Machine Level Templates

Housing is an important basic human need after food; as such, the method, structure, pattern, strategy and mode of its provision are usually contained in a policy. How well a nation performs in her evolved housing policy and how successful she is in achieving the established housing policy goals and objectives depends to a large extent on how serious the nation takes the issue of housing and how well the intricacies of housing problems are understood (Agboola, 2007).

In this section, attempts will be made to review housing policies and programmes adopted in the past in Nigeria. This will be achieved by reviewing the policies in terms of achievements, mechanisms put in place for the housing goals and objectives to be achieved and their weaknesses.

All these we intend to achieve by undertaking the analysis under different periods, ranging from the colonial period (up to 1960), the post-independence period (1960 to 1979), 1979 to 1983 and May 29, 1999 to date.

Colonial Period (Up to 1960)

During the early colonial period, the housing activities and policies of the Nigerian Government were based mainly on the provision of quarters for expatriates and for selected indigenous staff in some specialised occupations, such as railways, police, armed forces and education. During this period, the population growth could be said to be moderate and manageable; thus housing problems were more of qualitative than quantitative deficiency.

Hence, the existence of Government Reservation Area (GRA) for expatriate officials which can aptly be described as the era of ―housing reservations‖. No concrete efforts were made by the then government to build houses either for sale or rent to the general public and little was done to order the growth of settlements outside the reservation areas. At this period, development in public housing was limited to Lagos State and the regional provincial headquarters. The factors which informed this public housing development arising from these critical situations are as outlined below.

(i) The bubonic plague which ravaged Lagos State in the early 1920s brought into existence Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB) and the approval of the Lagos Central Planning Scheme, the first attempt at solving the problems of public housing in the state.

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(ii) The strike action by railway workers in 1945 forced government to build estate for such workers at Surulere and the outskirts of the then capital city of Lagos (Gbaja Randle Avenue and Akerele Extension).

(iii) The slum clearance of central Lagos, which was induced by the preparation for Nigeria‘s independence resulted in the building of additional houses in Surulere adjoining the workers‘ estate, this was the first attempt at housing and urban renewal. The Nigerian Building Society (NBS), created in 1956 was among other strategies and measures taken by the government to provide mortgage loans in order to satisfy Nigeria are, housing needs. The mortgage operations of NBS, however, recorded little success because of poor funding and response to the saving schemes of the society. Thus, civil servants were encouraged towards home ownership through the introduction of the African Staff Housing Scheme in 1956. Regional governments created housing corporations to provide housing for its people prior to independence.

The Post-Independence Period (1960 – 1979)

After the attainment of political independence, the need to strengthen, modernise and achieve rapid growth necessitated formulation and emphasis placed on the five-year development plans. In the First National Development Plan of 1962 -68, housing factor was not given particular attention but rather made to suffered complete neglect. Though the importance of housing was appreciated as contained in Town and Country Planning as Egunjobi (1994) rightly observes that the problem of overcrowding in the Federal Territory of Lagos and other urban centres is dwelling recognised by the plan. Hence, a target of 24,000 public housing units to be completed by the NBS with the African Staff Housing Fund was set. Agbola (2007) further submits that few achievements could be said to have been made by way of direct construction. The activities of the housing agencies were limited to the regional capital towns of Ibadan, Enugu, Benin City, Kaduna and Lagos.

Second National Development Plan (1970 – 1974) was formulated against the background of unprecedented growth in urban population and in the physical expansion of the cities of Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin City and Kaduna. These were brought about by oil boom and a significant rise in revenue from oil exploration during the first military era. These phenomena actually formed the basis for the housing programmes coupled with the outbreak of civil war between 1967 and 1970 in the plan. In 1971, the National Council on Housing comprising state commissioners in charge of housing matters

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was established. This marked the first significant and direct attempt by the Federal Government to intervene housing matters. This intervention led to the establishment of a National Housing Programme during the second plan in 1972. Consequently, the Federal Government intended to construct 59,000 dwelling units with 15,000 in Lagos and 4,000 in each of the other 11 state capitals in order to solve the urban housing problem and rehabilitate war-damaged dwellings. This actually led to the creation of Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in 1973 to coordinate a nationwide programme.

The Third Development Plan (1975 – 80) was adjudged the most comprehensive ambition and active intervention by the government in the housing sector in the history of Nigerian development plans. This was likened and attributed to the oil revenue realised by the country. Federal Government directly intervened and participated in the housing provision rather than principally leaving it to the private sector. During the period of the plan, N2.6 billion was earmarked for the implementation of the various projects. This represented about 5.6 % of the planned total expenditure in all sectors. With this allocation, 202,000 housing units were targeted for construction with 50,000 units in Lagos State and 8,000 units in each of the other 19 states. According to the first progress report of the Third Development Plan, performance in the housing sector has been grossly inadequate (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1976 and Egunjobi 1994). The second progress report emphasises that

―progress has been below expectation‖. Accordingly, less than 15% of the planned dwelling units during the Third Development Plan period were actually completed (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1991).

During the same period, as part of mechanism for housing provision and delivery, Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Environment was created in 1975.

This was charged with the responsibility of initiating and coordinating policies in housing related area. This ministry existed only for a brief period. Some decisions on housing were reached during this period. First, the setting up of a committee on standardization of house types, and policies, which marked the first attempt of government at recognizing the housing problems encountered by the low-income group who earned less than N3,000 per annum.

The recommendations of the committee further led to the acceptance of the Low Income Housing Concepts and Strategies of the World Bank.

Second, was the passing of the Rent Control Law. The Rent Panel of 1976 reviewed the structure and level of rent for the entire country. The recommendations of the panel resulted in the state rent tribunals to be established, which turned out to be ineffective in controlling rent. Third, was the passing of Land Use Act (FGH, 1991; Egunjobi, 1994 and

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Agbola, 1998). The Act was promulgated based on the recommendations of the Land Use Panel of 1977.

Another major event which took place during the plan period was the conversion of NBS in 1977 into Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria with a capital base of N20m which was later increased to N150m in 1979.

The 1979 to 1983 Period

This period coincided with the second civilian administration. During the period, due to increasing deficit of urban housing as well as its continuous deterioration in the rural areas, high priority was accorded housing provision. This development later induced an elaborate National housing programme, with the housing low-income groups as the target. These groups were those whose annual income did not exceed N5,000 for one bedroom core houses, and also the medium income group with an annual income not exceeding N8,000 for a three bedroom house. A total of N40,000 units were to be constructed annually nationwide with N2,000 units located in each state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. By June 1983, only 32,000 units had been completed, producing an overall achievement of just 20%

(FRN, 1990). The second phase of the programme which commenced with 20,000 units of two bedroom core houses, for low-income group failed to take off in most states. In fact, an estimated sum of N600m (316%) was expended out of N19 billion budgeted for building by the Federal Government in the fourth National Development Plan (1980 – 85). The overall impact of such investment on housing market was negligible. Notably, was during the period that the first housing policy was formulated.

1984 to May 28, 1999

Apart from the Fourth National Development Plan which extended into this period, the 1991 National housing policy was also formulated. This policy was drawn up by a ten-man committee in order to rectify the defects in implementation and inadequacies of past policies, objectives and programmes. The ultimate goal of the 1991 National Housing Policy was to ensure all Nigerians own or have access to decent, safe and sanitary accommodation at affordable prices by 2000 AD.

In fact, the policy was the second housing policy ever embarked upon by the country.

It was regarded as the most detailed and most debated housing policy because it addressed many vexed problems of the housing sector. For instance, the policy looked into the problems of availability and accessibility to land, building materials problems such as sourcing, cost and availability and dwelt extensively on the institutional apparatus and strategic modalities for policy implementation.

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Also, for the ultimate goal of the 1999 National Housing Policy to be achieved, the following structures, institutions and laws were created:

(a) Employee Housing Scheme (special provision) Act (Cap 107) (b) Federal Housing Authority Act (Cap. 136)

(c) Mortgage Institutions Act (Cap 231).

(d) National Housing Fund Act (Decree No 3 of 1992).

(e) Urban Development Bank of Nigeria Act (Decree No 51 of 1992).

(f) Urban and Regional Planning Act (Decree No 88 of 1992)

(g) Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund Act (Decree No 73 of 1993).

(h) Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Act (Decree No 82 of 1993).

(i) National Construction Policy, 1991; and (j) National Urban Development Policy, 1997.

The policy strategy was the establishment of the National Housing Fund Scheme to mobilise loanable funds from workers, which would be disbursed through the newly created primary mortgage institutions with the rejuvenated Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) playing the role of apex/supervisory body.

Despite the good intentions of the policy, as evident in its contents and various institutional apparatus established to actualise them, the performance of the housing sector remains practically the same at least in terms of inadequacy both in quantity and quality. As observed by Agbola (1995), there is a widening and frightening gap between aspirations, expectations and the capacity of realisation and a yawning chasm between the magnitude of demand and the capacity of supply.

From 1999 to Date

The situation in the housing subsector still remains as it was in the past given that in the beginning of 1999, housing development was grossly neglected. The implication is that successive governments did not place any premium on housing issues as being a priority because on many occasions no annual budgetary provision on housing was made.

National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS), a home-grown document, introduced a paradigm shift in the housing subsector. This paradigm shift lies on the reliance of private sector as medium of achieving economic growth. During this period, the 2002 Third National Housing Policy evolved. The evolvement of such policy was directly informed as a result of lapses of the 1991 housing policy. The main thrust of the policy is the use of the private sector as the fulcrum of the new policy. According to Agbola (2007), this represents a major shift in government‘s view on how to promote mass housing

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for the citizens. The essential ingredients of this policy were aptly described by Mabogunje as follows:

The main thrust of the new policy is to seek vigorously to make an increasing majority of Nigerians home-owners on the basis of mortgage finance”. This policy entails involving a large number of private sector, real estate developers and State Housing Corporations in the development of estates with houses for sale at affordable prices to low and middle income groups in the country;

promoting the growth of many small and medium-sized industrial enterprises to provide local construction materials of all types to keep the cost of producing houses within reasonable limits;

mobilising primary mortgage institutions to assist any Nigerian desirous of purchasing a house on how to access mortgage finance, restructuring the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria to be able to provide ample and abundant funds besides the National Housing Trust Fund to meet the secondary mortgage transactions for home-ownership; reviewing and amending all legislations necessary to facilitate the robust development of home-ownership in the country;

and setting up a Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to regulate, promote, monitor and supervise all of these changes. Mabogunje, 2004, p. 1

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CHAPTER THREE

LAGOS HOUSING MARKET AND ITS QUALITY