigeria, Abuja to be more specific, there has been demand chain disruptions in the property market, such as abandonment of projects and supply depression. Demand for properties, both residential and commercial, has been slow since the outbreak of the pandemic, while the contract of sale for many properties about to be concluded were put on hold by clients.
“Most construction sites shut down as a result of the lockdown order and since the partial lifting of the lockdown, many are unable to resume due to price hike in building materials and variation in the bills of quantities. The interstate lockdown has also increased building contract breaks.
“As an investor, the abandoned houses really affected our business due to the fact that other clients who may be interested to invest might be scared to acquire property because they are not able to know the generosity of the property on ground for sales.”
He said actually people are scared to be scammed, because most, if not all, of the houses have no direct link to the owner.
“To tackle the challenge, a robust tax system and effective regulation must be put in place by the government,” he suggested.
BusinessDay also found that the good number of these empty houses are being put up for sell with contacts of the agent or real estate firm conspicuously in display.
Also possibly the economic situation in the country currently, May be pushing some of the house owners in these posh areas to sell their landed properties at reduced prices. For instance, there is a 7-bedroom duplex located in Asokoro currently going up for N400 million. As at last week, it was at N450 million. It was learnt that the owner was in desperate need so he could relocate abroad. Some of the features in the house include: 3-room boy-quarters; mini conference room; family and lining rooms; fully furnished; serene environment and 20 KVA generator.
Due to the economic situation, litigation and inheritance crisis among family members, well over 600 buildings in different stages of development in Abuja are said to have been abandoned by their owners for many years.
Muktar Galadima, the Director, FCT Development Control Department, said many of such buildings, which were in various states of deterioration in Gwarimpa, Wuse, Garki, Maitama, Asokoro and other parts of Abuja had become hideouts for criminals and homeless persons.
He stated that to address the situation, the Federal Capital Territory Administration was proposing a special fund to acquire the buildings from their owners and resell them to workers under its mass housing scheme.
Galadima added that the FCT Administration was planning to send a memo to the Federal Executive Council on the acquisition of the abandoned buildings across the FCT.
“We went to the sites and issued identity numbers for ease of integrity test. We invited the owners to a meeting where we had some discussions and about 130 owners complied, but we are not comfortable with that number.
“Because we have done what we can do within our capacity, we are sending a memo to the minister to look at options of revocation and acquisition. But our challenge with revocation is that it would lead to litigation.
“So, the best option is through the Federal Executive Council. If some of these abandoned buildings can be acquired by the Federal Government so that where it is residential houses, workers can be given such houses.
“Where it is an office or commercial buildings, government offices can take over. This is the last point we are; we are trying to see if the Federal Executive Council can come in, maybe, by creating special fund through the Federal Mortgage Bank or other housing facilitators,” Galadima noted.
He expressed optimism that the acquisition of such empty buildings by government would address the housing deficit in the FCT.
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