69% Of Nigeria’s Urban Population Lives In Slums – NESG

The group said failing to act decisively to  address housing development issue in Nigeria would increase slum-like conditions, which would further exacerbate insecurity and poor quality of life in the country.“This is why bridging the housing divide will help focus on addressing issues that will facilitate Nigerians to own and build decent housing at affordable cost and making secure tenors available. It is our expectation that by the end of the deliberations, we will come up with implementable strategies to bridge the gap and meet present and future urbanisation needs of Nigeria,” NESG’s executive director, Kainos Edge, Mrs Wonu Adetayo, said at a pre-27th Nigerian Economic Summit event with the theme; “Bridging the Housing and Urban Development Divide.”

Adetayo stated that the rising rate of rural-urban migration had tremendously increased over the years as a result of disempowerment of sub-nationals, chronic insecurity and the impact of climate change which puts a significant strain on urban development and negatively impacts the environment. She stated that it was essential for all stakeholders to give urgent and strategic attention to reforming urban settlements as a means of curbing and managing urban migration.

Founder of Eximia Realty Company and chairman of the Lagos Building Investment Company Plc, Mr Hakeem Ogunniran, said housing is one of the underserved sectors and that the national urban policy identifies the need to promote a system of well managed urban settlement that encourages collaborative platforms which engages several players including regulators, developers, private sector players and all other relevant stakeholders to solve Nigeria’s housing challenge.

Adeniran stated that for mortgages to be made available, there was a need for assets to be created and that some of the problems facing the sectors include access to good titled land, security of tenor, getting approvals from multiple regulatory agencies and Inadequacy of infrastructure which all contribute to increasing the cost of housing. He reiterated the need to commoditise housing by streamlining approval processes, improving Industrialising processes and deploying appropriate measures in housing development through a public-private partnership model that will help create reasonable and affordable housing.