How promoting local content in building materials supports affordable housing
Affordability is a recurring decimal in any discussion that borders on housing and homeownership in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, where homeownership level is estimated at less than 5 percent of its large and growing population.
A major reason for housing un-affordability is the high cost of input materials which are over 75 percent imported. This is made worse by import duties and transportation cost which is caused by bad roads.
However, the ‘Buy Nigeria’ initiative being promoted by the government is, increasingly, gaining traction and acceptance in the building industry where a good number of materials manufacturers are promoting local content with their product offerings.
The implication of this is that material cost will be low and this is expected to trickle down to house prices, leading to affordability which will ultimately bring more home-seekers into homeowners net.
At the forefront of this push affordable housing through locally produced materials is the West African Ceramics Limited (WACL), foremost manufacturer of the ROYAL brand of tiles; grouts; and tile adhesives, which has, through these products, given impetus to local content in building materials production.
The company has, in the last couple of years, taken the Nigerian building materials market by storm, forming partnerships and pushing its frontiers with Royal Exclusive Showrooms in major commercial cities across the country including Abuja,Lagos, Kano, Nassarawa, Jos, Osogbo, Enugu, Lagos, and most recently Port Harcourt and Aba.
In Port Harcourt, the company has partnered with Marchambers Int’l Co Limited, a major building material dealership located along the stretch of East-West Road in Rumuigbo while S. Nnadi Commercial Enterprises partnered the company to set up the showroom along Faulks Road in Aba.
These partnerships are aimed to support government’s efforts at reviving the manufacturing sector and encourage patronage of locally produced goods. It would afford builders, project owners and other professional stakeholders the opportunity to reduce risk and lower projects cost.
“The Royal Exclusive Showroom initiative is our response to government’s efforts at resuscitating local production through effective distribution network to ensure that products are available at the right time, right place, and at the right price”, explained Bhaskar Rao, WACL’s general manager who spoke at the Port Harcourt and Aba showrooms.
Rao explained further that the delivery of the products was done in a way that encourages the consumer to cultivate and sustain the ‘Buy Nigeria’ behaviour “because they do not just buy products but the collective experiences of product quality, affordability, and reliability delivered; product knowledge and application; unmatched customer services; and all the functional attributes of the product.”
CHUKA UROKO