Victor Onukwugha, the President of the Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria (AHCN), recently announced that the cost of housing units in Nigeria is gradually getting outside the income bracket of the average Nigerian.
He made the announcement at the opening ceremony of the 6th international conference on housing and exhibition, tagged, Housing Africa, 2022, with the theme, “Sustainable Housing Methods to Solving Housing Deficit in Africa.”
During his address he mentioned that low-income families are going to bear the brunt of the growing cost of residency.
“Our major objective in the association is to make decent accommodation accessible to Nigerians at affordable cost and that, of course, is one of the reasons behind this conference. Victor Onukwugha said.
“The importance of housing to mankind cannot be underestimated and it is the second most essential need of man after food. As important as housing is to mankind, the cost of housing units is gradually getting out of reach of people, especially the low income group. He added.
He also mentioned that external influences have played a huge role in affecting the cost of housing for the west African giants.
“The global economic and political crisis does not spare any continent as the effects manifest in the rising prices of virtually everything. The prices of housing units are continually on the increase and unaffordable especially in developing economies where people are not adequately empowered to acquire houses.”
Speaking further at the event, he noted that initiatives have been employed in the past to drive affordability and accessibility of housing for all social classes in the country, but said efforts have been met with overwhelming road blocks.
He said that opportunities to grow the sector are obviously prevalent, but the real estate industry has become increasingly difficult to manage.
“Certainly, the housing needs of the people are enormous and opportunities abound in the construction and housing sector, but what are we doing with these opportunities amidst high demand without corresponding supply?”
