A foremost real estate developer, Uzor Onukwubiri has identified inadequate and inappropriate statistics as factors responsible for housing deficit in the country.
She said a country of over 200 million population was too critical to have a weak data that was expected to guide effort for housing delivery, while she lamented that in the case of Nigeria, those who have statutory responsibility to generate data were not doing enough.
Onukwubiri who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SOW Real Estate Nig. Ltd spoke at an event in Abuja, to mark the ten years anniversary of the company.
She said shelter was next to food in the human basic needs, even as it determines ones healthy living in the society, while, she called on government to put its acts together at ensuring that there was adequate categorised data in the housing sector that would assist private and public developers.
According to her, the National Housing Policy showed that it requires 1.2 houses each year to meet a target of 15 million housing needs by the year 2022, which unfortunately, only 100,000 were being built each year, a development she said was responsible for inadequate housing for Nigerians.
She said: “However, there have been attempts to estimate the magnitude of the housing shortage in Nigeria. The National Housing Policy specified in detail that to achieve the goal of providing 15 million housing units by the year 2022, 1. 2 Million Housing Units would have to be built each year.
“it concluded that this number is necessary to compensate for the housing shortage in the country. It is estimated that around 100,000 housing units are built each year, and an average of 80% of Nigerians live in informal housing, which is plagued by problems related to poor quality and inadequate infrastructure.”
“Established in March 15, 2012 SOW REAL Estate Limited was established with a view to turn housing dreams and desires into innovative reality while ensuring the maximum satisfaction of our subscribers and clients.
“It has been our pressing desire to play more than a passing role in curing the housing deficit in Nigeria through unique models that cater to individual preferences while staying affordable.
“We note that housing is the second most essential basic needs of humankind outside food. Its impact on the health and welfare and output of man is profound. Therefore, housing plays a vital role in a person’s standard of living and place in the society.
“Nigeria has an estimated population of about 200 million people and about 30 percent of the entire population still struggle with quality shelter and housing crisis “, and this implies that urgent attention should be placed on the country’s housing sector if the housing needs of the inhabitants are to be met.
“One key issue affecting housing delivery in Nigeria is that the level of housing shortage has not been adequately presented. This is as a result of inadequate and inappropriate statistics and data by the managers of housing in Nigeria.”
Speaking on the standard of SOW Real Estate, she said: “Our housing schemes are overseen by a team of Engineers, Architects, Marketing and other supporting professional staff who were chosen on the basis of their excellent management, technical and enterpreneural skills.
