Akwa Ibom State Housing
Policy
The State government has adopted a primary goal to ensure that all persons in
Akwa Ibom State own or have access to descent, safe sanitary housing
accommodation at affordable cost with secure tenure through private sector
initiative with government encouragement and involvement. The government will
make efforts to achieve this goal through the implementation of the State
Housing Policy.
The following actions are to be taken immediately:
- Commence and vigorously pursue implementation of a
private sector-led housing construction programme in the state of one thousand
five hundred (l,500) housing units per annum with at least 50 units in each
local government area.
- Provide grants-in-aid for urban infrastructural
development and urban renewal projects through a restructured Urban Development
Bank.
- Complete all on-going and abandoned government
housing projects, especially the State Housing Programme and provide all the
complementary infrastructure.
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Functions of the State Government
- Formulate its own housing policy and programmes within the overall framework and
in the spirit of the national policy;
- Establish appropriate agencies and utilize State Housing Corporations to
execute, develop and manage housing programmes on commercial basis;
- Establish a State Committee of the National Housing Facilitation Council as
provided for in the Employees Housing Schemes (Special Provision) Act (Cap. 107)
for the purposes of implementing the provisions of the Act; and
- Further facilitate housing delivery by undertaking the certain suggested measures:
May 29, 1999 to date
On May 29, 1999, a democratically elected civilian government succeeded the
military government. At the inception of the new civilian administration the
federal government contemplated a new National Housing Programme under which it
would build twenty thousand (20,000) housing units throughout the federation
over a four-year period at the rate of five thousand (5,000) units per annum as
a demonstration of its commitment to the eradication of homelessness among
Nigerians. However, the implementation of the programme as envisaged is yet to
commence.
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Overview
Housing has been universally accepted as the second most important essential
human need, after food. Housing in all its ramifications is more than mere
shelter since it embraces all the social services and utilities that go to make
a community or neighbourhood a liveable environment. The problems of housing in
Nigeria are enormous and complex, exhibiting apparent and marked regional
differences. In most of our urban centers, the problem is not only
restricted to quantity but also to the quality of available housing units and
environment. The result is manifested in growing overcrowding in homes,
neighbourhoods and communities; and increasing pressure on infrastructural
facilities and rapidly deteriorating environment.
The scenario is only slightly different in the rural areas where the problem is
primarily not just that of poor quality of housing only but also that of
inadequate infrastructural facilities like roads, drainages, water, power
supply, etc.
Another important characteristic of both the urban and rural scenes is the
absence of the basic needs of the poor and the low-income group. It has been
estimated that over ninety per cent (90%) of the country's population are of the
poor. and low income group.
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Goals and Objectives
The ultimate goal of the State Housing policy shall be to ensure that all Akwa
Ibom people own or have access to decent, safe and healthy housing accommodation
at affordable cost. In order to achieve this goal, the state government shall
pursue the policy objectives and strategies stated hereunder.
The policies and programmes of successive governments as enunciated in chapter
one did not satisfy the quest of the average Akwa Ibom people for housing
principally due to lack of political will. Emphasis for obtaining sustainable
housing delivery shall be placed on the strategies for successfully achieving
the goals and objectives of this Housing Policy. Since the creation of Akwa Ibom
state, there has not been a Housing Policy for the State.
- Develop and sustain the political will of government for the provision of
housing for all Akwa Ibom people;
- Provide adequate incentives and an enabling environment for greater private
sector (formal and informal) participation in the provision of housing;
- Strengthen all existing public institutions involved in housing delivery at the
state level;
- Encourage and promote active participation of other tiers of government in
housing delivery;
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Institutional Framework for Housing Delivery
Institutional framework forms the structure of the entire housing delivery
system and the structure within which housing policy is implemented greatly
influences the success of housing delivery. Institutional roles begin at the
initial stage of policy development and continue through to implementation,
monitoring and review stages.
A major factor on which the fundamental relationship between the various
actors in the housing delivery system can be achieved is the flexibility to
adjust to dynamic socio-economic and political changes without unnecessary
disruptions to the system. It is therefore desirable to constitute, maintain and
sustain the State Council on Housing to coordinate policies and programmes on
housing matters.
- Formulate its own housing policy and programmes within the overall framework and
in the spirit of the national policy;
- Establish appropriate agencies and utilize State Housing Corporations to
execute, develop and manage housing programmes on commercial basis;
- Establish a State Committee of the National Housing Facilitation Council as
provided for in the Employees Housing Schemes (Special Provision) Act (Cap. 107)
for the purposes of implementing the provisions of the Act; and
- Further facilitate housing delivery by undertaking the following suggested
measures:
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Land for Housing
THE CHALLENGES: The main challenges of availability of land for housing are those of
accessibility, ownership and use. These constitute great obstacles to
development in the public and the private sectors of the economy;
GOAL: The thrust of government's land policy is to make building plots available at
the right time, in the right place and at reasonable prices for people willing
to build, to ensure the provision of services and infrastructure and also that
building plots can be used for building purposed without delay in accordance
with the conditions laid down in planning law.
OBJECTIVES: In order to achieve this goal the appropriate tiers of government shall pursue the following specific
objectives:
- Enact supplementary or amending legislations to facilitate the effective and
efficient implementation of Land Use Act;
- Control the use of urban and rural lands through effective physical planning;
- Facilitate availability of serviced land;
- Ensure security of tenure to land; and
- To keep proper records of land transactions by establishment of Land
Registries, cadastral and township maps in relevant development.
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Housing Finance
It is impossible to mobilize substantial long term funds to finance housing
development and delivery without a well coordinated, effective and efficient
housing finance system. Therefore, the pivot to a State Housing Policy is hinged
on sustainable finance.
The three conflicting objectives which are the characteristics of housing
finance that have to be resolved are:
- Affordability for households;
- Viability for financial institutions and developers: and
- Resource mobilization for the expansion of the housing finance sector within the
framework of the national economy;
The following are the problems often associated with the financing of housing;
- The non-availability of long-term funds to individuals, financial institutions
and estate developers requiring long-term funding;
- Significant, intermediation efforts because housing finance institutions are
expected to end on long term even though their funds may be mobilized on a short
term basis; i
- ntermediation in housing finance is extremely sensitive to inflationary
environment given its long term nature; and
- The limited ability to mobilize resources effectively for low income housing.
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Building Materials and Construction Costs
The building materials sub-sector cannot be left to develop haphazardly since it
is intricately connected to the process of national industrial development and
in any case, the expansion of local capabilities is one major way to stem the
indiscriminate importation of foreign building materials. It is therefore,
necessary that Nigeria should gradually and systematically develop appropriate
capabilities to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of basic building
materials and components from local resources by the year 2015.
The upward trend in the cost of basic building materials can be attributed to
national macro economic factors. The major causes of high construction cost can
be identified as follows:
- Increase in import duties on construction plant and machinery;
- The depreciation of the Naira vis-a-vis major currencies;
- Infrastructural inefficiencies (roads, electricity and telecommunications);
- Collapse of formerly thriving building materials sub-sector;
- Absence of new building materials factories due to high cost of finance;
- Lack of consistent policy formulation, which make long term planning impossible;
- Over-priced contracts;
- Shortage of skilled manpower; and
- Increase in labour (artisans, etc) cost.
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Low Income and Rural Housing
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Housing Demand and Planning
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Policy Coordination, Monitoring, Evaluation, and review
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The low income group is here defined as all employees or self-employed persons
whose annual income as at year 2003 is N100,000.00 or below (i.e. the equivalent
of salary grade level 01 - 06 in government service). Interestingly, the
national minimum wage is N48,000.00 per annum. In reality, most employees who
work outside the public sector or even outside the organized private sector as
well as many self-employed Nigerians earn well below the national minimum wage.
Furthermore, for the purpose of achieving the ultimate goal of the State Housing
Policy which is to ensure that all Nigerians own or have access to decent
housing accommodation at affordable cost, consideration must be given to the
fast growing class of Nigerians who are not employed.
In the light of the above, a conservative estimate of Nigerians who fall
into this "low" category could be put at about 90% of the population.
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The lack of a housing data bank has been a factor militating against proper
budgeting and attention needed for the housing sector. There is a need to
predict the housing plan for the next ten (10) years on a properly articulated
demand and supply basis for effective execution within a habitable environment
based on detailed demographic pattern and projection.
- Set up data banks at the state Ministry of Housing and Urban Renewal.
- Set up data banks at the state and local government levels and network
same into the data banks of the Federal Ministry of Housing & Urban Renewal.
Ensure that the State Housing Authority performs its complementary role to the
state Ministry of Housing and Urban Renewal in data collection.
Ensure that the Ministry of housing and Urban Renewal prepares a state housing
plan to include among others land and location within the state grid,
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The effective monitoring of the housing sector is an essential component of the
housing policy. Regularly updated data on housing is needed to monitor the
performance of the housing sector periodically and to supply both the private
and public sectors with necessary information for decision making in responding
to effective demand within the housing sector.
In realization of this, the government will strengthen existing
institutions for co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation of the progress made
in the implementation of the State Housing Policy through the following:
- Ensuring that the State Council on Housing is more active in its role of
co-ordination between the state government and the local government areas.
- Strengthening the Housing Policy Council in the ministry to enable it perform
its monitoring role and to enhance its capacity for data collection on housing
indicators used in evaluating the performance of the housing sector.
- Constituting a committee of experts outside government to evaluate the
performance of the housing sector at least every 2 (two) years.
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