Developer Charges FG On Affordable Housing

A real estate developer and investor, Oladipupo Ebenezar has charged the Federal Government  to take proactive measures towards making housing affordable to all a reality.
Ebenezar, a Port Harcourt-based property developer gave this charge in an interview with The Tide on Monday in Port Harcourt, during a land inspection tour to Igbo-Etche, in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
He called on the Federal Government to exert their political will in the overseeing of the reforms of the Land Use Act with a view of removing the bottleneck in the acquisition and documentation of lands.
He noted that the Land Use Act which was enacted for the purpose of making land available for ownership was now a hindrance to the delivering of affordable housing, saying, “this is far from achieving its purpose”.
Ebenezar further said, the Land Use Act reforms needed urgent attention in that it would reduce the encumbrances in obtaining certificates of occupancy, which he described as “tedious, time consuming and expensive”.
Additionally,   he enjoined the Federal Government to liberalise the processes of obtaining mortgages at government owned institutions to enable the average worker become a home owner.
On National Housing Fund (NHF), Ebenezer, called for a review to be done to relax some of the stringent measures militating against accessing the funds at single digit interest rate, stressing that shelter for the majority of the citizenry must be on the top priority, list of the government.

Tonye Nria-Dappa