The Managing Director of RevolutionPlus Property Development, Bamidele Onalaja, has restated his firm’s commitment to affordable housing for workers across the country.
He spoke at the inauguration of the company’s corporate head office in Ikeja, Lagos, at the weekend.
According to Onalaja, housing deficit dates back to 1957, when the first white paper on housing deficit was released.
Despite the past administrations’ policies to solve the problem, he explained, the issue has continued to linger, making the deficit to hit 17 million.
“As Nigeria’s population keeps growing, especially urban settlements, in terms of births and rural to urban migration, the demand for houses keeps growing as well but without a commensurate response from the government at various levels,” Onalaja said.
He called on the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, to champion the reform of the Land Use Act, create an enabling environment for families to acquire houses by liberalising the processes of obtaining mortgage at government institutions.
He recalled that between 1985 and 1993, former military president Ibrahim Babangida initiated the “Housing for all by 2020 policy,”, which, he claimed, has not yielded results because the houses, where available, are beyond the reach of the people.
Lagos State Surveyor-General Mr. Olutomi Sangowanwa praised the firm and other private investors in housing for their intervention in the state and country.
He further said the government alone could not provide housing for all, and that was why the banking sector, too, had keyed into the sector by providing mortgage facilities.