Onyemaechi

need for security and safety and it is a significant determinant in the measure of the standard of living and welfare of citizens of any nation. Other developing countries like India, Malaysia, Brazil and South Africa have left us behind due to a dynamic and pro-poor housing and urban development policies they have adopted. But it is not too late to effectively and adequately address the shortfall.

Why has government policies on housing always failed to meet up with housing demands of the masses?

The policies focused on the formal sector, whereas the problem lies in the informal sector. Large percentage of the people with critical housing needs are in the informal sector. The petty trader, the butcher, the tailors, those in informal employment and with irregular income. They have need for housing and even as a right. This is why the deficit figure keeps going up. Again, we must see urbanisation as a positive force that can trigger economic development. And then prepare for it. We shouldn’t say, ‘lets take some basic amenities and agriculture to the villages so that some youths will stay back and not populate our cities.’ No. That have shown not to be effective. Studies have shown that over 90 per cent urbanisation globally occurs in developing countries. This trend is particularly prevalent in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the two poorest regions of the world. Thirdly, there is a problem with the model being applied both during the government-led approach and the private sector-led approach and the same issues have not been addressed. These problems predate the present administration and even their predecessor. It has been with us for a very long time

Does the Land Use Act pose any challenge?

The Land Use Act is a major challenge, a huge obstacle, it has to be amended. However, the book advocates the activation of some latent laws already in the land use act that can enable us move forward and progress well while waiting for the amendment.

The record of building collapses is high especially in Lagos and Abuja. Why do you think it is happening?

The handiwork of quacks; Nigeria has very good and competent builders and engineers. But when quacks take over any discipline, you know what happens.

How can Nigeria develop a better housing policy?

Good. This is the right question. I can say that the problem of the ‘know how’ has been significantly addressed. That is why the new thinking (The Book) started by asking what many experts in the subject matter consider as ‘the right question’. ‘How can we make millions of poor Nigerians own quality homes without having millions in their pocket?’ The book concluded that for us to achieve this, we have to keep the housing policies and access to housing finance within the reach of the low-income and poorest groups. But that is not the end. It provided a practical roadmap to achieve this. For instance, the model developed from the new thinking has the capacity to generate over 100,000 low-income houses and slum upgrade annually without sweating the budget. I mean without any single financial budget- ary allocation from the government. The model generates its own funding. This is why I said this model have challenged all of us and the policymakers in particular. You know, in the existing framework, the government assumes the private developers have the money and wants to invest in PPP housing. However, in many cases they don’t, they just sign the project and go to the commercial banks to borrow and you know the going market rate and you can imagine what that will produce in terms of the final cost of units of houses produced. This model is a complete departure from all of that. Infact, under the new thinking, the developer only brings in their expertise to construct the buildings.

Is that the solution to the housing problem?

You are not wrong, the model has been validated by notable PPP housing experts within and outside Nigeria. It is now left for policymakers to implement.

Do you support the merging of the Ministry of Housing with Works and Power?

That is not a problem. I appreciate the fact that the ministry is big and a huge task to the Minister, however, the current Minister has managed not just a state but the metropolitan city of Lagos.

So, I think he can deliver power,works and housing excellently if the enabling environment is provided by all stakeholders. The point is that, even when we had a dedicated ministry for housing, did that solve the problem? I think it is about the right policies, adequate and effective model and not the size of the ministry.