Stakeholder Seeks Review Of NHF Act

A stakeholder in the
building industry, Dr Victor Elenga, has called for a review of the National Housing Fund (NHF) to make it functional and workable to benefit the masses.
He has said that the National Housing Fund Act of 1992, which was designed to generate funds for channeling into the mortgage institutions, had not worked very well.
Elenga who was speaking in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt noted that housing is one of the basic needs of life, as good housing leads to higher productivity and self-esteem.
He observed that there were lots of conditions that poor people could not meet in accessing the mortgage financé funds which were also insufficient  in the face of increasing demand in house stock.
Elenga, an aluminus of the Rivers  State University of Science and Technology and an estate surveyor and valuer, said “if  you are well housed, you have better health”.
He said that most of the private developers were not  abreast with the Federal Government’s policy on affordable housing, which had contributed to the high cost of accommodation in major cities.
“There is no regulatory mechanism to compel  private developers to rent out their houses  within a given  period because it is not within the purview  of government.
“Most of the unoccupied housing estates were privately  built and the rent  could  not be  within the reach of the poor class.
“As we speak, there is no concrete measure or policy in place in both state and Federal levels to ease the difficulties in providing affordable housing.
“Delay in the issuance of titles and certificate of occupancy, minimal access to credit for private developers and failure of government to regulate rent also cause high rent”, he said.
He also said that Nigerians should be empowered economically to be able to own their  houses,  adding that it would be impossible  for the government alone to address  the housing deficit by directly building houses for the people.

Corlins Walter