The Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has called for stronger land, mortgage and institutional systems to speed up inclusive housing delivery across Nigeria.
The call came at the 15th meeting of the National Council on Land, Housing and Urban Development (NCLHUD), which opened in Sokoto on Monday and runs through October 16.
The meeting, themed “Strengthening Mortgage, Land and Institutional Systems for Accelerated and Inclusive Housing Delivery,” brings together federal and state officials, as well as professional and regulatory bodies in the housing sector.
Sokoto State Commissioner for Lands, Housing, Survey and Country Planning, Nasiru Aliyu Dantsoho, said the theme was chosen to ensure housing policies promote access to decent, affordable housing for every citizen.
He described as worrisome Nigeria’s housing deficit, estimated at over 14.5 million units, noting that about 50.6 million people live in unsafe housing conditions. He called for urgent and sustained interventions.
Dantsoho advocated a cut in mortgage interest rates from current double-digit levels to single digits, and an extension of repayment periods from 25 to 35 years, saying both would make homeownership more accessible.
He also urged expansion of mortgage financing beyond the formal public and private sectors to cover informal-sector workers, including traders, farmers and other self-employed people, who he said make up a significant share of the population but are often excluded from housing finance policies.
The commissioner further urged financial institutions, including the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), to provide adequate funding and introduce flexible repayment plans suited to the income patterns of different categories of borrowers.
Dantsoho stressed the need for states to digitise land administration systems to improve efficiency, promote transparency and ease access to land for housing development.
Sokoto State’s Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Lands and Housing, Engr. Ahmad Moyi Tambuwal, outlined the state’s efforts in this area. These include digitising land records, shortening the time needed to process Certificates of Occupancy, and providing land for mass housing projects under the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Housing Programme.
“The delivery of adequate and affordable housing requires more than the construction of houses,” Tambuwal said. “It also depends on efficient land administration, accessible mortgage finance, effective policies and stronger collaboration among government institutions and private-sector stakeholders.”
In his introductory remarks, the Ministry’s Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Mukhtar Iliyasu Umar, said the Council offers an important platform for stakeholders to examine challenges in the sector and develop practical solutions.
He said the meeting will follow a three-stage process of consideration, harmonisation and adoption of policy recommendations. According to him, the quality of the final decisions will depend largely on the depth of technical analysis, the quality of recommendations and the effectiveness of harmonisation.
Reports and recommendations from the technical sessions will be harmonised for consideration at later stages of the meeting.
The Ministry reaffirmed its commitment to accessible, affordable and inclusive housing for Nigerians, and expressed confidence that participants’ contributions would provide a sound foundation for the Council’s decisions.
NCLHUD is a forum for sharing experiences, harmonising policies, identifying institutional gaps and developing recommendations to improve land administration, expand access to housing finance and accelerate housing delivery nationwide.
