Ibadan – The government at all levels has been charged to take more steps towards actualizing a far-reaching social housing plan.
Speaking on A Metropolitan Ideas production on Real Estate called The Landlords on The beats 97.9Fm Ibadan, experts in the Housing and Construction industries called on governments to partner with private sectors in providing affordable housing for the teeming populace.
According to them, the emergence of new growth centers and the increase in the size of existing ones in major cities including Ibadan has become a trend industry players need to identify quickly to keep afloat in the scheme of things.
They observed that the majority of newly built homes in Major city centers are left unoccupied and sometimes eventually abandoned due partly to very elaborate designs hard to maintain even for the majority of the people.
Reports have it that over 40% of the Nation’s population live in urban areas, which include Kano, Port Harcourt, Lagos, and Ibadan. The country has an urban population growing rapidly at around 4.2% annually due to a high fertility rate of about 2.8% and an almost unabated rural to urban migration.
It would be recalled that during the last edition of the show, Top Income Property Investment Areas for Residential in Ibadan featuring private developer Femi Olagunju of Jonathan Julius, Property Investment Lawyer Aminat Adams Momoh, and Real Estate Egg head Ayo Ekisanya of B M B Homes, was the focus.
Speaking on the challenges of affordable housing in Nigeria, Adebayo Ogunjimi, US-based Architect and Principal Partner & project coordinator at Bayjim consult – specialists in Building Designs and construction, highlighted some socio-economic factors, high cost of building materials, as well as the quackery-induced waste of building materials as major issues to contend with.
He advocated the use of locally sourced materials for construction to reduce the cost of housing.
Also speaking, a Construction Engineer, Engr Sam Adehome, bemoaned the ineffectiveness of planning/building regulations, high cost of infrastructure, and, lack of skills/capacity as being responsible for the dearth of affordable housing for Nigerians while calling for the proper regulation of price and practice within the construction industry.
In separate interviews, some residents within Ibadan, Lekan, a civil servant, Opeyemi, a social worker, and Seun, a businessman, while lamenting the skyrocketing rents and other prices, also called on governments to make use of the vast land mass and embark on constructing low-cost housing for the citizens.
Sesan, a banker and businessman blamed agents for the increasing House rent and other fees, naming top residential areas people would love to live save for the high cost of living in those areas.
This they believe will curb the rural-urban migration and improve the affordability of houses.
