Expert Wants State Of Emergency In Housing Sector

The Chief Executive of Fesadeb Communications Limited, Mr Festis Adebayo, has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the housing sector to address effects of  population growth.
Adebayo, who was the convener of the just-concluded 13th Abuja International Housing Show, made the call in Abuja.
According to him,  the population of the country is growing at a geometric rate, while the government is working at arithmetic progression.
He said the Federal Government’s efforts could not match  the country’s population growth rate.
“The 18 million deficit cannot still be same,  everyday we are increasing in number  without increasing in ideas, policies and political will.
“The government should declare state of emergency in the area of housing; you cannot be selling cement for N2,500  and  then ask one to deliver a house for two million naira.
“The cost of building is very high, so government should act now before it will be late, “ said.
Adebayo said that government should not be involved in building houses, but it should come up with policies that would encourage people to invest in the sector.
He advised relevant authorities to focus more on what is called “Rental Housing Scheme’’ which he defined as “own and pay accordingly” .
Adebayo also called on the government to ban importation of building materials to encourage the use of local materials.
The Tide that the United Nations  Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Leilani Farha, had  advised Nigeria to address its housing problem during her visit to the country. According to her,  the United Nations estimates that Nigeria’s population will double by 2050 to around 400 million people to make it the world’s third-largest nation after India and China.
She said that there was  lack of adequate housing in a country where most inhabitants lived on less than two dollars a day in spite of being Africa’s largest economy.