Background

Nigeria’s housing deficit was as high as 16 million units in 2010. This is despite the regard of the provision of housing in Section 16(1)(d) of the 1999 Constitution as one of the fundamental duties of the government.

Past Reform and Achievements

The Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development was established in 2010 as the umbrella policy arm for ensuring adequate and sustainable housing delivery and maintenance of a conducive living environment. The National Building Code, which was published in 2006, was reviewed in 2013 by the National Building Code Advisory Committee (NBCAC), to address lapses and omissions observed in the old edition.

Mortgage access for low-income, informal sector workers was created in 2011 under the Informal Sector Cooperative Housing Scheme. The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) was officially launched in 2014, to increase mortgage penetration in the country. Government developed a policy on housing and urban development in 2012, in an inclusive and participatory process involving all key stakeholders in the sector. A Ministerial Committee was inaugurated in 2014 to facilitate the audit of the contributions of public servants into the National Housing Fund (NHF) Accounts that is maintained by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

A total of 43,126 housing units were added to the national stock between 2010 and 2014. Within the period, 3,798 Certificates of Occupancy were granted, and 3,787 serviced plots created.

Challenges and Next Steps

Aggressive implementation of social housing programme should be embarked upon to remove the huge deficits of up to 16 million housing units. Public-Private Partnerships should be intensified in the housing sector to accelerate the delivery of housing units. Mortgages should be made easily available to more people. The integrity of building structures should never be compromised, to give confidence to house buyers that their housing units would not collapse. Effective policy that will reduce the high cost of building materials should be articulated. The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) should be recapitalized to enable it make mortgages available to more Nigerians. The process of land titling should be enhanced.