25 Million Nigerians To Face Housing Problems By December

…… As Experts Call For Single Digits Loans For Housing Sector

Twenty five million Nigeria would face housing problems by the end of 2021 if urgent steps are not taken by government to address the situation.

This is due to the growing cost of construction of houses, double digits interest rates by banks, poor land administration and allocation policy, among others.

The chairman of the 2021 Real Estate & Construction Expo (RECON Expo 2021) and Vice President, Abuja Chamber of Commerce (ACC), Dr. Somadina Anene, revealed this on Thursday at a press conference on the forthcoming exhibition in Abuja.

Anene, noted that the housing deficit which stood at 17 million about four years ago has continued to increase while posing real threat to the country’s wellbeing in the near future.

According to him, government’s must wake up to its responsibility of providing affordable shelter for Nigerians by partnering with the private sector through a private-public-partnership that would also revamp the economy.

“How do we revamp the economy? By encouraging more investments in the real estate and construction industry because we know infrastructure is key to economic development in the sense that it will drive economic growth, it will provide more jobs, it will even reduce crime and social vices in any economy. So, that is why we have taken that as the theme for this year,” he said.

He underlined the need for more robust real estate development, noting that if properly encouraged, the sector has the capacity to solve the nation’s widening accommodation problems.

“Housing is one of the basic needs of man, it’s only next to food and clothing. And why did we chose real estate instead of just saying housing? It’s because we are also concerned about the economic welfare, not just the social welfare, of Nigerians, their economic growth,” Anene explained.

As part of efforts to address this problem, the ACCI’s February Real Estate and Construction Expo 2021 would provide specialized platforms for government, the private and citizens to interact on ways of solving the nation’s perennial housing problems.

This is as the forum would also address the various challenges in the real estate and construction sector in order to facilitate economic development.