‘Building Materials Price Hike, Housing Policy Constraint’

Builders have revealed that the increase in prices of building materials is a constraint in government’s quest to build affordable housing for all.
The President, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Gbenga Tijani Shuaib, made this known is Lagos recently at a forum tagged Building Construction and Machinery Exhibition (BUILDMACEX).
Shuaib noted that failure of past administrations to provide affordable housing for Nigerians has made living conditions difficult for the citizenry.
He stated, “the present government has said they are going to provide housing for 100,000 people but I believe they can do it, if they really want to”.
He added, “my worry is that recently there has been increase in the prices of building materials so one wonders how government will be able to build low cost affordable housing for all”.
He recalled, saying, “some years back, a two-bedroom house could be built at the cost of N1.5 million but now it costs over N3 million”, pointing out that there were deficits in housing but that factors responsible, include the exchange rate, noting, “since 2014, statistics have shown there are 17 million housing deficit in Nigeria”.
On exchange rate; he said, “ it is now worse because the naira exchange rate to a dollar has increased, government should do something to bring down the rate which will help to bring down the cost of housing.
He blamed the current spate of building collapse in the country on building engineers architects and surveyors who use substandard materials in other to make huge profits.