Stories by Maduka Nweke
Real estate stakeholders have restated the need to check the dearth of data in the housing sector. This explains why the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), represented by the Statistics Department, the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in collaboration with other stakeholders will be organising a stakeholders’ conference on National Real Estate Data Collation and Management Programme. The conference is scheduled to hold on Thursday, September 28, 2017 at the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
The focus of the conference, according to a press release by REDAN, is to comprehensively collate and manage data for planning and decision making related top reconstruction, construction and post-construction activities in the real estate sector across the country. Specific areas of interest will include land administration practices, formal and informal housing activities, housing affordability mapping and other key indicators that will aid effective policy and investment decisions making.
The one day conference, which will be declared open by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, as the special guest will be attended by the Commissioners of Lands and Housing, Registrars of Deeds, Directors of Lands, Directors of Town Planning and Surveyors General from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Also, the heads of stakeholder agencies and Chief Executives of private organisations involved in the programme including Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria (MBAN), Building Materials Producers Association of Nigeria (BUMPAN), National Population Commission (NPC), Gesellschaft fürInternationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the World Bank/Growth and Empowerment Project (GEP), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Federal Ministry of Health, Value Chain Consultants, and Pison Housing Company, will participate and exchange ideas at the conference. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria and other housing associations are equally expected at the conference.
It is hoped that at the end of the programme, the nation should have realised the objective of the programme, which is to provide accurate and realistic data on the housing stock, housing types, mortgage facilities/institutions, occupied/unoccupied houses, tenement rates, selling/renting prices, skilled manpower availability, construction cost, prices for varying categories of houses in various locations and operational challenges.
Other vital data to be collected include cost of obtaining title documents, access to land and building materials, market prices for building materials, housing needs of various levels of income earners and families, affordability profiling, housing deficit, housing development prospects, jobs created and potential job opportunities
These would have been determined or developed and accordingly disseminated for easy access to economic managers, policy makers for planning, investors and international development partners. At the end of the exercise, it would be a worthwhile legacy that would be bequeathed to the housing industry for regular update.