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Real Estate business, to a lay man is an act of investing in business of selling houses or land for building.
Although, this sector of the economy is faced with myriads of challenges. For instance, lending rates to the sector is unreasonably high and not within the reach of most Nigerians. Another impediment is that statutory requirements that banks and insurance firms reserve a percentage of their credit and investment portfolios respectively for real estate development are being ignored and treated with kid gloves and erring firms not brought to book.
Recently, the directives given by the Executive Governor of Kano State, Dr. Mohammed Ganduje, that sale or rent of any property in Kano State can only be done with the approval of the State Government.
This move, to some people is a way of tackling security challenges in the State. This, to a large extent would check movement of people within the State because real estate business involves mobility of people from one place to another. But looking at this move from a perspective of the real estate sector of the economy, it would affect have a negative effect on the business of real estate.
But a cursory look at the housing policies of successive governments, one can say that these governments have failed to demonstrate the needed political will in providing houses for Nigerians but a mere introduction of highly politicised and unrealistic strategies to back these housing schemes.
Another impediment is high cost of building materials
needed for the scheme that are not within the reach of the poor masses.
Also bottlenecks in building approval processes by agents of Government is another systemic failure on the part of Government.
Government at all levels should provide a proper framework to ensure better housing delivery for Nigerians. It would succeed better in its mass housing drive if more private sector participants are allowed to partake in the scheme. Housing should be off the hands of government; it should be totally privatised and subsidised and the Government should provide the policy and laws that would back housing delivery.
Government should concern itself with social housing for those who cannot pay rent because they are either out of job or have other financial problems.
As far as housing delivery is concerned in Nigeria, one cannot say that it is effective because certain things must be put in place in order to achieve this.
Nigeria must begin to produce steel which is an important component in building high rise structures as the nation’s population is growing geometrically to accommodate more people in less space or land. Steel production would substantially reduce the housing deficit because steel account for about 25 per cent of the cost of construction of houses.
ERCAAN as an umbrella of practitioners in the real estate business frowns at the directives of the Executive Governor of Kano State as this would affect the real estate business in Kano State.
ERCAAN acknowledges the fact that the Government should enact laws that would regulate the sector and activities of practitioners, but Ercaan as an Association in the real estate sector of the economy should be allowed to collaborate with the Government and private sector with a view to regulating the activities of service providers and their registration within the ambit of the enacted laws.
ERCAAN should also be assigned the responsibility of systematic tracking that would monitor movement of accommodation seekers from one place to another.
ERCAAN would also provide a database of inhabitants domiciling in an area.
ERCAAN would soon commence the national tracking device system that would trace inhabitants in local government areas of states in Nigeria.
Finally, regulation of the real estate business should be Public Private Partnership (PPP) in achieving the desired goal of provision of affordable and subsidised homes for Nigerians by Government.
Join us on the 8th of October, 2021 at our National conference and Exhibitions where we shall unviel the strategy for Affordable housing in Nigeria.
ERCAAN… founded on the highest threshold of honesty.
Signed
Hon Godwin Alenkhe, Efa,
ERCAAN National President
