THE REVIEW OF THE HOUSING POLICY OF NIGERIA GOVERNMENT

INTRODUCTION

Housing policy is a plan of action, a statement of aims and ideas or a statement of intention made to guide activities in a particular field of endeavour e.g. housing (Agbola 1998). In other words a policy is generally a statement of intent usually made by the government or organization to a subject which is meant to guide the subject activities by stating it goals, objectives, and strategies to achieve the goals, the institutional frame work and the required finance, human and material resources.

Housing policy is a guideline provided by the government which aim at meeting the people housing needs through a set of appropriate strategies which involves fiscal institutional level and regulatory framework (Abiodun 1985).

According to Sanusi (1997) housing policy is a document which provide the basis for government action a well as the yardstick for programme performance and evaluation.

This research work is aimed at analysis housing policies of the Federal government of Nigeria from Pre-independence: The success and the failure of the scheme. 

HOUSING POLICY IN NIGERIA

In many developing countries, including Nigeria, urban housing crisis is escalating unabated despite a number of new policies, programs and strategies being engaged in by public and private sectors in addressing this problem. Government has recognized that the majority of those in need of housing in many less-developed nations in Africa, Asia and South America are in the low income categories and that some require special housing programs to be able to live in decent housing.

In the aggregate housing policy is a working document which gives direction and substance to a set of procedure and activities meant to solve a nation housing needs.

The stated aim of housing policy has always be to provide affordable housing to accommodate all of a nation housing in a liveable environment.

Since market solutions and funds may not be suitable for housing this category of people and in view of the vital role housing plays in the socio-economic and political development of any nation; governments in these countries have over the years been engaged in public housing provision. In Nigeria however, from the debut efforts of the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB) in 1928 to date, public housing provision in this country has continued to lag behind the demand for housing, as almost 90% of the nation’s housing stock is provided by the informal sector (UN-HABITAT, 2006).

Since public housing provision is principally carried out by government agencies and their collaborators, the paper argues that one vital step to addressing myriads of challenges in public housing provisions in Nigeria is to identify areas of weakness in public housing agencies and subsequently address such weakness for enhanced productivity. It is for this reason that the study investigated the contextual and organizational challenges related to public housing provisions in Nigeria in the post independence era. The focus on post-independence era is based on evidence in the review of literature showing that conscious effort by governments in Nigeria to construct houses for the general public and formulate National Housing Policies started after independence from the Great Britain in 1960 (Onibokun, 1985) . The study attempted at using key organizational components to assess areas of challenges in public housing provision among government agencies in the study area. This is with a view to assisting public-sector housing policy makers and program managers chart future pathways for improved performance in public housing provision and management in Nigeria.

AN OVERVIEW OF HOUSING POLICIES IN NIGERIA

The housing policies and programmes in Nigeria highlights four periods of official intervention in housing delivery. These are:

1.     The colonial,

2.     Post-independence,

3.     Second civilian administration,

4.     Post Second Republic periods till the Present date.

COLONIAL PERIOD

In the early colonial period, the housing activities and policies of the government in Nigeria focused mainly on the provision of quarters for expatriate staff and for selected indigenous staff in some specialized occupations like railways, police etc. This marked the advent of Government residential areas (GRAs) in Nigeria. The basic idea in the GRA policy was to provide habitable housing and housing environment for those expatriate administrators comparable to the best in their respective countries. Their housing quarters were well planted, with all the possible comfort, services and amenities; including water, closed sewers, electricity, and abundance of open space and recreational areas. The idea of housing reservation was thus initiated and implemented in Lagos and in regional and provincial capitals throughout the country. In 1955, the concern for slum clearance brought the central Lagos slum clearance scheme into effect.

The scheme opened up Apapa and later Victoria Island as high and low density areas of Lagos. The Surulere housing scheme in Lagos, which was established in the late 1950s, was partly designed to provide temporary residential housing for the displaced people from the slum areas of central Lagos. The scheme however became permanent housing for such families as a result of problems associated with the re-allocation of redeveloped land in central Lagos. Efforts by the Lagos Executive Development Board (L.E.D.B.) at solving public housing problems in the Lagos metropolis thus resulted in the following schemes:

       i.                        Workers Housing Estate and Re- Housing Estate;

     ii.                        Akinsemoyin and Eric Moore Housing Estate, Surulere;

  iii.                        Workers Housing Estate (Phase II), Surulere;

  iv.             Freehold Housing Scheme and Site-and-Services Estate at Surulere, Apapa, Southeast and Southwest Ikoyi, Lupe and Isolo Estates.

In 1958, the Western Regional Government pioneered the establishment of housing corporations. Other regions soon followed suit. The main function of the housing corporations was the construction of housing units for sales to members of the public and the issuance of loans to whoever wished to build their own houses on their land.

POST- INDEPENDENCE PERIOD (1960-1979)

The post-independent period places emphases on the five-yearly development plans as an instrument for economic growth. In the first two plans, the housing sector was virtually neglected. Further deterioration was witnessed in the housing situation during the civil war period, especially in the war-affected areas. The third plan period (1975-1980) introduced the most comprehensive and active intervention by the government in the housing sector. The period recognized the housing problems and aimed to increase the supply of housing to a substantial level through government participation.

SECOND CIVILIAN ADMINISTRATION PERIOD (1980- 1983)

This period witnessed a tremendous increase in the interest and involvement of public sector in shelter delivery, and the importance of the shelter sector within the overall economy. Most of the strategies and activities during these periods may be seen to be in conformity with enabling concept, public production of shelter remained their common feature. The period witnessed huge failures, when government allocated #1.9 billion for housing construction, in all the twenty states of Nigeria, including Abuja. By June 1983, N600 million (37.5%) had been spent to complete only 32,000 units, yielding an overall achievement level of just 20 percent. The period coincided approximately with the fourth national development plan period. It witnessed the continued increasing deficit on urban housing as well as its continuous deterioration in the rural areas. The beneficiaries of this programme were identified as the low-income earners whose annual income did not exceed #8000. It is pertinent to mention that this phase of the programme failed to take off in most states, and that the shelter policy came to an abrupt end in December 1983, making way for a fresh look at the shelter sector which has culminated in the new National Housing Policy.

POST SECOND REPUBLIC PERIODS

The post second republic period was when much activities in the area of housing was not done at the onset of this period as it has been very much transitional one, in which the Federal Government was preoccupied with the preparation of a new and more relevant National housing Policy. This policy was finalized and launched in February 1991. The policy has since become operational as the detailed modalities for its implementation have been put in place. The poor performance of the National Housing Policy in meeting its set goals and objectives led to a comprehensive review, which culminated in the Housing and Urban Development Policy of 2002.

The new National Housing Policy was proposed in 2002, and its first draft, came into publication in January 2004. The major thrust of the Housing and Urban Development Policy is to meet the quantitative housing needs of Nigerians through mortgage finance. The policy was revised in 2004 entailing strategies for housing provision and the institutional framework for it. As proposed by the Presidential Technical Committee on Urban Development and Housing, the framework for its operation involved restructuring of existing structures and the creation of new ones.

THE MAJOR NATIONAL HOUSING POLICY AND THEIR OBJECTIVES

THE 1980 NATIONAL HOUSING POLICY AND PROGRAMMES

NHP was formulated during the civilian regime by Alhaji Shehu Shagari (1979 – 1983) and it represent government housing in the fourth national development period (1950 – 1985) the policy was a reflection of the state constitutional obligation which seeks to provide suitable and adequate shelter for all it citizens. It focus on

       i.            Individual ability to build their own houses on government service plot

     ii.            Revitalization of the Financial institution to ensure access to credit facilities.

  iii.            Reduction in the independent on imported material and promotion of local building materials.

  iv.            Direct construction of 40,000 low income housing between (1980 – 1983) at the rate of 2000 unit per state.

As a reflection of government constitution responsibilities the 1980 NHP aim to provide suitable and adequate shelter for all citizen and among others the objectives include the following:

1.     To improve and increase overall quality and quantity of housing by increasing substantially the  rate of new housing production at the highest standard affordable by each income level at the same time upgrading services and living condition in the existing deprived areas.

2.     To ensure that the provision of housing unit is based on realistic standard which the prospective home owner can afford.

3.     To give priority to housing programmes design to benefit the low income group or economically weaker section group of the society defend as earning N2500 per annum.

4.     To mobilized housing fund from all sector, public revenues, private saving and private sector investment and also credit facilities.

5.     To encourage private initiative and activities in the production of houses and also ensure that these conform to the general policy framework.

6.     Reduce the dependency on import and encourage local production of building materials.

7.     Provide infrastructure services for facilitating the creation of site in particular for self help housing programmes.

8.     An initial target of 2000 dwelling unit to be aimed at annually by both private and public sector effort.

9.     The state government to provide land and formulate their housing policy.

THE 1991 NATIONAL HOUSING POLICY

The 1991 housing policy is a response to the need of the ever expanding housing problems of the majority of Nigerians arising from the inadequate of the policies and programmes. The federal government initiated a policy process in (1985) and formulated new national housing policy in (1991). According to the policy document, “the ultimate goal of national housing policy shall be to ensure Nigerians own or have access to decent housing accommodation at affordable cost by the year 2000 A.D. The policy objectives are to

1.     Establishment of appropriate institutional frame work for effective planning in housing

2.     Revive existing laws and regulation such as land use decree, planning law etc in other to  facilitate housing delivery.

3.     To improve finances, and strengthen the executive capacity of local government to enable them contribute more efficiently to housing delivery.

4.     Mobilized private sector participation in the provision of housing.

5.     Provide site and services to facilitate home ownership and orderly urban and rural development.

6.     To restructure the Federal mortgage bank (FMB) of Nigerian to service as an apex housing finance institution.

7.     Mobile saving through the establishment of national housing funds.

8.     Encourage research into and promote the use of locally produced building material as a means of reducing housing cost.

9.     Increase the quantity and improve the quality of man power needed in the housing sector.

10.                        The ensure preparation of national housing plan and spell-out the details and strategies for achieving the objectives of the housing policy.

THE 2006 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HOUSING POLICY

The inability of the earlier policy sound programme to adequate resolve a backlog of housing problem in the country reveals the need for more pragmatic solution and so this forms the basis for the review of the 1991 national housing policy. Given the important of housing the national economy the federal government of  Nigeria set up 15 – men committee on urban development and housing in year 2004. One of the responsibilities of the committee was to articulate a new housing policy.

The new national housing policy of (2006) aimed at removing impediments realization of the housing goals of the nation. The goals of the policy is to ensure that all Nigerian own or have access to decent, safe and healthy housing accommodation at affordable cost. The goals is similar to that of a 1991 policy except that the fulfillment of the policy is not targeted through a specific date or future year. The scope of the policy has also be wider to include some of the issue put under the 1991 housing policy.

The objective of 2006 national housing policy as stated as follows:

1.     Develop and sustain the political will of the government for provision of housing for all Nigerian.

2.     Provide adequate incentive and enabling environment for greater private sector (formal and informal) participation in the provision of housing.

3.     To strengthen all existing public institution involved in housing delivery at the federal level.

4.     Encourage and promote active participation of all the tiers of government in housing delivery.

5.     Create necessary and appropriate institutional frame work for housing delivery

6.     Strengthening the institutional frame to facilitate the housing delivering.

7.     Develop and promote measure that will be long-term sustainable and cheap funding for the housing sector.

8.     Government shall patronized a develop and promote the use of certified locally  produced building material as the means of reducing construction cost.

9.     Ensure the use of the relevant and full register Nigerian professional to provide appropriate design and management of housing delivery.

10.                        Develop and promote the use of appropriate technology housing construction and material production.

11.                        Make land for housing development easily assessable and affordable.

12.                        Develop and promote the national housing market

13.                        Enact law and make regulation to prevent and control fire incident in Nigeria.

14.                        Improve the quality of rural housing, rural infrastructural and environment.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HOUSING POLICIES IN NIGERIA

The national housing policies and programmes implementation have recorded a mixture of failure and success. The success being in the area of institutional establishment and refund, increase allocation of fund to the housing sector, construction and allocation of houses, increase loan disbursement, increase provision of service plot, mortgage finance refund, private mass housing support etc. however, the level of achievement is not commensurate with the effort and finance put in an has not meant the housing need of the common man.

One of the several explanation that could be offer for this unfortunate situation is like earlier housing policies were fragment while the programmes (mainly direct construction) where ad-hoc and narrowly conceived. They were short term measure meant to address localized housing problems in specific part of the country. Perturbs, the failure of the difference programmes is not unexpected. This is because observation across the world have shown that central government are inefficient in housing provision (Turner  1976). The Nigerian experience with direct construction attest to this assertion as most programmes have not only fall short of target, but have fallout to be more expensive. Hence, Onibokun (1990) has rightly observed that the government programme of direct construction have turn out to be game of number, and impressive political statement with negative effect.

The fact remains clear that quantitative and qualitative increase in the existing stock can only be achieve through comprehensive policies approach which seeks the involvement of institution, private organization, co-operative and individual in the production process. This perhaps inform the formulation of the 1980s and 1991 housing policy respectively.

The policies are grant strand ameliorate housing problem in Nigeria (most especially the low income group) because they provide bases as well as strategies for housing delivery and management. A major merit of 1991 national housing policies in particular is that is the direct government thinking from direct provision to that of direct providing enabling environment for housing provision and management.

PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC HOUSING IN NIGERIA

PERIOD PROGRAMME	TARGET	ACHIEVEMENT LEVEL
First National Development Plan(1962-1968)	v Planned construction of 61,000 housing units.	v Only 500 units less than 1% of the planned units were constructed. The political chaos and the resulting civil war (1966-1970) contributed to the marginal progress recorded during this period.
Second National Development Plan(1971-74)	v Establishment of National Council of Housing (1972) to advise the government on housing matters and Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in 1973 to co-ordinate public housing provisions v Plan direct construction of 59,000 ‘low-cost’ housing units across the Federation.	v 7,080 housing units representing 12% of planned houses were actually built.
Third National Development Plan (1975- 1980)	v -Creation of Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Environment and conversion of Nigerian Building Society to Federal Mortgage bank of Nigeria (FMBN). v Promulgation of the Land Use Decree (1978) v Planned construction of 202,000 low-cost housing units nationwide.	v 30,000 housing units representing less than 15% of planned houses were actually completed
4th National Development Plan (1981- 1985)	v National Housing Program launched for the first time in 1980. Earmarked N1.9 billion for the construction of 160,000 housing units, for low-income people v The second phase of the housing program set out to construct 20,000 housing units across the country	v A total of 47,234 housing units representing about 23.6% of planned housing units were constructed in the first phase. The second phase was cut short by the military coup of 1983
Military Governments (1986-1999)	v National Housing program planned 121,000 houses on Site and-Services housing program between 1993 and 1995 v 1988 National Housing Policy launched to provide Nigerians access to quality housing and basic infrastructure. v 1991 National Housing Policy was launched with the goal of granting all Nigerians access to decent housing by 2000 in response to the slogan “ Housing for All by the year 2000” of the United Nations.	v 5,500 housing units (less than 5%) of planned houses were actually constructed. v Provision of rural infrastructure through the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI)
Civilian Governments (1999-2014)	v The New National Housing and Urban Development Policy (NHUDP) launched in 2002 with the goal of ensuring that “all Nigerians own or have access to decent housing through private sector-led initiatives”. v Planned construct about 10,271 housing units through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements in different PPP housing schemes across the country. v Planned construction of 500 housing units in the Presidential Mandate Housing Scheme in all 36 State capitals and Abuja. v Government planned a pilot project involving the construction of 40,000 housing units per annum nationwide.	v 2000 serviced plot through PPP site and service in Ikorodu, Lagos. v 4,440 housing units completed in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Akure and Abeokuta, through PPP. v The Presidential Mandate Housing Scheme did not take off in many States. In Ogun State about 100 housing units representing 20% of the planned units were constructed. v Records of the achievement level of the pilot projects are not available.

Source: Ali (1996); Omole (2001), Ajanlekoko (2002); Mustapha (2002); Bello and Bello (2006); UN-HABITAT, (2006); Olotuah (2010).

The table above shows the performance level of all the National housing policies from pre-independence to date. Right from the unset of the various housing policy in Nigeria there have numerous achievements in the formulation of various policies and programme to enhance adequate and affordable housing unit for Nigeria.

However, it is clearly shown from the table that none of the policies formulated have been able to achieved its planned objectives and goals. For instance in the First National Development Plan (162 – 1968) it has the target of construction of 61,000 housing units. But only 500 units less than 1% of the planned units were constructed. Likewise the military government housing policy of 1986 to 1999 out of 121,000 housing units only 5,500 housing units were actually constructed

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

From the foregoing, it is evident that there are challenges in the provision of affordable housing that is quantitative and qualitative adequate by public sector in Nigeria since independence in 1960. Some of these challenges are contextual and are primarily due to the external social, economic and political environment in which public housing schemes were conceived, designed and implemented while others are organizational challenges within public housing agencies. The current study is primarily concerned with the causes of, and possible solutions to these challenges.

No successful nation is private reliant, the public sector have their function to play in housing policies. The constraining factor that has limited their performance as highlighted in this project need to be visited. Housing is very important to any nation, it existence is of great benefit to the user or owner and the nation at large/ a nation with it teeming population become houseless is a failure. It is hope that, the underlying factors of effective housing policies shall be solved if the recommendations provided are strictly followed.

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