Govt, Not Private Sector Should Provide Affordable Housing, Says Expert

Real Estate mogul, public speaker and chairman of GTEXT Holdings, Dr Stephen Akintayo has stated that, affordable housing all over the world is not the job of private business sectors but state and federal government who will partner private developers and offer the right incentives like land and funds to help subsidise housing for the masses.     

Akintayo, during a media parley on the celebration of 16th anniversary of GTEXT Holdings while responding to questions on how the company can help provide mass housing for those that cannot afford, noted that, private developers can only partner the state and federal governments that have lands to provide shelter for their people, as real estate developers cannot provide affordable housing without a lot of incentives being provided by the government or its agencies or the philanthropists.

He noted that, with the right environment and government incentives, GTEXT Homes can provide one million units per year which translates to four million units in four years.     

Akintayo via the Stephen Akintayo Foundation, had given grants to hundreds of business owners in Nigeria over the years, assured that government should give him crisis-ridden Sambisa forest, and he would turn it into a skyscraper like the Dubai model.   

“For low cost housing, I have answered that several times. You have to follow what works. How is low cost housing in the UK for example? A private real estate developer goes ahead and builds an estate or a housing unit, and then the government comes – we call them Council Flats, the government pays to get the housing units subsidised.  

“In some other parts of the world like Rwanda, they do that as well. The government will give a private developer the land. That already reduces the cost of building the house. Also (Government) give the company some measures of off-taking, which is a form of funding as well. So with the funding and land being provided and other incentives, the price of housing will crash and it becomes affordable for the middle class,” said Akintayo.  

To him, “Also I have said it if President Tinubu was four million housing units in four years, I can deliver it. Take it to him. I can deliver it, whether we need to bring international guys (expatriate). Just give me land! See what is happing at the Lekki Coastal Highway, do the same joint venture with us and see what will happen, whether we will not literally build houses in millions.

“All these insecurities we are talking about are largely because of the fact that our forests are largely unguarded. Nothing has been done. I have said it before on Channel TV, give me Sambisa Forest and I will build skyscrapers there. Dubai has done. You see what we have also done in Dubai, the miracle in Dubai in one year, we became the largest black-owned brokerage firm in Dubai. And we have learnt a few things in Dubai, as to how to do real estate in other parts of the world.

“And if you bring development to these areas, some of these people, the terrorists will become the workers on sight. And turn things around. That is how to do low cost housing. With security in place and Baba, Chief Mike Okiro on board of GTEXT Homes, with his expertise, we can build low cost housing for the Customs, The Police Force and other security agencies. We have lands all over the country that can partner with us and build houses and make it affordable. They give us the land, drop some little capital as well, we will build affordable housing,” he stated.

General Chief Operating officer of GTEXT Holdings, Bukola Lukman noted that, the company, having gotten Green and Smart Estates in four nations- notably  in Houston, Texas, UK, Dubai and now getting an inroad into Ghana, has spread its tentacles to South Eastern Nigeria, notable Aba, Enugu, Asaba, a pre-launch in Owerri and already in Abuja. The firm plans to move to Kaduna.