FirstBank CEO Seeks Collaborative Efforts To Bridge Housing Deficit

The chief executive officer of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Olusegun Alebiosu, has called for stronger collaboration by the government and key stakeholders in Nigeria’s housing sector to address the country’s housing deficit, with plans unveiled to expand affordable housing delivery and improve access to mortgage finance.

Speaking at the 20th Africa International Housing Show (AIHS) in Abuja yesterday Alebiosu said government intervention remains essential to making housing affordable for millions of Nigerians.

He also said that increasing housing supply would help reduce property prices and improve access to decent accommodation, stressing that private developers alone could not bridge the country’s housing gap due to the high cost of construction financing. He urged Nigerians to view homeownership as a long-term investment and advised prospective homeowners to choose only mortgage products that align with their financial capacity.

Drawing comparisons with housing systems in the United States and Europe, Alebiosu said government-backed social housing programmes had played a critical role in expanding access to affordable homes and could serve as a model for Nigeria. He also underscored the importance of insurance in mortgage financing, explaining that lenders must assess borrowers’ repayment capacity and manage long-term lending risks before approving housing loans.

Representing President Bola Tinubu at the conference, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Mu’taqha Rabe Darma, announced plans to deliver about 150,000 affordable housing units nationwide under the proposed Tinubu Mass Social Housing Scheme.

According to the minister, the initiative will provide 200 housing units in each of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas in two phases, complementing the ongoing New Hope Housing Programme.

Darma said the government had made progress on major housing projects, including the 2,888-unit New Hope Housing Project in Katampe, Abuja, the 2,084-unit project in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State, and the 2,207-unit development in Lambu, Kano State.

He added that beneficiaries had already taken possession of homes under the New Hope Rent-to-Own Housing Scheme.

He also disclosed that the federal government had commenced the National Housing Data Programme to create the country’s first integrated housing database and was modernising land administration through the National Land Information System and geospatial mapping.

Founder of the Africa International Housing Show, Festus Adebayo, said the conference theme, Housing Solutions for Low-Income and Informal Workers in Africa, reflects the urgent need to provide affordable housing for millions of Africans excluded from formal housing systems.

He called for innovative financing, land reforms, sustainable infrastructure, modern construction technologies, and stronger partnerships among governments, the private sector, and development finance institutions.

The managing director and chief executive officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Shehu Usman Osidi, said the bank had expanded access to affordable housing finance through several mortgage products, including the non-interest NIT Mortgage Loan, designed to improve financial inclusion for contributors in both the formal and informal sectors.

Also speaking, managing director and chief executive officer of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Armstrong Takang, said the agency had verified more than N43 trillion in federal government assets and was leveraging them to attract private investment into the housing sector.

Takang said the MOFI Real Estate Investment Fund had disbursed over N130 billion in mortgage financing, offering homebuyers a 10 per cent equity contribution, a 9.75 per cent interest rate and repayment periods of up to 20 years. He added that more than 60,000 Nigerians had expressed interest in the programme.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, reaffirmed the National Assembly’s commitment to supporting affordable housing initiatives through legislation.