Chief Bisi Ogunjobi is the Chairman, Board of Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). The former Vice Chairman African Development Bank (ADB) spoke with OLUFEMI ADEOSUN and a few other journalists in Abuja on the challenges facing the operation of the National Housing Fund and the urgent need to amend the Act establishing the fund in line with the current reality in the housing sector.

In your remarks during the last sensitisation workshop on National Housing Fund, you spoke on the challenges facing the fund, as well as the need to review the existing Act governing it. Can you throw more light on this?

My statement was an analysis of the situation. It talks about the challenges we are facing, the operational environment, and the achievements of the fund, particularly in the last two years. First and foremost, it would interest you to know that the NHF is 25 years old and as such, the Act guiding this institution by now has become obsolete. When we say obsolete, it is not with a negative connotation; what we are saying is that the parameters that were used at the time of setting up the institution have changed because of the dynamic situation in the Nigerian economy. For example, we say you have to contribute 2.5 per cent of salary earned. If you are earning N3, 000 a month, how much was the minimum wage at that time compared with the N18, 000 we have today? The 2.5 per cent of N18, 000 today amounts to N450.How many years would you contribute 450 for you to buy a house of 5 million? That is to say yes at that time, the amount was sufficient, but when you look at the situation today, it is not correct anymore. Therefore, there is a need to reverse or amend the act to take care of the current issues.

I also said that, like most agencies in this country, one cannot say that the performance has been optimal, there is no need to deceive ourselves, but I did clearly state that over the last two years, the contributions and collections which we have been able to make which is about N22bn is over 40 per cent of what was collected over the last 18 years. We have our weak points and our strong points, all we need do make the scheme achieves its desired result of adding to the country’s housing stock, is to build on the strong points.

Apart from the Nigerian Workers who are statutorily mandated to contribute this 2.5 per cent, are there other stakeholders that are captured in the Act?

Yes, the amount being paid is not limited only to these stakeholders, but also to commercial banks and insurance companies in the country. According to the Act, the two categories of stakeholders are supposed to make investment into the NHF. However, up till-date, they are not doing so. The Central Bank of Nigeria that is mandated by law to enforce the contributions of the commercial banks has equally failed to do so.

How then do you intend to work with the management of the FMBN to restore confidence in the scheme? We know that till date, not all the states in the country have signed up to it.

You are correct, till date only 18 states are contributing to the scheme. However, what we have been doing over the last two years is to convince and persuade the states that have withdrawn to come back and in the last two years, more than 10 states have come back so we have 8 left and we are working to see how they will come back. The question then is, how would they come back? They need to see the benefits of their contributions to NHF and that will bring us to the production of housing stock. Over the last few years, FMBN has been making efforts to increase production of the housing stock. As part of the strategies to win back confidence, we now engage in dialogue with other relevant stakeholders like the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) Nigeria Employees’ Consultative Forum (NECA), Trade Union Congress, (TUC) with a view to ensuring that we have a common understanding. Apart from that, we are equally committed to making the NHF a key element in the provision of houses to the Nigerian populace.

But more importantly, one of the things which this institution is going to do is to strive toward efficiency as an institution. We must provide good services to the people; we must have new products and that is why we say we are not just holding ourselves to the NHF providing ministry, we are expanding this, not just to the civil servants, but to the private sector and the informal sector. We have also worked out a model which would enable Nigerians in the diaspora own houses of their own. All these encompassing strategies are aimed at widening the scope of the fund, thereby making it attractive to contributors.

It is a known fact that the current N5billion capital base of the FMBN is grossly inadequate to cater for the housing need of the people. What efforts are you making to ensure the bank is recapitalised?

About two months ago, President Goodluck Jonathan made an announcement that they were going to recapitalise the bank. But again, we also need to look at the parameters because FMBN is not the only avenue by which the government put money into housing. The ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development itself is a very big channel for the provision of housing. Apart from that, government has also created what we call the National Refinancing Corporation which will address another aspect of provision at houses to the upper segment of the society .So government is looking at various ways, and the state governments are also doing their own beat, the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police and the Navy are all making contributions. It is in this regard that we cannot look at FMBN figure in isolation. Secondly, what is the correct figure of the housing demand? When we talk of 16 million deficit, how robust is that statistics? For me as an economist, we need to look at that very carefully, because in most developing countries like Nigeria, statistics are just somehow. It is when all these issues are looked at critically that we can put a figure on the needed capital base.

Do we really need accurate statistic to know that a good number of Nigerians are homeless? It is a common sight all over the country and government seems comfortable with it.

There is no government that has the objective of making people perpetually homeless. If you say that policies are not effective, I can understand. Again, why are policies not effective? I am not giving to superlatives. Based on the N200billion recapitalisation proposal by the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Amal Pepple, we are looking at various segments of the society and under that arrangement, FMBN is supposed to attend to the lower end and the middle while the high income group will be handled by another scheme, called NRC.

Towards extent will all these efforts help in bringing down the high cost of housing in the country?

First of all there has to be a distinction between the houses built by FMBN and other models. None of the housing projects financed by the bank can be more than N5million. Again, I must also tell you that a lot of factors contribute to the high cost of buildings in the country. Most of the materials are imported from abroad and as such come with prohibitive cost which invariably affects the actual value of houses. So it is not the FMBN as an institution that will address that; it is a job for the entire country. And that is why in the minister’s speech at the last stakeholders’ meeting, she said the new product which the ministry is coming up with will not only consider infrastructure, model of houses, but at same time the one that will ensure that a two bedroom cost N3.5 million, one-bedroom N1.5m respectively. The pilot project is ongoing in Nasarawa State.

In order overcome challenges confronting the housing sector in Nigeria, built experts have joined other stakeholders, calling for speedy review of the regulatory and legal framework of institutions and practices obstructing mass delivery of affordable houses to the citizens.

The experts who made their position known during a two-day conference tagged, Abuja Housing Show organised by FESADEB Communications Limited, said this was necessary in order to accelerate development in the housing sector.

Besides, they said the review of the laws became imperative in order to influence housing policy and delivery with a view to proffering solutions to the nation’s housing backlog.

The review, experts reaffirmed, must affect the following real estate related laws as a matter of urgency: The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Act (Decree 82, 1993); Primary Mortgage Institution Act (Decree 53, 1989); National Housing Fund Act (Decree No. 3, 1992); Land Use Act 1978; Mortgage Institution Act; Federal Housing Authority Act (1990); Trustees Investment Act 1990; Insurance Act 2002; Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund Act (1993); Employees Housing Scheme (special provisions) Act; Public Lands Acquisition Act and; Federal Government Staff Housing Board Act. The conference was held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, last week

Speakers at the summit want the Federal Government to stop paying lip service to the need to pursue an aggressive private-sector driven real estate and mortgage finance market, with privatisation, structural and institutional reforms as ways to enhance depth, liquidity and efficiency of the sector.

As at the last count, the nation’s housing deficit stands at 17 million. In a communiqué signed by the facilitator of the housing summit, Mr. Festus Adebayo, stakeholders, comprising estate developers, lawyers, bankers, government officials and policy makers canvassed for the transformation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), into a government interventionist agency to stabilise the market and enhance investors’ confidence through the application of government- backed guarantee.

They also urged the Federal Government to declared “a State of Emergency” in the housing sector, canvassing the creation of special stimulus package or intervention fund similar to what was done for the agriculture, aviation, education and maritime sectors.

The speakers said there was need to create sufficient awareness on the housing situation in Nigeria, urging collaboration with government on a workable housing policy for the nation. They stated that there was need to liaise with research centres for effective research on housing and make the results of such research efforts available to government and practitioners for implementation.

Some of the recommendations made at the end of the summit include: ”Facilitating the collection and analysis of genuine and reliable data on housing with a view to providing quality information and data for planning purposes; facilitating the process of housing delivery by private and public agencies; networking with other faculties and other professional bodies in the built environment in all desirable ways towards enhancing housing delivery process in Nigeria.”

The summit called for the provision of land and basic infrastructure by government to reduce the huge capital outlay on private developers.

They also called for comprehensive restructuring and reorganisation of the Federal Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development in order to make it more effective as the ministry strives to implement the new Housing and Urban Development Policies.

Recurring accidents, unprecedented traffic jams and continued public outcry on the state of disrepair of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will soon become a thing of the past as President Goodluck Jonathan launched its reconstruction and expansion at the weekend, assuring that adequate funding arrangements have been put in place to ensure its completion in 48 months. DAYO AYEYEMI, reports.

President Goodluck Jonathan has assured Nigerians, especially residents, commuters and motorists plying the dilapidated Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that adequate funding would be made available to see its reconstruction through to completion as scheduled.

The president disclosed this at the weekend during the flag-off ceremony for the reconstruction and expansion of the road at Shagamu Interchange, Ogun State.

While assuring Nigerians that his government is committed to timely completion of the project, he explained that adequate arrangement for its funding has been put in place.

Besides, he stated that his administration has commenced negotiation with The Infrastructure Bank Plc (TIB), to complement Federal Government’s contribution to the project cost.

He said, “In addition to annual appropriation for the project, this administration has commenced negotiation with The Infrastructure Bank Plc (TIB), to complement Federal Government contribution to the project cost. “With this arrangement, funding is assured and the project can be completed as scheduled.”

He maintained that the flag-off of the reconstruction and expansion of Lagos- Ibadan Expressway was in fulfilment of his promise to re-award the contract after the termination of the concession agreement earlier entered into between the Federal Government and Bi-Courtney for reconstruction.

Contract for the reconstruction of Lagos- Ibadan Expressway, spanning 127.8 kilometres was awarded to Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) Limited at a total sum of N167 billion. Both companies have a period of 48 months to complete the projects.

It is estimated that 83,000 vehicles ply the road daily. The road project has been divided into two sections with section one spanning Lagos to Shagamu , while section two encompasses Shagamu to Ibadan.

Messrs Julius Berger is in charge of section one of the road which commences from Lagos to Shagamu interchange, while RCC is in charge of section two of the project starting from Shagamu Interchange to Ibadan.

The reconstruction and expansion of Lagos- Ibadan dual carriageway from Lagos to Shagamu, a total length of 43.6 kilometres, commences at Old Toll Gate in Ikosi-Ketu in Lagos State and terminates at Shagamu interchange in Ogun State.

The scope of work in section one involves the reconstruction of the existing two lanes carriageway in each direction and addition of a third lane to give three lanes in each direction.

The work also includes the construction of an interchange at Redeem Camp and five pedestrian bridges, as well as the maintenance of 10 existing bridges among other ancillary works.

From Shagamu to Ibadan, the project commences at Shagamu interchange in Ogun State and terminates at Ojoo interchange in Oyo State, and has a total length of about 84.0 kilometres.

The road is made up of a two-lane dual carriageway of 7.3metres for each direction. The works also include the maintenance of 12 existing bridges among other ancillary works.

The Federal Government had in 2009 entered into a concession agreement Messrs Bi- Courtney Highway Services to reconstruct and expand the road to 10-lane expressway.

Four years later and due to non-performance by the concessionaire which resulted in recurring fatal accidents, unprecedented traffic jams, security breaches, compromised public health and safety and the continued public outcry on the state of disrepair of this road, the concession agreement was terminated in May, 2012.

After two reputable companies were deployed by the federal authority to carry out emergency repair works on the road to ease the flow of traffic and at the same time, commenced the process of procuring the contracts for reconstruction and expansion.

After the procurement of contracts for the road was completed, two construction companies: Julius Berger Plc and RCC emerged as successful bidders and were subsequently awarded the contracts.

Expressing gratitude to President Jonathan for the intervention, Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, drew the attention of the president to other federal roads in the state begging for attention.

He mentioned Shagamu-Ogijo-Mosimi- Ikorodu road; and Shagamu-Papalanto highway as two federal roads that required urgent intervention in the state. He enjoined President Jonathan to compel the Federal Ministry of Works to consider the routine maintenance of Lagos- Ibadan Expressway when completed in order to safeguard the huge investment in reconstructing the highway.

In a statement by Julius Berger Plc, the company said the project would generate thousands of jobs during construction and promised to deliver on time.

Speaking earlier, Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolomemen, an architect, said his ministry would ensure that the reconstruction of the road is given adequate supervision to guarantee quality on completion.

He added that the federal authority would also collaborate with the private sector to ensure that the project is adequately funded in order to bring it to quick completion.

The road is the first dual carriageway in Nigeria, constructed over 35 years ago. The road is a major artery that connects Lagos, the economic nerve centre of the nation and host of major Nigerian sea ports to other states of federation.

Some of the dignitaries at the flag off include PDP Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Adejoke Adefulie –Orelope, cabinet ministers, former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Senator Bode Olajumoke, Alake of Egba, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, and Awujale of Ijebu, Oba Sikiru Adetona among others.

President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Mr. Mustafa Shehu, has urged the newly inducted fellows of the society to rededicate themselves to the cause of engineering profession.

The new inductees, who were ushered into the highest position in the engineering profession last week in Abuja at the society’s 2013 Second Quarterly Dinner, were also charged to uphold standards while carrying out their professional duties.

Shehu, who conferred the fellowship status on the new members, explained that the honour was being bestowed on them because they had been found worthy in learning, practice and contribution to the growth of the profession.

He urged them to always justify the confidence reposed on them by the society by upholding its ethics throughout the course of their professional careers.

”Fellowship of the Nigerian Society of Engineers is the highest honour bestowed by the society on members with in its fold who have been found worthy of such honour, in learning, practice and contribution to the growth of the noble profession of engineering, as well as to the development of his immediate society and the nation in general.

“Tonight, 39 of such engineers of distinction will become Fellows of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, joining the league of elitist professionals in delivering value services to the development of our beloved nation,” he said.

Rather than resting on their oars, the NSE president implored the new fellows to see their conferment, as a wake-up call to galvanise them and increase their interest in and contribution to the growth and development of the engineering profession and the nation as a whole.

He also said,’ This conferment must not be seen as an end in itself but an opportunity to be of greater service to the Nigerian Society of Engineers; supporting its projects and programmes and lending voice and muscle to any of its quests where possible.

“I, therefore, charge you to see yourselves as worthy ambassadors of NSE, especially at this time in our history when we are on a threshold of self discovery.”

While briefing members on some of the giant strides recorded by the executive, informed them that work on the construction of the Phase 11 of the society’s headquarters building, named National Engineering Centre, had reached and advanced stage.

Shehu, who solicited members’ support to put finishing touches to the building, assured that the next Council meeting of the NSE would be hosted in the auditorium of the building.

In the area of capacity building, he explained that the Engineering Practice and Resource Centre (EPRC), had been commissioned to deliver training and re-training of members.

According to him, he has taken delivery of educational software pack worth over N38.1million from MIDAS of South Korea to further boost the capacity of the training centre. These software, he maintained had been distributed to 12 Nigerian universities to boost the capacity of engineering students.

In order to make real estate safe for investment, the Lagos State Government is concluding plans to register all estate agents in the state for proper coordination.

The effort by the state government, according to the Director of Estate in the Ministry of Housing, Mr. Kehinde Alao, is meant to sanitise the sector of quacks and fraudsters, who are inflicting pains on innocent Nigerians in their bid to transact business in real estate.

Alao, who represented the Commissioner for Housing in Lagos State, Mr. Bosun Jeje at the exhibition of Luxury Living Africa Property in Lagos at the weekend, said, “There is need to sanitise the estate business by putting in place a regulation that will require you to register with the Ministry of Housing . The intention is to make real estate safe for investors.”

The Luxury Living Africa Property Exhibition, organised by Campaign Hype Limited, witnessed players in the real estate sector, including developers, building materials’ manufacturers, mortgage banks, investment promotion agencies and home automation companies, who came all over the country to exhibit their products.

According to the Head of the Organising Team, Mr. Steve Ike, the exhibition aimed at creating a platform for business promotion, investment opportunities and market development for all stakeholders in the real estate sector.

The Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), has inducted five new firms into its fold.

The firms include Great Scale Planner; Vistaplan Consulting; Igboloro and Associates; Racharkins Consulting; Tola Olayiwola and Company; and Biodun Adeyeye and Company.

Speaking during the Annual General Meeting/Induction Ceremony, ATOPCON’s President, Mr. Toyin Ayinde, said the association has grown its membership from 30 to over 90 members.

He stated that the association now has a befitting secretariat located at Alausa, Ikeja. One of the key challenges of the profession, Ayinde said was the inability of key players in the Nigerian economy, comprising policy makers and investors to appreciate the value of physical planning.

Ayinde, who is the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development in Lagos State, said that a change in the trend would lead to a turnaround in the practice of the profession.

He said, “As our services will be required more, firms will be busy, while members will be better fulfilled.”

He enjoined town planning firms to see a change in the tread as germane and make effort to promote the ideal of the profession from wherever they operate from. Expressing joy over the induction of his firm, Principal partner, Igboloro and Associates, Mr. Isaac Okumolawa, said.

“It is always a good thing to join your colleagues to brainstorm on major development of your profession.”

Meanwhile, first Vice President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Dr. Femi Olomola, has called for an upward review of the fee of town planners.

He described the existing scale of fee as peanut, urging ATOPCON to look at the modality of getting appropriate payment for their services.

He enjoined the association to do a study on how to improve charges for the services being rendered by town planners, noting that other professional bodies have devised means of charging appropriate fee for their services.

Olomola, while appreciating the progress made by ATOPCON, said he was looking forward for more cooperation between it and NITP as regards professional practice.

One of the pressing environmental challenges confronting the nation is desertification. Predominantly a northern phenomenon peculiar to the 11 frontline states, desertification has continued to eat up the country’s landmass with all its socio-economic implications. OLUFEMI ADEOSUN presents experts’ viewpoint on how to stem the tide.

Perhaps, because its effects does not manifest immediately, like other environmental challenges confronting the nation, the issue of desertification has not received the needed government attention. This is not to undermine the recent efforts by the Presidential Initiative on Afforestation, which culminated in the release of N5billion to raise one million seedlings in the 36 states of the Federation and the Great Green Wall programme in which N10billion was approved to tackle desertification in the 11 frontline states of the North.

This financial commitment, according to environment experts, was rather low when compared with the magnitude of the effects of desertification on the socioeconomic lives of the people. Yet, according to a recent UN report, Nigeria loses about 1,355 square miles of cropland and rangeland to desertification yearly with the 11 frontline states of Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara being the worse hit.

Besides, the country is also said to be losing approximately 320,000-350,000 hectares of land per year with over 35 million Nigerians facing threat of hunger and economic downturn.

Apart from the problem of inadequate funding, they also argue that not much has been done by government to mainstream issues of desertification into the country’s developmental agenda. It is against this background that the one-day brainstorming session convened by the National Committee on Ecological Problems of the Ecological Fund Office last week in Abuja, is viewed by experts and environment activists as a good step in the right direction.

With the theme: “Formulating Sustainable Drought and Desertification Control Projects,” the workshop which featured scholars from the university community and stakeholders from the environment sector, is aimed at strategising on how to formulate and drive projects that can effectively checkmate and control desert encroachment on a sustainable basis in such a way that would impact positively on the socio-economic well-being of the affected communities.

The Permanent Secretary, EFO, Mr. Goni Sheikh, an engineer, who chaired the brainstorming session, charged all the stakeholders to come up with practical knowledge-based ways of formulating and designing sustainable drought and desertification control projects. He raised the alarm over the increasing spate of desert encroachment in the country, stressing that over 35 million Nigerians are currently facing the threat of hunger arising from the scourge.

He said, “Between 50 per cent and 75 per cent of the 11 frontline are losing about 1,355 square miles of their cropland and rangeland as a result of desertification. Because of this development, Nigeria is believed to be losing approximately 32,000-35,000 hectares of land per year; with a least 35 million people facing threats of hunger and economic downturn due to the present scale of desertification.”

In order to forestall the drift and its attendant consequences, Sheikh therefore advocated more action in the government’s drive to rehabilitate and improve the agropastoral systems for a more effective and sustainable management of cropland, rangelands as well as evolving alternative livelihood systems.

According to him, the brainstorming session is organised to complement the various efforts of the Federal Government in combating the menace of desertification.

Also in his paper, entitled: “Combating Drought and Desertification in Nigeria-Lessons from other Sub-Saharan African Countries,” Prof. Emmanuel Oladipo took an exploratory analysis of the phenomenon and concluded that assessing the current status of desertification in Nigeria remained a crucial step in understanding and correcting the problem.

The environment expert, who described desertification as a chronic disease, enjoined policy makers across the three tiers of government to focus more on long- term projects to address both its direct cause (land management) and the indirect cause which is rooted in poverty and inconsistent government policies.

Other areas of focus, according him, include establishing priorities for desertification through detailed national assessment maps, involving the affected communities in all the processes and adoption of proven local and advanced technologies.

In the area of capacity building, Oladipo advocated the strengthening and upgrade of the Department of Desertification Control and Drought Amelioration to National Centre to Combat Desertification. According to him, doing so would enable it function as an office of interdepartmental and interdisciplinary technical management and coordination of desertification measures in Nigeria.

Explaining further, he stated that the CDD would also focus on formulation of the strategy and of the programme for management of desertification control, implementation of the management programmes and projects at national and even trans-boundary levels and conduct such activities like post implementation activities, environmental impact monitoring, evaluation, reporting where necessary.

In a paper: “Combating drought and desertification through strategic intervention” by Professor Haruna Ayuba, the environmentalist also canvassed for the establishment of drought and desertification information centre (DDIC), which according to him, will serve as an operational framework that provides practical and field based information to farmers, pastoralists and extension service regarding the type of soil, crop development, agricultural practices, pest management, irrigation requirements, climatic risks, stored water in the soil, water balance, crop field and weather forecast.

“There is need to also strengthen existing research centres such as the Centre for Arid Zone Studies, University of Maiduguri, the Lake Chad Research Institute(LCRI) Maiduguri, the Energy Research Institute(Sokoto),Institute for Agricultural Research(Zaria) and other related institutes that assist in tackling the problem of drought and desertification,” he said

The time is ripe for a new approach to the large-scale land deals that ultimately connect millions of consumers and savers in rich nations with millions of poor rural farmers in Africa, a new book by one of the world’s leading experts in such deals has said.

The book entitled, “The Great African Land Grab”, written by Senior Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Dr Lorenzo Cotula, was launched by Zed Books in London, yesterday.

The book charts path from harmful land grabs to people-centred investment in Africa According to a statement by the spokesperson of IIED, Mr Mike Shansha, the book showed how governments, investors, civil society organisations and farmers could act to ensure that investment in agriculture responds to the aspirations of poor communities, whilst providing returns on investments.

Cotula, a senior researcher at IIED said, “The growing body of evidence shows that the majority of large-scale land deals have had net negative impacts on local populations.

“They have rendered people landless without compensations, have broken links between land and livelihoods, culture and social identity and, in some cases, have sparked conflict.” It doesn’t need to be this way.

When properly structured, investments can create new opportunities for local producers – for example, where a company invests in a processing plant and sources from local farmers.

“Small-scale farmers remain the main source of investment in African agriculture, and it is through promoting investment in these farmers, not in their land, that African governments are most likely to increase food security,” he said.

But historical legacies, powerful forces in markets and policy, and biased legal frameworks make local landholders vulnerable to dispossession.

“The law offers strong protection to investors who acquire land, but the rights of people affected by the deals are weak under national and international law,” says Cotula.

“When competing claims come into contest, more vulnerable groups get squeezed out. The people the deals affect have little or no say, and gain few benefits.”

But, Cotula also warned that the debate on “land grabbing” has become polarised, and that this has not helped efforts to find practical ways forward. Strong views in favour of either large or small-scale agriculture ignore the evidence that demands a more fine-grained analysis of each model, and of the many models that involve collaboration between small and large-scale operators.

Cotula outlined what governments, investors, international agencies and civil society could do to promote inclusive models of investment. He said that without the necessary changes to policy, law, transparency and power relations, a better deal for Africa from incoming investment would remain elusive.

“Decisions taken now will have impacts for decades to come,” said Cotula. “The time has come for placing people at the centre of investment processes.”

Contrary to predictions of a promising sector at the beginning of 2013, the real estate sector has experienced a lull in the first half of the year owing to insecurity in the northern part of the country, kidnapping and jailbreak in the South East and South West. These factors are affecting the perception of investors in the sector. DAYO AYEYEMI, reports.

Except in Lagos and Rivers states where few developments, including the Eko Atlantic City Project and Greater Port-Harcourt City Project are ongoing, activities in the nation’s real estate sector have seen a decline in the last seven months, no thanks to insurgency and insecurity in the north which led to the declaration of State of Emergency in three states; fear of flooding as a result of climate change; kidnapping and jailbreak cases in the South East and South West.

Besides, efforts of government to revamp the sector through the implementation of the new housing policy have refused to yield positive results owing to bureaucracy and paucity of funds.

Although, the Federal Government promised to inject funds to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and establish the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company with the injection of $300 million by the World Bank, millions of Nigerians seeking a roof over their heads are yet to see these materialise.

While majority of developers are apprehensive of where to move into for housing development, perception of foreign investors about the insecurity in the country and safety of their investments has not helped matters.

According to analysts at Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC) in their monthly report for July, security risks would remain a major challenge in several parts of the country. Due to security challenge, it noted that Nigeria will continue to witness slow recovery in the real estate sector until security issue is resolved.

However, vacancy rate of residential apartments in exclusive quarters of Victoria Island and Ikoyi in Lagos, has continued to increase on the average of 45 per cent and 25 per cent, according to FDC’s report, despite availability of top quality properties in the locations.

Exorbitant rental prices in Lekki, Victoria Island and Ikoyi has also continued to weigh down on demand for properties in these enclaves, widening the vacancy rate It is on record that the supply of properties in these neighbourhoods outweighed the demand for them as buyers are unwilling to pay such high prices.

Rental values of properties in locations such as Yaba, Surulere, Maryland, Ilupeju and Anthony Village are also increasing due to influx of people who cannot afford exorbitant rental price demanded in highend neighbourhoods.

It is also noted in the first half of the year that there was higher demand for office spaces than for residential houses in the highbrow areas of Lagos. Prices of properties in highbrow areas of Lagos show that residential flats cost between N3m and N13m per annum; duplex goes for N3m and N20m; and shopping malls cost between N30,000 and N80,000 rent per square metre.

Speaking with National Mirror, Vice President, (South West), Real Estate Developers’ Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Mr. Akinloye Adeoye, maintained that the insecurity in the country has impacted negatively on the sector.

Explaining further, Adeoye said security challenge is affecting the perception of both local and foreign investors which, according to him, would not like to invest their money in troubled locations in the country. He explained that real estate activities in the northern states and Abuja have totally collapsed.

He said, “Even in the South western states of the country, the perception of investors is not favourable considering the jailbreak that occurred in Akure recently.”

The downturn in real estate activities in Nigeria, Adeoye said has further been heightened by high rate of unemployment in the country, adding that majority of the citizens are not empowered. To overcome the situation, he said the government must ensure that general peace returns to all the states of the federation.

He enjoined the Federal Government to inject funds into the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), adding that the Pension Fund should also be invested in mortgage to address the housing needs of low and medium income earners. By doing so, he expressed hope that there would be activities in the sector and the housing market would rebound.

Lagos-based estate surveyor and valuer, Mr. Akin Olawore, also attributed the slow recovery of real estate sector to insecurity in the country and dearth of funds in the economy.

Apart from insecurity, he said developers could not access funds, while people who need houses could not access mortgage owing to dearth of funds. Except the government injects money into the sector, he maintained that the situation would remain bleak.

Also speaking with National Mirror on the issue, President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr. Chucks Omeife, said, “The real estate sector is neither here nor there for now.” The NIOB president pointed out that the security challenge in the country had weighed down on investment in real estate industry.

He said, “When you look at the region where the issue of insecurity has escalated, the issue of development becomes the last thing anybody can think of. “Even in some areas where there are no serious security challenges, the general feeling is that of “wait and see”, and this has affected potential inflow of investment into the sector.”

He maintained that the period between when the security challenges started and when it would come to an end would reflect a decline in the output of the sector.

Declining output in the real estate sector, he noted is not good for the country considering the volume of predicted housing deficit.

According to him, lack of regulation in the sector has made it very difficult to predict the prevailing situation in the sector. “Yes, one can see different forms of development in the sector but the aggregate data that will inform and assist in arriving at a verifiable prediction or forecast is not available and this makes it a bit hard to determine the sector performance.

This is the private sector involvement,” he stated. On the government’s side, Omeife explained that a lot of work is being done in implementing the suggestions in the national housing policy, adding that the result might take time to be visible.

On the way forward, he said, “What I think is that if government can intensify efforts in implementing the provisions of the housing policy, then, we would have gained something that can greatly impact on the sector.”

Lack of implementation of policy, the issue of Land Use Act, housing finance, mortgage system and many others, according to him, have been the major challenges confronting the growth of the real estate sector If these inhibiting factors are removed, Omeife said this would give room for the creation of the much talked about enabling environment that would can impact on availability and affordability of real estate products.

The experts at the FDC expressed hope that with the Eko Atlantic project in Lagos, Greater Port-Harcourt City project in Port Harcourt and release of budget funds for infrastructure development, level of activities in the sector would increase in months ahead.

The report from FDC noted that the real estate sector witnessed an improvement in activities as new properties sprung up in different parts of Lagos including Ikoyi, Lekki, Ikeja GRA and Yaba among others.

According to the FDI report, demand for properties was influenced by three factors namely: Property rental price, quality of the property and availability of facilities.

It stated, “High quality properties with good facilities and a moderate price sold out quickly. It must be noted that the price of the property played a larger role in determining demand than the other two factors.”

But in Port Harcourt, according to the quarterly report by FDI, excess capacity compelled landlords to forgo the high price of properties.

“For example, the rental price of a duplex that would normally be let for N7m was cut to N3.5m,”it said. Also in Abuja and Port Harcourt (PH), findings revealed that commercial properties had a higher vacancy factor than residential properties in these cities.

In Abuja for example, it was noted that the need for residential properties came from high demand from civil servants who require accommodation, coupled with the limited supply of residential properties.

“Similarly in Port Harcourt, there is higher demand for residential properties as several federal parastatals located in other states have transferred some members of staff to their branches in PH,” it said.

In its latest assessment of the GDP, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), reported that the real estate sector grew by 11.09 per cent in fourth quarter of 2012, which is a considerable increase over the growth of 10.24 per cent recorded in the third quarter of 2012.

However, the sector recorded a decline in growth year-on-year as it grew by 10.41 per cent in 2012 compared to the 10.55 per cent growth recorded in 2011.

..Nigerian Breweries partners LASEPA on industrial tree planting

As part of efforts to combat climate change and global warming, the 2013 Tree Planting campaign took another dimension as private firms and agencies across the state joined the Lagos State Government to mark the day at different locations in the metropolis.

One of such originations is the Nigerian Breweries Plc, who partnered the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) to embark on industrial tree planting in the community.

Speaking, the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, said the state government has imported new species of trees from India for this year campaign. He disclosed that the state had planted more than 4 million trees in the last six years.

The governor revealed this at the 2013 Tree Planting Campaign held at the Total Filling Station, Mangoro, Agege Lagos. He said the state had exceeded ‘the one million trees target for 10 years’ it set in 2008 the first two years.

Fashola said the result of the trees planted so far was evident last year as the state was spared the heavy flooding which ravaged many states last year. He said: “It was not by coincidence, it was a result of our collective efforts at preserving nature to prevent her wrath”.

To sustain the campaign, he had gone a step further to import new species of trees from India to plant in the state, in addition to the ones he brought from Borno State.

Harping on the importance of tree planting exercise, he said the event was designed with the sole aim of “awakening the consciousness of every Nigerian on the unique role trees and other plant communities play in making our environment conducive for human habitation and to encourage everyone to plant and protect trees”.

He said this year’s theme tagged, “Green Is Peace” was in recognition of the fact that the absence of enough green, especially trees, “is a threat to the survival of all creatures that depend on oxygen”.

“We need trees to absorb the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to prevent us from suffocating”, he added.

“We did not do it alone, this achievement was made possible because the people of the state embraced the tree planting initiative. Today, I want to let you know that we will not relent; we will continue till our environment, our heritage and collective property is restored to its glorious state.

“The loss of arable land compels herdsmen to search for greener pastures and this creates conflict between them and farmers because their animals invariably graze on cultivated farmlands”, the governor said.

Also speaking at another event held at Oba Ogunji Road, Agege, the Managing Director, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Mr. Ola Oresanya, who represented Governor Fashola , said that the tone for this year’s event was informed by the need to preserve lives in the face of the recurrent situation of global warming and climate change.

The Industrial Tree Planting Day was also hosted by the Nigerian Breweries Plc in partnership with the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) at Iganmu, Lagos.

Stating the importance of the day, Governor Fashola described the initiative as a way to give back to the environment in one of the few ways the government can, thanking Lagosians for keeping faith with his administration since the state began the crusade to regenerate the environment by planting trees six years ago.

Listing the benefits of trees to mankind, the governor said, “Trees are germane to human existence; they are a direct and indirect source of food for man and animal.

The absence of green results in vegetal degradation, impoverished ecosystem, and decrease biological productivity that lead to food shortage, ill health, and low per capital income; situations we want to avoid in Lagos State.”

“We can see the negative effects of desert encroachment on northern Nigeria already; it is ravaging 11 out of 19 northern states and rendering land bare. The lack of graze on cultivated farmlands.”

The governor informed the audience that trees planting initiative has been institutionalised in the state through the setting up of Lagos Parks and Gardens Agency, which is already running.

Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr Nicolas Vervelde, said the gathering was to support effort towards a sustainable environment, adding that the partnership was not just to demonstrate global concern but “a way of making our own little contribution to the cause of environmental protection.”

One little change to how donors provide development aid could unlock the power of poor people in urban centres to address their problems, senior fellow in the International Institute for Environment and Development’s Human Settlements Group, Dr David Satterthwaite, has said.

In a new TEDx Talk, which he gave last month in Germany, Satterthwaite told the story of two innovative funds that have enabled low-income communities in more than 200 African and Asian cities to build and upgrade houses and improve water, sanitation and other important services.

They are exceptional cases of success, which could be replicated and scale-up massively if donors changed the way they operate.

Today, aid agencies and international development banks provide $125 billion a year in aid for national governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

But Satterthwaite explained that while donors justified their aid with images of poor communities, they rarely consult those communities about the aid they wanted to provide, nor were the projects they funded accountable to the urban poor, saying the result has always been bad projects that fail to meet local needs.

He said, “The other problem is that aid agencies were not set up to work at the local scale at which problems exist. To save staff costs, donors prefer to fund fewer large-scale projects than many smaller ones.´

Satterthwaite showed that another way is possible, describing how Urban Poor Fund International and the Asian Coalition for Community Action were set up to support slum or shack dwellers to drive their own development, with the funding and its use accountable to them.

The Urban Poor Fund International is managed by Slum/ Shack Dwellers International, a network of more than 30 national slum/shack dweller federations. It has supported over 200,000 households to build or improve their homes and to get tenure of their house plot and hundreds of other initiatives.

The Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA) has funded more than 1,000 community initiatives in 168 cities. Both funds are affecting the way city governments work, empowering low-income communities to raise more funds and work in partnership with authorities to develop their settlements and improve living standards.

There are now over 100 formal memorandums of understanding between federations and local governments. Thanks to ACCA there are now a hundred city-based funds that groups of savers from informal settlement co-manage with municipal governments.

Satterthwaite pointed out that the funds have achieved all of this with just US$35 million, a tiny sum when shared across so many countries, cities and communities.

“Imagine if just one per cent of aid, which is $1 billion was spent this way,” he said, adding, “We would truly transform our cities.”

With grim statistics emanating from the National Bureau of Statistics which suggest that about 112 million Nigerians live below the poverty line, real estate experts have unanimously concluded that the country would require more complex housing solutions as existing market terms are not directly affordable for the underclass.

They made this known in a communiqué issued at the end of deliberations during the 9th International Housing Finance Workshop in Abuja, which had its major theme as “Structural and Institutional Reforms in Housing and Housing Finance in Nigeria”.

The forum brought together some of the foremost and most enterprising of minds in real estate, construction and housing finance within and outside Nigeria to deliberate on various challenges affecting the housing and housing finance sectors and how these challenges could be tackled to ensure development in the sector.

The experts, who argued that government solutions at the current scale of the housing crisis are difficult, suggested that a large-scale market solution is required to roll out viable and profitable models to serve lower income groups of the nation’s workforce.

Apart from the development finance and efficient land administration required for low-cost housing, they maintained that sound governance, professional standards and norms, transparency, and good consumer protection would help the industry.

They pointed out that despite the unprecedented rise in property prices and its apparent negative impact on affordability, construction quality and standards are important to sustain the mortgage sector.

Blaming lack of secondary housing market infrastructure and weak foreclosure enforcement for the sluggish nature of the market, the experts bemoaned the high cost of land and construction materials, rising demand, urbanisation, high economic growth, limited supply of land, speculative trade in real estate are presently affecting the sector, describing mortgage products as inflexible, unaffordable, geared towards high-income customers.

Besides, they decried the difficulty to make precise estimates of the growth potential of the housing and housing finance sectors in Nigeria because of lack of a proper database on real estate statistics.

Suggesting growth potential for mortgage sector, the experts said within the next two decades, more than 80 per cent of Nigerians would reside in urban areas; a situation that would shrink household size considerably.

By implication, they noted that a significant middle class would emerge, mostly composed of young people who are eager to have their own modest homes, adding that as private sector lending for housing increases and access to middle/lower-income groups expands, scarce government resources would be freed for other social and economic needs.

This move, the experts said would develop a sound and accessible mortgage market.

While taking a closer look at primary mortgage market innovations and their role for housing supply, Mr. A. M. Adewole, the Director of Business Development and Operations for the Kenya-based Shelter Afrique, which was established by African governments, the African Development Bank, African Reinsurance Corporation and United Kingdom’s Development Finance Institution with the mandate of mobilizing resources for housing development in Africa, said that most African governments did not seem to take housing as seriously as they should, and have failed to provide meaningful incentives for those investing in low-income housing.

“But we (Shelter Afrique) are committed to financing housing initiatives across the various housing market segments and that includes social housing which had come to fore in the last couple of years. We have two platforms for intervention.

The first is through lines of credit to financial institution particularly financial institutions for on lending to people on very low income to build or improve their own homes,” he said. Describing the low-income groups as the most forgotten of Nigeria’s population, Adewole said that currently, the private sector housing market caters for the upper-middle income and high-income groups, leaving the lower middle and low-income unattended.

He said, “The middle and low-income earners in Nigeria represent over 85 per cent of the overall population; these are part of the target group which I strongly encourage investors to turn their attention to, and engage with all manner of decent, stylish and affordable housing concepts.”

The Shelter Afrique boss said that Nigeria was still far from offering affordable lowcost housing because the cost of constructing a house was still prohibitive.

He said, “Single minded large scale housing programme is required as current approaches while well intended are not sufficient and if we must build at an unprecedented scale, the challenges of technology, economic viability, and capacity must be overcome to succeed,” he said adding that “a decisive shift towards manufacturing based housing solutions offer the best chance of meeting the challenges.”

The Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen at the weekend came down hard on the contractors handling Federal Government road projects, stressing that he would no longer tolerate any act capable of subverting the resolve of government to bequeath to the nation good motorable roads.

Onolememen stated this while briefing Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako on why the contract for the Maiha-Sorau road project was terminated.

Nyako had visited the minister to thank him for the Federal Government’s presence in the state in the area of infrastructure development and to further solicit support for the construction of other critical roads.

Why updating the governor on the state of the Maiha-Sorau road project, the minister stated that the road contract was awarded about six years ago, but the project could not continue because of the alleged incompetence of the contractor.

He however explained that efforts are on the top gear to ensure that the project is awarded to another contractor who has the competence to deliver to standard, stressing that the project had reached procurement stage.

The minister said, “In Adamawa state, unfortunately when we came in, we had a few projects which had become intractable and one of them is the Maiha-Sorau road, which the ministry awarded six years ago and the project was not going well.

On settling down, I started looking into the projects file to see the reason, and I discovered that the advance that was supposed to be paid to the contractor was not fully amortised.

In order to improve the standard of living of police officers in the country, President Goodluck Jonathan, at the weekend, inaugurated a multi-million naira housing estate for them in Lagos.

To be known as “Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Police Housing Estate”, the dwelling units are located at Idimun area of the state. Powered by Aso Savings and Loans and developed by Remax Developers, the estate comprises 200 units of three-bedroom flats built under a Public-Private Partnership scheme.

Speaking at the elaborate ceremony, President Jonathan said that PPP initiative remained the only way the government could achieve many of its goals of providing the much needed infrastructural amenities in the country, adding that it was the first time the Nigerian Police would achieve such a laudable feat in its entire history.

He pointed out that the Federal Government is committed to improving the standard of living of all police officers in the country irrespective of their ranks or status.

He commended the leadership of the Nigerian Police for exploring PPP scheme to provide housing units for its members. The president subsequently charged other government agencies to take a cue from what the Nigerian Police had done from a PPP arrangement. He said, “I really want to commend the Nigerian Police for taking the initiative to develop an estate for its members.

Not only is this commendable, it is remarkable because it goes a long way in complementing the efforts of the Federal Government in providing low-cost housing for the citizenry.”

He emphasised that his government put more efforts on housing, saying the sector has the potential of increasing the productivity of every person.

“A viable housing sector creates jobs and enhances employment opportunities,” the president said. The president said his government is committed to improving the standard of police officers, hence the massive rehabilitation of all barracks in the country.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), M.D. Abubakar, hinted that the housing units were completed over a period of eight months. According to him, the housing units would be made available for cadres of police officers, stating that each flat would be given out to interested police officers at the rate of N8million.

He added that each buyer would be expected to repay through a mortgage scheme made available by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

He disclosed further that similar estates are currently being built in other parts of the country including Abuja, Kaduna and Kano.

When admitting that lack of housing is one of the challenges faced by police officers and their families all over the country, Abubakar urged the Federal Government to help construct more barracks across the country and help rehabilitate the existing ones.

By the time stakeholders comprising developers, builder, investors and policymakers and lawyers shall gather between October 17 and 18 this year at the Civic Centre, Lagos, many posers as regarding how to advance the real estate for economic growth, how the tackle the problem with the Land use Act and infrastructure challenge confronting real estate development will be provided answers to.

The event, tagged “Real Estate Unite”, which is the second edition, being put together by 3Invest Limited will serve as a meeting points for experts to brainstorm and rub minds together on ways to promote real estate growth.

The event will serve as the Africa’s largest congregation of real estate professionals as Real Estate Unite Conference, Exhibition and Awards

Justifying the essence of this year’s summit while briefing newsmen in Lagos as the weekend, Chief Executive Officer of 3Invest Limited, Ms. Ruth Obih, stated that in order to help unlock Nigeria’s real estate potential for economic prosperity, her firm is set to focus more on infrastructure, noting that the potential of real estate, especially commercial, hospitality and residential cannot be harnessed without it.

She said, “In order to help unlock Nigeria’s real estate potential for economic prosperity, 3Invest Limited is set to focus more on infrastructure, sustainability and the economic possibilities of a thriving infrastructure market in terms of employment, crime reduction and economic development.”

This singular vision, she said has explained the theme of the second edition of Real Estate Unite which is: “Advancing Nigeria’s Real Estate for Economic Growth”. She stated that beyond the global perspective of last year’s event, the firm has zoomed in and decided to view real estate industry from a domestic point of view. The awards segment of the programme, Obih explained that it was conceived to elevate standards, while the conference would offer practical solutions through the experience and expertise of carefully profiled speakers within and outside the shores of Africa.

The international perspective of the forum, she state would be projected through the exhibition “as we have noticed increased activities from international exhibitors.” The summit, she added has been designed to give the industry a great leap.

She said, “Last year, we highlighted some major issues at our conference and our research shows increased activities in the real estate industry since the inception of Real Estate Unite in 2012. It may sound coincidental but the government is recognising and putting real estate at the forefront of the nation’s activities and recognising that unlocking the potentials in the real estate industry is integral to economic development of the country; especially the Mortgage Refinance Company movement been driven by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.”

“At this year’s edition we seek to answer the following questions: How do we advance our real estate for economic growth? Does our land use allow this growth? Would increased tourism and hospitality do the trick? What is the state of our airports as the first sight of an investor or visitor? What happened to our railways? What is the cost of maintenance?”

Having highlighted these major issues preventing the nation’s real estate sector from reaching its economic potential, the 3Invest boss said the organisation has realised that infrastructure and urbanisation is a major driver of emerging markets, while reformation of the laws is the key to unlocking our housing finance sector, adding that lack of skill set training is the answer to the dilapidated state of the built sector.

Also speaking, the Regional Manager of Diamond Bank Plc on Victoria Island, Mr. Anya Duroha, said his firm is partnering with 3Invest Limited for the conference because the latter strategies are in line with the vision of the bank. He stated his bank is partnering the firm in order to see how to fill the long gap in the provision of mortgage for home ownership.

He pointed out that real estate developers and home seekers would need long-term and cheap funds to build and access homes, saying his bank has put in place different mortgage products to meet their needs.

President and Chief Executive Officer of Pison Housing, Mr. Roland Igbinoba, said the conference would provide information to both local and foreign investors on major challenges and the need to understand the nation’s real estate to build capacity.

Principal Partner of Akin Olawore and Company, Mr Akin Olawore, said the idea of this year’s conference is to move the real estate sector to the next level by bringing investors and telling them what to do to avoid mistakes.

A Public-Private Partnership between Messrs First World Community Limited and the Lagos State Government under the Co-operative Home Ownership Incentive Scheme (CHOIS) to provide 4,000 housing units for low and medium income households in the quiet community of Owu, Agbowa-Ikosi axis of the state is yielding the desired results. DAYO AYEYEMI, who was on tour of the estate at the weekend, reports.

A revolution that is redefining initiative geared towards provision of cheap houses for low and medium income earners in the country is ongoing in Owu, Agbowa-Ikosi Area of Lagos State.

By the time the scheme is completed, no fewer than 4,000 families will have a roof each over their head, thanks to the initiative by Messrs First World Communities Limited to bring people closer to nature.

The estate, christened “CHOIS City” is located between Agbowa-Ikosi and Itoikin, north of the Lagos Lagoon. It is a new home garden community developed in partnership with the Lagos State Government under the Lagos Cooperative Home Ownership Incentive Scheme (CHOIS).

The massive estate, which sits on 468 acres, has further opened up Agbowa, making the whole community a point of attraction for different people who want to tap the opportunities inherent in the proposed relocation of Oko Baba Sawmill in Ebute Meta to the region.

Already, most of the completed housing units in the estate have been fully subscribed by home seekers, while flexible payment plans have been put in place to enhance accessibility for would-be subscribers.

The expansive gated estate encompasses three bedroom semi-detached bungalows; 2 bedroom semi-detached bungalows; two bedroom terrace bungalows (4 units per block) and three bedroom private access maisonettes.

The estate comes with infrastructural and social amenities such as electricity with dedicated transformers, schools, medical centre and hospital; shopping centre, BRT services, ferry services, public toilets, street lights, water supply, security, landscaping and gardens.

Speaking to would-be subscribers during the launch of CHOIS Club at Agbowa site at the weekend, the Business Development Manager of the company, Mr. Ayo Yusuf, disclosed that the two bedroom terrace houses cost N3million each, while the three bedroom semi-detached flat and two bedroom semi-detached bungalow cost N4.5million and N3.7million respectively.

He stated that the company has launched a “Lease to Buy” scheme under CHOIS Club to bridge the affordability gap between the cost of the housing units and the cost.

To become a member of CHOIS Club, he explained that the would-be beneficiary would need to contribute 10 per cent initial deposit of the cost of the house, which is N300,000 to book a space if it is a two bedroom terrace bungalow, and contribute additional 40 per cent over a maximum period of 3 years.

According to him, club members would be able to take possession of a property once 50 per cent contribution is made over a 2 to 3 year period. He said, “Allocation shall be done after two years and handing over of the property shall be done at the completion of 50 per cent payment.

The balance of 50 per cent shall be paid over a period of 5 years at 6 per cent per annum.”

Besides, he explained that the houses could be acquired outright by paying 100 per cent of the property price without any instalment payment.

“Customers can also purchase with a mortgage from any financial institutions. An application is required to make a minimum of 30 per cent deposit as equity to qualify,” he said.

Expressing joy over the housing initiative, the Oluwo of Owu-Ikosi, Chief Olumide Osinlaja, said he would go back and let people in his community to know more about the project so that they could benefit as well.

Before now, he explained that the thinking of many people in the community was that the houses were meant for the rich, assuring that he would go back to inform them that an easy plan to pay for the housing units on instalment basis has being introduced.

President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Brig. General Patrick Reis (rtd), implored everybody to subscribe to the houses, saying they are being built for the low and medium income earners.

The Lisa of Agbowa, Chief N.K. Oduyebo, also expressed gratitude to First World Limited and Lagos State Government for considering the community for the project, promising that his people would buy into it. Other speakers lauded the initiative.

CHOIS is a Public-Private Partnership between First World Community Limited and Lagos State Government to deliver 10,000 homes for low and medium income households in safe and attractive communities in the state.

The company under CHOIS is also developing 2,000 luxury houses in Abijo GRA and 4,000 dwelling units at Mile 2, Lagos.

Nine cities in Osun State, namely, Osogbo, Ikirun, Ila Orangun, Ilesha, Ile Ife, Ede, Iwo, Ejgbo and Ikire are to benefit from a N100 million Structure Plans Project funded by the state government in partnership with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

According to a report from Environews, the Osun Structure Plans Project, which kicked off in July last year, was to develop and adopt Structure Plans that will guide the growth, development and management of the participating cities over the next 20 years.

The Structure Plans project comprises three phases, namely: Phase 1 – a rapid appraisal of current issues and policies to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to policy on slums and shelter, governance, gender and HIV/AIDS and the urban environment; Phase 2 – building on priorities determined in the previous phase to develop and expand capacity for national and local institutions to improve their performance in the urban sector; and, Phase 3 – implementation of programmes and projects identified in earlier phases.

The participating cities are grouped into three clusters of three cities each: Osogbo, Ikirun, Ila Orangun (Cluster 1), Ilesha, Ile Ife, Ede (Cluster 2) and Iwo, Ejgbo and Ikire (Cluster 3). Structure Plans are planning instruments that will guiding the growth of these towns for the next 20 years and specifically make significant contributions towards achieving the goals of the state’s six-point Integral Action Plan, the various Local Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (LEEDS), the HABITAT Agenda and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The project involves use of the Rapid Urban Sector Profiling for Sustainability (RUSPS) methodology, which establishes a sustainable, participatory, long-term framework for the orderly physical, economic and social development of the city.

The RUSPS methodology, which is based on ‘Guidelines for Sustainable Urban Development’ designed by the European Commission and UN-Habitat, seeks to reduce urban poverty through policy development and assessment of needs and responses for urban institutions.

Speaking at the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement in Osogbo, Director, Projects Office, Dr. Alioune Badiane said, “One of the major challenges facing urban centres is a lack of information and accurate statistics that could be used when planning development. This is one of the issues we want to address. The successful implementation of the process would help town planners prioritize their needs and put their resources into the places they ought to be.”

Heavy and prolonged rainfall will cause both more frequent and more severe flooding across the United Kingdom and the rest of north-west Europe as the atmosphere continues to warm, say British and American scientists.

According to Climate News Network, a study in IOP Publishing’s Environmental Research Letters of what are known as atmospheric rivers blamed manmade climate change for the increasing flood risk, saying the same problem would afflict other parts of the planet.

In Nigeria for example, the Director General of NIMET, Dr. Anthony Anuforom, had disclosed early this year that 2013 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction, SRP, showed that rainfall pattern in most parts of Nigeria was likely to be similar to that of 2012.

Anuforom said that in some parts of the North West, which also fall within the catchment area of River Niger, the total rainfall predicted for 2013 may exceed that of 2012.

“We have just released the rainfall prediction for 2013. The summary is that based on the conditions that were prevalent at the time of making the prediction, we are predicting that the amount of rainfall for the North West areas of Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara and environs is likely to be above normal in comparison to 2012,”he had stated.

Nigeria, in 2012, recorded unprecedented floods that affected 27 states resulting in loss of over 300 lives and displacement of over two million people from their homes. The floods destroyed farmlands, livestock and other means of livelihood for millions of rural dwellers.

However, researchers at the University of Reading near London, and the US University of Iowa, described how atmospheric rivers carry vast amounts of water vapour around the Earth, delivering heavy and prolonged rainfall, particularly to mountainous areas.

They were responsible for the protracted winter and summer floods in the UK in 2012, which caused an estimated $1.6 billion in damage. In a warming world the atmosphere can carry more water and the research showed that the rivers, typically running a kilometre above the earth, 300 kilometres wide and thousands of kilometres long, would become larger and capable of delivering even bigger quantities of prolonged rainfall.

An example of their potential danger is the atmospheric river that caused the severe flooding on 19 November 2009 over northwest Britain. As it approached the coast it was transporting a moisture volume 4,500 times the average gauged flow of the river Thames through London. In California, where atmospheric rivers (ARs) have already been assessed, the climate models predict that the number of years with these features will increase.

To discover what could happen in Europe the models were tested against the known flooding events between 1980 and 2005, and the researchers found that they could accurately simulate what actually happened.

This gave them confidence to test what would happen in the future. All the models showed that with more greenhouse gases emitted by humans there would be a doubling of the number of atmospheric rivers later this century compared with the 1980 to 2005 period.

Most of these events occur in the winter, but in a warmer world the danger period is extended. Because of the way the warmer atmosphere is able to carry more water and deliver much higher rainfall totals, the potential for far worse floods from each of these rainfall events is much increased.

The Head of the Research, Dr David Lavers, from the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, said, “ARs could become stronger in terms of their moisture transport.

In a warming world, atmospheric water vapour content is expected to rise due to an increase in saturation water vapour pressure with air temperature. This is likely to result in increased water vapour transport.

“The link between ARs and flooding is already well established, so an increase in AR frequency is likely to lead to an increased number of heavy winter rainfall events and floods. More intense ARs are likely to lead to higher rainfall totals, and thus larger flood events.” The paper points out that while the scientists were specifically looking at the atmospheric rivers that caused heavy rainfall in Europe, these storms affect many temperate regions of the planet. As the atmosphere warms, it is likely that they will increase the risk of flooding elsewhere

…Works commissioner lists challenges

Limited fund, legal tussles by owners of properties on right of way, relocation of services by Power Holding Company Limited and other service providers have been adduced among challenges confronting the delivery of infrastructural projects in Lagos State.

Disclosing these to journalists during the tour of ongoing roads and other infrastructure projects at the weekend, Commissioner for Works in Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, said in as much as government is willing to deliver more of these projects before time; the aforementioned challenges have caused delay.

Commenting on the various challenges that confront project delivery, the commissioner said, “State’s resources are finite, and as such, we must make choices and set priorities.”

He explained that there were challenges relating to relocation of services which invariably constrain the time frame envisaged for project delivery.

He added that though interacting with some of agencies of government could be challenging, “there is an understanding being developed to ensure prompt action.”

Fourteen project sites within Ikeja, Etiosa and Lekki areas of the state were visited. Some of the projects include the Multi – Agency Office Complex, Alausa, Magistrate Court, Ikeja, on-going reconstruction of Yaya Abatan/College Road, Surulere Industrial Road, off Acme Road, Simbiat Abiola Road, Kodesho Road, St. Gregory’s Way, Obalende, Unity/1st Avenue/ Ivory Road, Osapa and Orile Ilasan Awe road.

Also inspected was the Obalende Transformation Initiative project The works’ commissioner, which was accompanied by his counterpart in the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba; and Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr Hakeem Bello, expressed satisfaction over the level of works done by contractors.

Some of the contractors promised to deliver the project before October. Hamzat, while commending contractors also alluded to the significant encumbrances encountered in establishing the Right of Way for roads, noting that only public buy-in or ownership would ensure that tax payers’ fund for projects becomes beneficial and not a waste.

The commissioner described the road construction and provision of facilities efforts of the Fashola Administration as a direct response to the mega city status and the need to prepare for future growth.

He pointed out that the commitment to redevelopment of inner road networks in the state is sacrosanct. In his words, “we are now a megacity by virtue of our population. By virtue of the UN position for us to comply with best practices, we must expand the size of our roads, introduce walkways and in some instances provide bicycle lanes among others. We must also directly respond to the challenges of waste generation and the ensuing prosperity of people.”

The commissioner said roads being developed were chosen on the basis of their carrying capacity, population and presence of outfall.

At Obalende, where the state government is undertaking the regeneration of the area, the commissioner said the project “is to generally renew the bus park and introduce Transport Information System where commuters can identify the buses and take off time as well as ensure the general beautification and lighting of the place.”

Explaining the slow pace confronting Isheri-Osun road project, the commissioner said the project required detailed attention and safety, and not time frame.

According to him, aside from the two bridges anchored on 1,022 piles which are 34 metre deep being constructed, government has awarded the accompanying 7.8-kilometre road. The bridge, he said must be done right, assuring that the government is committed to prompt delivery.

Hamzat explained that choice of projects in Lagos State is informed by the traffic bearing capacity of the road, the population and the availability of water outfalls that drains the road.

He explained that all Lagos roads have been built to internationally accepted standard and specifications with such new features as an expanded carriage, street lightings, pedestrian walks and service ducts and designed to last 15-20 years.

The Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani Sidi, has announced that Nigeria has provided humanitarian assistance to 19 countries faced with emergency situations.

According to a release from the agency, Sidi disclosed this at the 2013 Humanitarian Affair Segment of United Nation Economic and Social Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

He explained that the assistance which were rendered with the country’s concentric foreign policy and its avowed commitment to spirit of South-South cooperation, were donated severally in the form of cash and relief items.

The director-general added that the humanitarian gesture had engendered closer cooperation of Nigeria with other countries in respect to disaster management.

According to him, Nigeria has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Gambia on sharing of information, assets and manpower for effective disaster management and humanitarian service delivery.

He also noted that as a result of the MoU, two technical personnel of NEMA are presently in Gambia to support National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) of Gambia NDMA to develop institutional framework and capacity building.

He also noted that Nigeria had also received some humanitarian relief donation through NEMA from the international community in the aid of people that were affected by identified disasters. Some of the donors, according to him, include UNFPA , JICA ,KOICA, ECOWAS , Islamic Development Bank, Chad Basin Commission among others.

Beside the donations, he said Nigeria had also benefited from the supports of other international humanitarian actors who had contributed to disaster management in the country which included the joint partnership in the coordinated disaster preparedness and capacity development such as Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) conducted after the 2012 flood, Satellite Imageries from the International Charter, Space and Major Disasters of 3 of the State flooded in 2012 and others.