Dangiwa Calls For Innovation, Collaboration To Tackle Housing Deficit

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, has urged stakeholders in Nigeria’s mortgage sector to embrace innovation and collaboration to enhance access to affordable housing.

Speaking at the 21st Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Conference in Abuja, the minister highlighted strategies to expand the sector’s impact on low- and middle-income earners, emphasising the need for public-private partnerships to address the country’s housing deficit.

The conference, themed “Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships in Mortgage Banking to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” explored approaches to making housing finance more accessible and sustainable.

Dangiwa called for developing hybrid mortgage products to narrow the gap between the 28% commercial mortgage rate and the 6-7% rates offered by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

“That way, more Nigerians within the low and middle-income brackets can access affordable housing loans. Of course, this will require intuition, innovation, and sacrifice,” he said.

The minister also highlighted the cross-subsidy initiative under the Renew Hope Cities programme, where profits from units sold at commercial rates are used to subsidise homes for low- and middle-income earners.

Addressing regulatory challenges, Dangiwa pointed to the single obligor limit set by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which caps the amount financial institutions can lend to individual borrowers.

He urged stakeholders to support efforts to remove this barrier, describing it as crucial for sector expansion.

He commended the recent launch of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) Real Estate Investment Fund, calling it a promising step towards attracting capital market investments into housing.

“This is a good initiative because, as a ministry overseeing the housing and urban development sector, we gladly welcome any initiative that supports our goals for affordable housing delivery,” he stated.

The minister underscored the importance of climate-smart approaches to housing development, citing lessons from the recent World Urban Forum in Cairo.

“The government and the private sector are now adopting climate-smart approaches to new city development to achieve the SDGs we want to achieve,” he said, urging stakeholders to collaborate on building sustainable, resilient, and inclusive cities.

Dangiwa also decried the sector’s minimal contribution to Nigeria’s GDP, currently under 0.5%, and called for renewed efforts to drive innovation and collaboration.

“We can commit to a better future here and now by doing things differently with innovation and better collaboration,” he added.

The President of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria (MBAN), Ebilate Mac-Yoroki, echoed the call for innovation and reforms, urging public-private partnerships to address Nigeria’s housing affordability challenges.

“This year’s theme highlights our shared responsibility in supporting affordable housing,” Mac-Yoroki said, stressing the sector’s critical role in achieving SDG 11 on sustainable cities and SDG 1 on poverty eradication.

Mac-Yoroki proposed amending outdated laws, such as the Land Use Act (1978), introducing foreclosure legislation, and automating land registries to improve efficiency.