Nigeria’s Housing Minister Babatunde Raji Fashola has announced he will accelerate house building in 2017, as making a dent in Nigeria’s 17 million-unit housing shortage becomes a priority.

 

The Minister wants to make sure the houses are as affordable as possible for ordinary Nigerians – this could mean modular or prefabricated housing, which Nigeria mainly sources from abroad, and it will definitely mean more efficient materials. The second part of the plan is just as important – swelling the lending capital of the country’s Federal Mortgage Bank and easing credit terms, increasing take-up of the new houses.

“We will increase supply using the private sector as developers, while the government will then concentrate on strengthening institutions like the Federal Mortgage Bank to deliver on its core mandate of providing mortgages to workers to own their homes,” the Minister told journalists at a press conference to mark his first 12 months in office.

 

Nigeria has a frightening housing deficit – between 15 and 20 million housing units need to be built to satisfy demand. This is caused by a combination of demographic change and economic growth – Nigeria’s middle class is swelling by the year, and the country is now the largest economy on the continent, having comfortably outstripped South Africa in recent years. This need is nowhere near being met, so this will not be the end of the spending on housebuilding in Nigeria. 

 

This renewed assault on the shortage is good news for suppliers to Nigeria’s building sector, which is surging thanks to population growth and social change. Aside from staples like concrete, most of the materials fuelling the sector’s growth come from abroad – in some categories, such as construction machinery, import share is as high as 90%. Imported goods also dominate in categories like high-tech materials and production techniques – which will be absolutely vital if Nigeria is to deliver millions of new houses to a sensible budget.

 

Looking to meet some of the people behind the spending? AfricaBuild Lagos is running for the second time in Nigeria’s economic centre Lagos in February 2017 – visit the show’s website to find out who you can meet there and if your products will fit the bill for Nigeria’s buyers.