The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has insisted that all hands must be on deck if federal government is to tackle the rising housing challenges confronting Nigerians.
Unofficial data put the country’s housing deficit at over 18 million housing units.
President of NSE, Engr. Adekunle Mokuolu, also called on relevant authorities to engage experts and ensure proper planning of cities.
Engr Mokuolu, while briefing newsmen ahead of the 2018 National Engineering Conference and Annual General Meeting, at the weekend said accessibility and right of use of land to develop housing schemes and corresponding capacity development were impeding the growth of housing stock.
While saying that most of the subsisting interventions by the government in the housing sector favoured the elites,
Mokuolu, said there was urgent need to develop the country’s solid mineral sector in order to stave off the current over dependence on oil and gas..
According to him, Iron and steel holds the golden key to the development of all other sectors including our automotive ,construction and machinery industries among others .
“The steel sector of our economy can emerge as the highest employer of labour if revived,”
He said the NSE is convinced that provision of critical infrastructure in the rural communities will go a long way in boosting productivity and creating wealth.
He explained that in Nigeria, it has been an uphill task getting successive government to understand the importance of Indigenous engineering innovations to national economic and social development.
The NSE President said the conference slated for November 26th to 30th, 2018 in Abuja will re-emphasise the need to prioritise rural integration in the approach to infrastructure development in the country.
