Mr Benson Ngbede, member, Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), says industrialisation is key to achieving local content inputs in providing affordable housing for citizens.

Ngbede told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Sunday in Abuja that building houses would be cheaper when the country is able to develop its industries and locally produce materials that were currently imported.

“Most resources required to build houses are locally available in their raw state. Establishing industries that will turn these raw materials into finished products for builders will ensure affordable houses for citizens.

“Government needs to put in place what is needed for developers to provide houses at relatively affordable prices; that entails availability of land and infrastructure.

“We also need to look inward. We need to develop our industries. We need to be more industrialised to help us develop local content.

“If we can do that, one bedroom house can go for 1million naira, 2 bedroom for about 1.5 million, while a 3 bedroom house can be sold for N3 million, since the materials are sourced at home

“To achieve this, institutions like NIBRRI must be properly funded and supported to carry out researches that will help develop materials needed to build houses.

“We have a place like Ajaokuta which can supply iron to the entire African continent, but it is lying there idle nd not working, forcing us to import metals from other places in the world, and at a high cost,” Ngbede lamented.

He also urged government to provide infrastructure, drainage, roads and other facilities necessary for real estate developers so as to ensure a consequence reduction in the cost of houses.

“As it is now, when you buy a house in an estate, you sometimes have to pay for infrastructure; in most cases, it is usually integrated in the cost of the house which raises the price.

“Government should provide infrastructure, make industries like Ajaokuta functional and the estate developers will do their part. That is the way to go to make affordable housing feasible,” he said. (NAN)