Nigeria Requires N5.5tn Annually To Tackle Housing Deficits — Minister
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, has disclosed that Nigeria needs 555,000 housing units for the next 10 years to tackle the current housing deficits in the country.
To this end, he asked the National Assembly to increase the budgetary allocation of his ministry from N100bn to N500bn and advocated comprehensive land reforms to address the crisis.
Dangiwa, who spoke in Abuja on Thursday when the members of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Habitats paid an oversight visit to his ministry, also expressed concern over the low percentage of registered land in Nigeria.
He said, “Nigeria requires about 550,000 units over the next ten years to meet the housing deficits. This would require about N5.5tn per annum. We are aware that all these cannot come from the government and are working on PPPs and other sources of housing finance to bridge the gap.
“However, we must do more as a government in terms of budgetary allocation to Housing and Urban Development: In the 2023 Supplementary budget, we got N100bn. In 2024 we received approval for about N80bn. This is a far cry from what is needed to make a difference’’.
Dangiwa also decried the longstanding issue of unreliable housing data, which according to him, has impeded effective policy-making and strategic planning.
“For years, our nation has grappled with conflicting and unsubstantiated figures regarding the housing crisis, with estimates varying from 17 million to 28 million. This has been a source of embarrassment and a significant hindrance.
“To rectify this, the ministry is working on developing a mechanism to deliver reliable housing data. This effort involves strategic collaboration with the National Population Commission to design and implement survey instruments tailored to housing-related questions, aiming to determine the actual housing deficits’’.
Responding to Dangiwa’s requests, the Chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Habitats, Hon, Abdulmumin Jubrin, who admitted that there are some challenges in the housing sector, called for a collaborative effort between the public and private sectors to overcome the obstacles.
Jubrin expressed the support of his committee to the minister’s proposal for an annual N500 billion allocation to support the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates programme.
He said, “They are also encountering a couple of encumbrances, even if he says it or not, for them to be able to mobilize both the public and private sector to come together to deliver on the Renew Hope Agenda as it relates to housing. And that is also the regulatory framework.
“We will have to support the housing ministry to be able to get a certain exemption, presidential waiver. Otherwise, they will not be able to move as quickly as possible and as efficiently as they should move, looking at milestones, timelines, and the rest to deliver on what they are supposed to deliver.”
