An expert on property development and Managing Director of Realty Point Limited, Mr. Debo Adejana, says Nigeria requires about N59 trillion to meet her housing needs.

He noted that the amount has been increasing annually because there had been no serious efforts to solve the lingering housing problem in the country.

"Based on the current situation of an estimate of N3.5m per three-bedroom apartment, Nigeria will require N59.5trn to clear its outstanding deficit," Adejana told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

According to him, the housing deficit was estimated at about 17 million houses in 2009 and that the poor accounted for the largest chunk of the deficit at16 million houses.

Citing the United Nations Habitat statistics, he declared that Nigeria's housing deficit, which was 5.62 million houses in 2002, rose to 16 million houses in 2007, while lamenting that there was no mortgage market to assist the poor to meet their housing needs.

Adejana also cited inflation, currency devaluation and taxes as some of the other challenges affecting housing development in Nigeria. Apart from finance, which he said was crucial to housing development, he also recommended that there should be proper documentation of titles and infrastructure.