By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel
One of the key players in the housing sector of the country has said the current foreign exchange (forex) crisis is taking a huge toll on the cost of building materials, making it difficult for Nigerians to affordable and quality houses.
The Chief Executive Officer of top real estate company, Bstan Homes, Mrs Becky Olubukola, while speaking at a ceremony tagged National House Fair 5.0, called on the federal government to find solutions to resolve the housing gap as well as the exchange rate crisis.
At the event held in Abuja, Mrs Olubukola cited the connection between the cost of homes in the country, building materials, and exchange rate depreciation.
She said this comes into tougher consideration when a realtor operates in a high import-dependent economy such as Nigeria.
“The effect of our naira to dollar rate right now is hitting hard on the housing sector; it is not a good time for us, as the cost of materials has gone up. And because of the passion to provide affordable homes, we are still trying our best, even to Nigerians in diaspora,” the company’s boss noted.
According to her, the rise in the cost of building materials, inaccessibility, and non-affordability of a good, quality home for the average person can be attributed to the rise in the exchange rate.
Mrs Olubukola further stressed the government’s role in subsidizing the housing industry, adding that Nigeria has what it takes to make available the materials required to erect an inexpensive apartment for every citizen, just like in western countries.
She said, “We need to put heads together, develop the slums; let us stop using the poor as a tool for political thuggery, let us stop using them as a tool to remain in power.
“True leadership empowers those around; suppressing the poor is not leadership, keep them to remain in their state one day they will face you and bite you.
“When you provide shelter for every member of the society, you have provided employment, food, businesses in those environments.
“We are coming up with the metro shelter concept across the 36 states of the country to reduce the migration from the rural area to the urban areas and build a business life, create urbanisation in the rural environment and many more.”
According to the Bstan head, the company is about to implement plans to empower Nigerians with 10 plots of land worth N100 million with the aim of reducing the congestion in urban regions and increasing business activities in the rural areas.
She disclosed that this implementation will focus on would focus ideal rural locations with infrastructural development and build roughly 100 affordable dwelling units.
