ABUJA – THE Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu says Nigeria requires additional 720, 000 housing units per annum to meet the rising demand for houses.

Wogu made this known at the 4th Building and Construction Economic Roundtable organised by the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) in Abuja on Thursday.

He said that Nigeria with a population of 167 million people, required 720, 000 housing units annually to ease the challenges associated with housing in the country.

The minister said this was to avert the imminent housing crisis by 2020 as successive efforts to meet this target had been unsuccessful over the years.

He said that with the housing-deficit at over 17 million, Nigeria like most developing countries was confronted with the problems of inadequate housing and high levels of underemployment.

“Lack of adequate housing for large sections of the population hampers the building of productive lives and their contributions to national development.

“Housing requires huge capital, which cannot be adequately met due to inadequate funding through budgetary allocations at the federal, state and local government levels.

“Government housing policy has therefore shifted to the mobilisation of private sector funds for housing construction.

“It was in a bid to address this housing deficit that the Federal Executive Council on June 20, 2012 approved the National Housing Policy and the National Urban Development Policy.

“Thus, demonstrating its commitment to the provision of enabling environment for construction and delivery of affordable houses for the MASSES.”

Wogu said this culminated in the emergence of a thriving housing sector with its inherent transformative capacity to create millions of jobs for Nigerians.

He said that the thrust of the housing policy of this administration was to ensure that all Nigerians own or have access to decent and safe housing in healthy environment.

He said that the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) launched in January would increase opportunities for Nigerians to own houses at affordable price.

He said that the project had a prospective job content of over 300, 000 jobs each of direct employment and creating 1.6 to 2 indirect jobs through multiplier effects.

Mrs Akon Eyakenyi, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development said that the ministry would join other stakeholders to evolve an innovative approach for mass housing delivery.

Eyakenyi said that this would help to bridge the housing deficit estimated at 17 million units.

She said that it would also entail the delivery of housing units on a massive scale through an integrated approach involving all stakeholders.

The minister said that this would be anchored on quality, accessibility and affordability as well as on the development of a well-designed master plan.

/NAN