ECCIMA Harps On Low-Income Houses

Government at all levels in Nigeria have been called upon to
do everything within their powers to assist Nigerians, especially the low
income class build and own their individual houses, as a means of addressing
the current acute shortage of accommodation in the country.

The president, Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines
and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Dr. Theo Okonkwo, made the call at the weekend in a
chat with newsmen shortly after the one-day 2012 workshop / seminar organised
by members of Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), South East
zone at the Sunshine Guest House, Enugu.

According to Dr. Okonkwo, housing has gone beyond provision
of shelter as it has now become an avenue for employment generation, adding
that the importance of assisting the middle and low income classes own their
own houses cannot be over-emphasized.

The administrative bottle-neck in completing the process of
land approval and issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), he regretted,
had compounded the already worrisome situation in the country.

The ECCIMA president further maintained that in Ghana and
other West African countries, “it takes only 34 days to complete everything about
land approval and issuance of C of O to applicants”, pointing out that this had
helped in no small measure in making accommodation affordable and at the same
time assisted people to own their houses.

His words: “Home is not designed for any class of people. It
is also the same thing in other civilised countries of the world”, advising
government to be very sensitive to the plight of the people, particularly with
regards to the present high cost of building in the country.

In a paper presented
at the workshop, Arc. N. O. Onuoha, blamed the current shortage of
accommodation on the inability of the federal government to implement the
provisions of the National Housing Policy Decree No. 5, of 1989.

According to him, “The federal government has failed thus far,
the key provisions of the policy in particular, Section 6.5 (iii),
includes  the commercialisation of the
components and techniques evolved by the institute, The National Building
Research Institute which is non-existence”, he further regretted.

The theme of the workshop which was well attended by
stakeholders in the zone is “Housing Finance and Access to Land”.