INFRASTRUCTURAL
DEVELOPMENT, REAL ESTATE AGENCY RE BRANDING AND REVIEW OF NATIONAL HOUSING
POLICY: THE ROAD MAP FOR RAPID ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
With a population of about 173 million people,
Nigeria is the largest country in Africa and accounts for 47% of West Africa’s
population. Given these large reserves of human and natural resources, the
country has significant potential to build a prosperous economy characterized
by rapid economic growth through real estate rebranding leading to
infrastructural development that can significantly reduce poverty, inequality
and improve standards of living of the population through better access to and
quality of health care, education and infrastructure services (Falade, 2007).
One of the organization that has been promoting
real estate agency rebranding in Nigeria is The Real Estate Developer’s
Association of Nigeria (REDAN) which is the principal agency of the organized
private sector recognized by government and approved by the Federal Mortgage
Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) the apex mortgage lender in Nigeria to facilitate the
delivery of affordable mass housing in Nigerians (REDAN, 2015).
Housing policy in Nigeria is as old as
the history of the country. Thus, we can broadly categorize its historical development
under the five distinct phases of the colonial period (before 1960), the post-
independence period (1960-1979), the second civilian administration (1979-1983),
the military era (1984-1999), and the post military era (1999 to date). The
major characteristic of the colonial period was the provision of staff quarters
for expatriates and other indigenous staff of parastatals and organizations.
This era witnessed the creation of Urban Councils in 1946, the establishment of
Lagos Executive Board (LEBD) in 1954, the formation of Nigerian Building
Society in 1955, as well as the enactment of Regional Housing Corporation in
1959. Also, the post-independence period experienced some improvements in
housing provision during the First National Development Plan period (1962-1968)
and the second National Development Plan 1970-1974). Specifically, the formulation
of the National Council on Housing in 1971 led to further improvement in
housing delivery. The third National Development Plan (1975-1980) made further
improvements on housing programmes, policies and The transformation of the
Nigerian Building Society into Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria with the promulgation
of Decree No 7 of 1977 also brought some improvements into housing delivery in
Nigeria. The Land Use Decree (LUD) of 1978 was promulgated in order to
guarantee access to land by all Nigerians. Before the promulgation of the LUD,
dual land tenure structure was paramount in the country. The LUD came to stabilize
the ownership and acquisition of land. Also, during the era, the constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1979) laid emphasis on the importance of
local building materials and the relevance of labour and construction industry.
In this same year, the Employees Housing Scheme Decree No 54 of 1979 was
promulgated.
This decree made provision for staff
housing and housing estates. The housing policy in the 1980s and 1990s was the
means by which divided society was being created. The rural areas were
neglected and the housing stocks in the urban areas were improved upon. This
was as a result of high rate of urbanization and the subsequent housing
shortage in urban centres. The military era witnessed further improvements in
housing policies and delivery. This was facilitated by the promulgation of the
Mortgage Institutions Decree No 53 of 1989. The decree promoted the realization
of the major and specific objectives of the National Housing Policy. Furthermore,
the Economic Liberalization Policy of Babangida’s administration supported the
participation of the private organization in housing delivery. This was closely
followed by the promulgation of the Urban and Regional Planning Decree 88 of
1992 as well as the National Housing Fund (NHF) Decree No 3 of 1992. The NHF
was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring continuous flow of fund for
housing construction and delivery.
Prior to the millennium, the policy of
‘housing for all in year 2000’ was formulated. This policy was rigorously pursued,
but it was besieged by administrative bottlenecks which made the policy
difficult to be realized by the year 2000. Nevertheless, in year 2002, the
Housing and Urban Development Policy was formulated. This policy was meant
majorly to correct the inconsistencies of the Land Use Act as well as to allow
land banking and ownership to operate in a free market economy. The post
military era has been able to witness tremendous improvement in the Nigerian
housing situation (Akeju, 2007). However, the federal government policy on
monetization and privatization are negating the objectives of housing policies
and progammes. Other constraints to housing development and delivery in Nigeria
are poverty, high cost of building materials, inadequate financial instruments for
mobilization of funds, short maturity preference of lending institution, high
rate of rural-urban migration, as well as high rate of poverty (Kabir, 2004).
Infrastructural development through mass housing delivery in Nigeria will
significantly boost the economy of the nation.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Agbola
(1998) noted that the effort of the government in terms of the formulation and
implementation of the National Housing Policy is quite commendable. On the
other hand, he opined that the efforts have not shown remarkable improvement in
the status
quosince many Nigerians are still homeless while up till
this time, many are living in dingy and ramshackle structures. Another major
criticism of the policy lies in the area of monitoring, evaluation and review. An
housing policy is derived from laws, regulations and administrative practices
that can aid the production and delivery of housing. However, the researcher is
of the opinion that infrastructural development e.g. good housing can only be
achieved through crops of professional real estate agents.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
following are the objectives of this study:
1. To
examine the level of infrastructural development in Nigeria.
2. To
determine if real estate agency rebranding can contribute to economic growth.
3. To
identify the effects of national housing policy on infrastructural development
in Nigeria.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What
is the level of infrastructural development in Nigeria?
2. Can
real estate agency rebranding contribute to economic growth?
3. What
are the effects of national housing policy on infrastructural development in
Nigeria?
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
following are the significance of this study:
1. The
outcome of this study will educate the professionals in building industry on
how the rebranding of real estate agency and the national policy can enhance
infrastructural development thereby contributing to the economic growth.
2. This
research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researchers
interested in carrying out further research in this field subsequently, if
applied will go to an extent to provide new explanation to the topic
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This
study on infrastructural development, real estate agency rebranding and review
of nation housing policy as a road map to economic development will cover the
level of housing and other infrastructural development in Nigeria. It will also
cover how real estate agency rebranding can be used as a tool for economic
growth.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the
efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature
or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire
and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will
simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently
will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
REFERENCES
Agbola, T.
(1998). The Housing of Nigerians: A Review of Policy Development and
Implementation, Research Report No 14, Ibadan, Development Policy Centre.
Akeju, A.
A. (2007) Challenges to Providing Affordable Housing in Nigeria. Paper
Presented at 2nd Emerging Urban Africa International Conference on Housing
Finance in Nigeria. Held at SheuYa-adua Centre, Abuja, Nigeria. October 17th –
19th 2007.
Falade, J.
O. (2007) Planned City as Foundation for Sustainable City. Being the Text of a
Paper Presented at the Conference on Sustainable Cities Orgnaised by the New
Economic Partnership on African Development (NEPAD), held at Transcop Hilton
Hotel, Abuja. May 27-30, 2007.
Kabir, O.
K. (2004) Low-cost Technology and Mass Housing System in Nigerian Housing.
Journal of Applied Sciences. 4 (4): 565-567.