Federal Govt Reviews Nigeria’s Housing Deficit To 14.9m Units

The federal government has pegged Nigeria’s housing deficit at about 14.9 million units, following the release of new sector data by the National Housing Data Technical Committee, underscoring the depth of the country’s housing challenge.

The data was presented by the committee’s chairman, who is also a director at the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), Dr Taofeek Olatinwo during a technical session at the 14th National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban Development held recently in Ilorin, Kwara State

Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, commended the committee for addressing what he described as a longstanding gap in the sector. He said the absence of credible and centralised housing data had made planning and investment largely speculative.

According to the committee, the new estimates are more scientific and reliable than the often-cited but unverified figures previously used in the sector. The analysis adopted the number of persons per room as a key benchmark for determining housing adequacy and deficit.

The report attributed the persistent housing shortfall to rapid population growth, increased urbanisation, weak access to long-term housing finance, land and title bottlenecks, and insufficient housing supply across many regions of the country.

Dr Olatinwo explained that the deficit figures were derived from multiple validated sources, including national household surveys, census data and internationally recognised housing adequacy indices, stressing that reliable data is critical to effective policy design and resource allocation.

While revealing that they are currently working towards establishing a National Housing Data Centre to standardise and disseminate housing and mortgage market data, he emphasised that the newly released figures, reinforce the need for coordinated reforms in land administration, housing supply, infrastructure provision and mortgage finance expansion to address Nigeria’s growing housing needs.

The National Housing Data Technical Committee, coordinated by NMRC, comprises key institutions such as the National Bureau of Statistics, National Population Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Housing Authority.