Estate surveyors urge housing programme reform for affordability

Estate surveyors and valuers have urged the federal government to reform its housing programme with a view to building for the masses and making housing affordable, noting that a good number of Nigerians cannot afford what are on offer in the housing market at the moment.

The professionals who call themselves land economics have also advised the government to inject money into housing and power, insisting that any money available now should be injected into housing projects as such projects will generate immediate employment for all kinds of workers.

Bolarinwa Patunola-Ajayi, the new President of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), who made this call at the 46th Annual General Meeting of NIESV in Abuja where he emerged president of the institution, explained that, by the time the government reformed its programme on housing, there would be enough houses for the masses.

“The government should inject money into housing and power; any money available now should be injected into housing projects because such projects have the capacity to generate quick employment for all cadres of professionals and sundry workers”, he said.

Continuing, he noted, “the situation in the country presently is really tense; Nigerians need a programme that will give them relief; by the time some of these projects kick off, activities will start and by the end of the year when we will taking stock, we will see that things have really improved”.

The president argued that if there was regular power supply, Nigeria could boost of solving 50 of its national problems, stressing that available funds should be injected into housing and power.

He assured that his tenure would see NIESV become a household name, pointing out that their job as surveyors was in the area of property management, valuation, facility and project management plus estate agencies.

“My desire is to see that the institution attains international standard and stands out as the best in the world wherever it is mentioned”, he said, adding that it was too early in the day to comment on government’s activities on road, power and housing as they were still working on the budget.

“The Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Babatunde Fashola is really trying, though ruler ship is a matter of delegation of authority, he should be able to manage all the ministries; works, power and housing are all connected; all he needs is a synergy with those managing the sectors and when they come together, they can map out strategies for putting things in place for national interest,”he said.

According to him, land management was very important, saying that getting professionals to manage land was also important. “Our institution is ready to see that all land parcels, houses, titles, are well managed. People can have access to land, use their land to access loans either to buy land or to do their business”, he emphasised.

CHUKA UROKO