Incredible!
With N10,000, Abuja residents will soon become landlords
By FRANCIS AWOWOLE-BROWNE, Abuja
Monday, March 26, 2007
This may sound too good to be true, but it is a fact. Within
the next three years, with the Private Public Partnership
of the FCT authorities and a private estate management consultants,
struggling residents of Abuja can have keys to his or her
own house with payment of just between N10, 000 and N25, 000
as first installment.
That most Nigerians are living in squalor is undisputable.
In fact, over 90 percent of the nation’s 140 million
citizens, according to statistics, are vagabond. With the
hope of owning a house sealed, each of this population segment,
reports say, moves from one place to another in search of
decent accommodation, which often times are beyond their income
level. No thanks to the economic doldrums which confined majority
to living below the poverty line.
However, in the next three years, starting from Abuja , the
dream of most Nigerians to be a proud house owner may transform
to reality, when the on-going Private Public Partnership (PPP)
housing project between the federal authorities and a renowned
World Bank certified real estate developer comes on stream.
It would look a miracle of the century, if indeed, with as
little as N10, 000. Nigerians would get a key to a house,
as the project seeks to achieve. This should be a cheering
news to those whose houses have been demolished by the FCDA
and lost hope of building another one.
The pivot and principal consultant of the deal, which is being
coordinated and executed by Blue Royal Site Services, Prince
Olubunmi Faboro said the project of which the Federal Capital
Territory Administration (FCDA) had signed an agreement will
mark the beginning of a revolution in the housing sector in
the country. He explained that in the next three years 3000
low and medium income housing units, would have been delivered
if everything goes as planned.
According to him, his organisation in collaboration with the
Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made trade missions
to some countries, including Dubai which had conquered the
problem of inadequate affordable houses to their citizens.
Housing problem in Nigeria
Prince Faboro pointed out that affordable housing to the citizens
is a basic service any responsible government should be able
to provide. No government according to him could lay claim
to good governance without shelter. Shelter, he said, is a
compulsory requirement in life after food and clothing. On
the other hand, he explained that the business of provision
of housing is not the exclusive responsibility of government.
He stated that the private sector holds the key to affordable
housing and government world over, could only participate
as a facilitator. In Nigeria , he noted, many private operators
have come up with various types of housing arrangements and
schemes, as would have expected.
"However, the problem is that these houses are too elitist
and expensive for an average income earner to possess. This
is why less than two percent of the population can afford
the houses. The houses are that expensive because mortgage
based housing has not worked in Nigeria. Any interest rate
that is above a single digit cant help developers to deliver,
except the Mega banks rolling out products in real estate
reduce their interest rate, having a decent houses will continue
to be a mirage for the low and middle income earners in the
country.
"Going by the schemes on ground on housing as being bandied
by the private developers, no civil servants can get his own
house through any of the developers except of course, he or
she steals. This is why we are devising a new method of mortgage
housing which is accessible to all adults in public and private
sector, entirely different from what we use to have.
How it works
Prince Faboro, who is Chief Executive Officer of FHT Venture
Plc, the promoters of the Blue Royal Site and Services explained
that under the deal the authorities would facilitate the acquisition
of land that the investors would make use of. The investors
both local and foreign are expected to deploy their expertise
and technical know how. Federal Mortgage Bank, he added is
involved in rendering mortgage services. Prince Faboro equally,
suggested that there is an opportunity the billions of naira
in the pension fund held by the pension fund administrators
could be deployed to finance the houses, since the owners
of the funds are the same people that will benefit from the
mortgage based housing scheme.
"The availability of millions of naira mortgage can make
for decent houses. Depending on the years of service and age
of the beneficiary, when the scheme comes on stream, an average
adult can posses a house with the first installment payment
of between N10,000 and N15,000 and can pay for between 15
and 25 years." Incredible as this may seem, the Principal
consultant maintained that the houses would be that cheap
because materials for the house would be sourced locally and
would therefore be cheap. "Mortgage institutions have
low capital base and could not take on big housing projects,
and therefore banks delve into the service with huge interest
rates which when added together escalate the cost of the house
and pushed it beyond the reach of the common man. Except people
have access to mortgage, Nigerians would find it difficult
to own a house.
FCT partnership
The mortgage housing scheme is to take off in Abuja as a pilot
project. Prince Faboro disclosed that an agreement had been
signed and a proposal made to the Federal Capital Territory
Administration (FCDA) on the basis of PPP for the provision
of lands for both low and high income earners. Over 3,000
houses are to be delivered. By this arrangement, he is of
the view that prices of houses will fall, by the simple law
of demand and supply.
The consultant expressed satisfaction at the level of response
of the people to the mortgage based housing scheme. According
to him, people have been coming to obtain application. "We
have to start early and have people expressed their interest
so as to also ginger us into action. Application is available
to every qualified adults, the mortgage bank is ready to embark
on the processing while we undertake the practical and technical
aspect of it. We want to show to the whole world that cheap
and decent houses can be provided and that all Nigerians can
be housed without draining their pockets since they will pay
over a long period of time and we want to lead the way.
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