Expert asks FG, state to review Land Use Act

The Chief Executive officer of Infinity Trust Bank, Mr. Olabanjo Obaleye, has urged the federal government to review the Land Use Act in order address the huge housing deficit that the country is battling with.
Nigeria is estimated to have a huge housing deficit to the tune of 17 million.
Obaleye, who spoke in interview recently, specifically said that land tilting should be urgently reviewed if the country wants to over its huge housing deficit.
He said: “Remember also that the statistics reeled out five years ago by the UN Habitat also predicted that the 17 million housing shortfall will increase by about three per cent annually.
This means that even if we have been building, the statistics has been on the rise, except we are conscious to build vigorously such that we beat the annual increase in population of home seekers.
“One major area we need to look at is the need for government involvement, especially land titling.
From the Land Use Act, lands belong to the states, not the federal government.
This law makes it difficult to get a universal policy that will address all the states of the federation.
“So to get land for large scale estates built to provide social housing, state governments have very crucial roles to play because they must exercise the political will needed to provide affordable lands on which houses will be built, also at affordable cost.
Only state governments that are passionate about providing low income housing will key into the process of making it affordable.
“If the cost of obtaining land is high, and if the time of obtaining it is also long, no serious progress can be made.
State governments must play their roles to make provision of social housing possible for indigenes

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