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Nigeria: Workers Groan Over Rising Cost of Housing in Abuja
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Daily Trust (Abuja)
4 July 2008
Posted to the web 4 July 2008
Mohammed Haruna Yusuf
Civil servants and other workers in both the public and private sector level continued to groan over the consistent rise in the cost of property in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
This is as a result of the frequent influx of people into the city to engage in various activities so as to have a means of livelihood thereby mounting tremendous pressure on the few available houses.
Some of the workers who spoke to Daily Trust lamented that poor housing scheme coupled with a large population has turned them into certified and regular squatters and in the process, they cause serious discomfort to the house owners.
In view of the high cost, an employee, Sani Maishanu, said that getting an affordable house in the FCT has been a total disaster because the city only accommodates rich individuals while the low income earners are left inhabit in areas that are partially habitable.
He said that people have to resort to rent houses as far as Mararaba in Nassarawa state at cheaper rates, adding that it aggravates their hardships in getting to the city centre.
Hamza Ibrahim, another employee, noted that government should ensure proper housing policies that would consider the welfare of the low income earners by building affordable houses and setting up infrastructure to ease the enormous difficulties they are passing through.
A businessman, Alhaji Garba, said that the government has to put in place structures for the ever growing population in the FCT by developing more areas to accommodate the people, pointing out that the relocation of the capital to Abuja has caused severe hardships to the people.
While responding, the Managing Director/CEO of Infinity Homes, Mr. Banjo Obaleye, maintained that developers are wallowing in debt and "that is the main reason why you don't see estates springing up," noting that the developers have no money to venture into this huge business.
According to him, before erecting structures, the market demand has to be checked in order to meet up with the specific needs of the people and government should ensure that good infrastructure are provided before allocating the lands.
He stressed that the people and government waste large plots of land to build bungalows which occupies space instead of erecting blocks of flats that would accommodate as many people as possible, noting that a major crisis that people face is that they view housing not as a necessity but as an investable stock.
"We have a very bad orientation on mortgage culture because once you leave housing to the dictates of demand and supply, the masses would inevitably suffer and bear the burden," pointing that frameworks and policies should be mapped out to befit the people.
He stressed that the Federal Office of Statistics must have enough information on immigrants so as to ensure proper planning instead of building small houses. "Why can't the government build terraces and estates?" he asked. The problem is that we cannot maintain then so we should not be complacent to retire our fate. To this effect, the FCT administration has to open and develop some infrastructures at the other end of the city as a solution to the housing menace, he added.
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His words, "the so called master plan is supposed to be reviewed," noting that improved technology and rapid development causes exigency demands to acquire property and therefore leaders should look inwards to set up plans that would move the country to greater heights.
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