Sanwo-Olu govt has completed 19 abandoned housing schemes

Moruf Akinderu-Fatai is the Lagos State Commissioner for Housing. He won the Housing Commissioner of the Year for the second time this year. In this interview at The Nation’s Open Forum, he speaks on the housing sector and the government’s plans to reduce housing deficit in the state.

You were announced as Housing Commissioner of the year. This is not the first time you are winning the award. What is your ministry doing differently that earned you that award?

Apart from the bricks and mortar, there are so many technicalities. I am not an engineer, I am an administrator, a chartered secretary. When I got into housing, it was a challenge. I never knew Mr Governor will give me that assignment. I took it as a challenge, but what I discovered was that those in the real estate sector focused on the high end, because that is where they can easily make money. But nothing is done about low income earners. About 19 of our estates were abandoned. But instead of focusing on that, we see a lot of activities going on in Oniru and Lekki axis. It now appeared that the low income earners do not matter and that’s why we see a lot of people moving to Ogun State. So, the governor said there would not be new projects, rather we should finish the abandoned projects. Before then, the contracts were not strategic. But we were strategic, we tinkered with what we had.We faced one at a time. There is what we call Rent-to-Own programme in Lagos and there is outright sales. The initial idea under former Governor Babatunde Fashola was for people to pay 30 percent. After that, they start paying till over ten years. But we discovered that even with that, people couldn’t really afford it. So it had to come down to five percent and 10 payment with years six percent simple interest rate for first time buyers. The idea, according to Mr Governor, is to bring new people into the housing ladder. We had to find a way to approach this so that we can build at affordable rate.

So, we are trying to get 1,000 units done in Ipaja. But on our part, we were able to complete about 19 abandoned housing scheme. Some are big, some are small,.and we have been able to bring in a lot of people and the governor has also been magnanimous in the sense that whenever we have a scheme like that, after we finish, we don’t sell before we finish, it is after the governor commissions it that we decide. He will ask how much is the rate around the area. For instance, when we finished Lateef Kayode Jakande LKJ Gardens in Igando, we fixed the rate around N10 and N15 million; then he will say we should pick the lower rate and 75 percent will go for Rent-to-Own, while 25 percent goes for outright sales. The one in Igbogbo went as far as N8 million for three-bed room, while one bed went for N3.5 million. The one at Ibeshe went for N13 million; then one bed, N6 million.

When we say affordable,   it should be affordable. Then, how do we make sure people who don’t have capacity can access it? We have been having a lot of discussions and looking for new technologies. But it is just the focus and determination to see that low income earners are really served. We are also working on rentage and mortgage system to make it for people who are bringing money to have confidence in the sector. We have two approaches; those we built through budgetary allocation and joint venture partners. As the price of construction kept going up, the budget was reducing. That is why we are looking into other means of financing. We are trying to move to new home schemes and we are having robust discussions with some financial institutions. As we speak, Access Bank has agreed to assist us. We are almost there. Very soon we will do groundbreaking in Ikorodu. It will be about 800 units, and we have one with joint venture partners collaborating with Federal Mortgage Bank at Ipaja. That is 1,000 units. So, we are seeing how we can escalate activities for low income earners. While working with Access Bank, we tried to bring down the price, the N8 million price for three bedroom is no longer sustainable for a livable environment. The governor’s position is that every one should be able to live in a livable environment.  That’s why when you go to Ibeshe, Igbogbo or LKJ in Igando, what you have there is what you have in Iponri and Lekki. We sold Iponri at N30 million, while we sold the one at Lekki at N50 million. We sold the one at Igando for N10 million. The idea of the governor is that why not use that and allow LSDPC to concentrate on the high networth individuals. We commissioned 270 units in Egan; the cost is around N24 million per two bedroom. As we speak, Ipaja area sells for around N40 million because of the cost of construction and to be able to break even. Then, the struggle of those that really need it, a serious struggle. And to be sure that those who actually need it, get it. It was on social media at some point that there is massive fraud in the Ministry of Housing, just because I curbed some moves. So, they attacked me and I said no problem. But the most important thing is that it has to be for those who actually need it. It is not easy to achieve that. We can see somebody that even uses his driver to front. So, it is always like that. When you come for change of ownership, maybe we commissioned last year and you are coming for it this year, I don’t always treat such request. I try and put it somewhere. I understand what is happening there. It happens because we have supply lower than demand. The population keeps rising. As we speak, people are coming in Lagos and they don’t intend to go back. They don’t have anywhere to stay. And one of our strategic thing is we don’t build three bedroom anymore. So, we try to build two beds for young families so when they are ready to move on, they can always do that.

How are you overcoming the challenge of getting people who actually need it to get it?

We have a Lagos Mortgage Board and you cannot just go in there that you want to buy. You have to prove that you leave in Lagos, you have to prove that this is how you earn your income,  and you also need to bring your statement of account and your company will also have to endorse you. So, there are mechanisms to it. And you cannot sell that place until after 10 years. There is so much pressure. Those who want us to have more revenue are pushing, and with that, we will be defeating the purpose. My position stays that if you buy through Rent-to-Own, you cannot sell until after 10 years.

How about those not in paid employment?

Everybody can apply. You must have your statement of account, and people who can vouch for you. It has to be 33.3 percent of your earnings per month, they will remove every month. So, one could combine with his wife.

In tackling the soaring deficit, talking about land, how are you tackling the challenge of land acquisition?

Lagos has no choice than to go vertical. What we are doing now is moving to Badagry, Agbowa, Epe axis.But we have to go vertical. You see the Omo onile trying to sell off parcels of land; this is also a major challenge. Like Ipaja I mentioned earlier, there is family called Tinubu Efunroye. They came in and it was a Herculean task taking them off. We have a place called Workers’ Village in Ipaja, we went there and it was tough. In fact, they shot at our people, but we are able to take them off. We are taking them off. We are up to the task. And people naturally without checking buy those parcels of land and erect beautiful buildings there, so when you say you spent a lot of money on building without having proper documentation and you are confident without having any approved plan, except the receipt, then, when government comes, you now say they are witch-hunting you. So, we are going back to the Workers’ Village because we are building our 600 units of two beds there.

People complain about getting Certificate of Occupancy how is government trying to resolve the hurdles?

It is not only governor that signs consent. We have over eight commissioners who sign on behalf of the Governor. And we have also gone online. Today, Lagos is a leading example. We have mapped every inch of Lagos land. All you need to do is to properly document. If you don’t check the status of your land, there are certain areas you can never get permit. You see people building and when officials come, they give them money. They will naturally go back. You see this idea that you should continue to build and later they will release it for you, that idea must stop. Lagos is less than four percent of Nigeria in terms of land mass. So when you look at the land mass and one-third of that is water, and you are talking of a space that at a particular point in a day, during working days, Lagos can go as high as 35 million with people coming in from various parts of West Africa, all over Nigeria, Niger and Chad to trade. So at a particular point, the pressure is much on the governor and his team and how to continually struggle and think out of the box. Lagos needs help and we need to put a lot of things in order. You can talk of documentation as far as back as the 19th century. You see that there are so many court cases here and there. So, if you want to buy a space, you need to go and check the status. So, immediately you have all your facts you know whether to go ahead or not. There are people who build on water beds. It may not appear like water bed. We have about five rivers entering Lagos, some as far as from Kwara State. And all the waters move towards the Atlantic. Around Ikorodu axis, around Iba axis, we still have this mass of land and during the dry season, you think it is dry land. But when rain comes the water discharges into the Lagoon. By the time you build around those corridors, you will be creating a lot of problems even for people who are on the high part and we may even divert the water to other areas. That’s why when you want to take down buildings, they are supposed to go court. Why is it that they don’t go to court? Why do they go to social media? It is because they have no papers to back up. For instance, the one at the back of Odo Alaro, you see there is so much noise. Yes, you may have your land, and you see at the back if it,there is another land and you now use style to capture it, and do something there. So, when they are looking for the natural path of the water, then, they will get there. That is when you start hearing noises everywhere. But the truth of the matter, they will tell you they have C of O. Align it with what you have, then, you discover they have taken more than they should.

How is the Lagos State Ministry of Housing collaborating with the Federal Housing Authority to resolve this soaring housing deficit?

People outside Lagos tend to see Lagos as another country. They don’t see us as needing any help. So, it has been a serious battle between the last regime and now. The FHA were there. They are going to say two bedroom will be at a cost of N3 million. That is not Lagos product. For Lagos product, before you even prepare the land to use, you have spent N3 million. So, we had a lot of conversations with them. Though, they came back to listen to us to agree on how to go about it. We demarcated a place in Imota and as at that time, we wanted to build about 3,000 units, and the cost then was N9 million maximum with the FHA scheme. But before it was realised, all the calculations tumbled. But, as of today, we have had series of meetings, even last week, the programme we had, was an example of perfect collaboration. We are talking to the Federal Mortgage Bank now. We are talking to the minister and he is ready to help, he has even sent delegations to Lagos and they would be involved because we want to agree. It is in two parts. The Federal Ministry of Housing wants land for their own to build directly, while the other part is driven using private sector funds. That’s also being driven by the FMB. What we are doing now is encouraging and leading our joint venture partners to them to agree. And we made a lot of progress in the past one week and they would be there too for our team and their team to work together. So, we are hoping to strike a deal. That’s when I mentioned the 1,000 units in Ipaja. We also have space in Igbogbo now. The challenge is that for low income earners; we have to look for solid land. Most of the land, we have to do piling and that will add to the cost of the land. I am very sure the collaboration will be positive.

What are you doing to make the houses more accessible to people?

When you have demand high than supply, it will always be difficult for people to access. It was easy in 1979 because they were even begging people to move to the Jakande buildings. I was in Oshodi, we made jest of people who moved to Ejigbo. So, when you see this kind of pressure, Lagos population continues to rise,some say three percent per annum. As we speak, people are coming to Lagos. They don’t have where to stay, they don’t have a job. But the belief system of I’m going to make it is there. But where are they going to stay. So, you see there are so many houses locked up in Lekki,Ikoyi, because people want to maximize returns on their investment. But government is also making sure we service that part of the economy that needs to be serviced. That’s why we still have a lot of work to do. The moment we are able to get it right, we bring in the necessary investment.

There is no way there won’t be issues like that [knowing a big shot to get the houses] when supply is lower.For instance, in one of our estates, people bought for their drivers, but it also has challenges, a lot of problems. You see people who bought Egan/Igando over 20 years ago, at N5 million, if they have finished paying,we won’t have issues with them. You see people going behind even when they don’t have the money. They don’t need it actually.

 It is a struggle that we still have sanity. If you are there, I don’t need to know you. Now , we want to go back to open ballot system because the figures can be staggering at times. You can have 480 units and you have over 2,000 people applying. So, going forward, we put everyone in the ballot and we dip. Why it was stopped was because the people also found a way round it. If you have about 20 apprentices, you now buy for all of them, and that is defeating our purpose.

Those who get it that way don’t seem to appreciate what government has done. When the time comes for them to really appreciate the fact that you bought this at a price that is very friendly,you still see alot of action. We don’t really appreciate what government has done. It is a supply/demand problem. Even after two years, we can revoke some. It is an ongoing thing.

Why has Lagos State Government not attracted foreign loans to build mass housing units like Borno and Kaduna State?

If you come to my office now and you want to collaborate with me, the first question I would ask you is that, is the money local or foreign? If you tell it is foreign, I may not be ready. We have a project in Badagry, 252 schemes. They came when it was N316 to dollar. By the time they finished, it was around N470 to dollar. So, you can only work with us if that money is coming to live in Nigeria. That is you are bringing the money and do not have the intention of taking it out soon. I see naira as a strong currency locally. It is only when you expose it to foreign exchange that you see it as weak. If you want to buy land in London, you cannot spend less than £600,000. If you want rent in such a place you can’t pay less than £1,200 per month. But the governor wants to encourage things like this. That is why we have to pay them off and we are now selling at our rate because we could not sell at their price, so we took it off them. So, others can come in when. we have stability. Otherwise,the feedback from the international community would not be nice.

In Lagos, everything is going digital, Is there no way Ministry of Housing can go digital?

We are there now, we will be launching that soon.

With the picture you are painting now, what is the likelihood that in our lifetime, the local government be able to build houses for locals just like few did in Epe and Lekki?

Maybe, because of the Supreme Court judgment. Till now we are still grappling with the implications of the judgement. We are still looking at the judgement. Lagos doesn’t really have problems in terms of finances in the local governments. As we speak now, Agboyi Ketu, even if it is a joint venture partnership they are into housing scheme. In Oshodi/Isolo, we are not going to get land, unlike in Epe, Ikorodu, Badagry. 

Also Iba axis and the rest, we can be encouraged to do that.

What is the figures of housing deficit in Lagos?

I don’t bandy figures I don’t have. As we speak, people are coming in. We are not Singapore that can issue visa . As Nigerians, they can go anywhere. What we need is a very strong support from the Federal Government and other state governments should also take this responsibility. All over the world, people move towards prosperity and that’s why we see people also move to Lagos because they see prosperity here. The best approach to do the data is through LASRA. If you lived up to three months in Lagos, you should register. This we are doing to capture as much as possible. You cannot get allocation from Ministry of Housing without LASRA card and without payment of tax. This is to capture data and enable us to plan. It is a big task. It is only when there are issues that you see people shouting. If there is one mistake, it will seem the state is in a mess, but when issues are addressed, they won’t talk about it. Lagos really needs help from Federal Government because the kind of pressure coming to Lagos is a mental torture for people in charge.

What’s your assessment of the legal framework for the regulation of the relationship between landlord and tenant in Lagos?

We need to amend the rentage and mortgage law which our lawyers are working on. The idea is to give confidence to investors to get their returns as and when due. The present law doesn’t seem to favour landlords and this also discourages investment. Not everyone wants to buy a house now. Some want to rent. Then, when you want to move in you pay three months instead of paying at the end of the year. We get salaries every month and not every year. Instead of paying at the end of the year, monthly is easier and also when it is time to evacuate too. The judiciary is also working to ensure there is quick resolution when there is feud between landlord and tenant. That is the short-term approach. But the long-term is to give more confidence to investors and more people will invest in that space.