By Melvin Onwubuke
Developers have proposed better regulations to citizens access to land in the housing sector.
This follows a media briefing in real estate/reporter’s workshop held recently in Abuja tagged “Promoting Real Estate Investment Through Informed Media Alliance and Sustained Professionalism” as reported by The Punch.
Segun Abolaji, the Managing Director of Leisure Estate Limited, advised the government to make land affordable by regulating land ownership.
He said “There is no regulation for real estate in Nigeria, unlike in America, where possession of land is regulated. It is even more difficult for real estate people to apply for land and get direct allocations than the politicians who are not pressed to sell the land because they do not need the money and resell at exorbitant prices to real estate practitioners.
“Another factor why affordable houses cannot be realistic is because of the cost of cement and building materials. Only Gipson is sourced outside the country yet the cost of building materials is skyrocketing.”
He added “The government must make land affordable by regulating the ownership of land to achieve affordable housing. In addition, the Nigerian attitude to make more profit inflames the problem. People take undue advantage of every situation making the business challenging for the practitioners, because it all adds to make housing costly.”
He pointed out that to achieve affordable housing in Nigeria, there is a need for government to regulate the land ownership structure.
