Nigerians in Diaspora eye housing sector, seek enabling environment

Some Nigerians in the Diaspora at the weekend called for an enabling environment to attract and secure private investments in the country’s housing sector.

They made the call at an international conference on Real Estate Investment and Mortgage Financing organised by Housing Circuit Magazine, and hosted by the Nigerian consulate in New York.

Nigeria’s huge housing deficit, estimated to be around 20 million, they said, can only be bridged with massive private sector investment.

In a keynote address, Mr Ugochukwu Nwaokoro, a licensed real estate broker in the U.S. state of New Jersey, said a robust real estate sector required an environment with basic amenities.

Nwaokoro, who is the Deputy Mayor of Newark City, said government must ensure security of lives and property, and fix the transportation sector to guarantee free movement of goods and services.

He said: “Nigeria as a location for real estate investment and mortgage financing is very limited to Lagos and Abuja.

“Something has to be done to spread development beyond these two cities as was the case in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

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