The President of Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Kenneth Nduka, has said that costly building materials were a factor constraining housing development in the country.
He made the observation while speaking with journalists in Lagos.
He said: “There is the need for the Federal Government to encourage production of building materials by placing restrictions on importation of building materials that can be manufactured locally.
“Government can encourage local production by granting some incentives like credit facilities and tax holidays, among others, to the local manufacturers of the products to enhance their productivity,’’ he said.
According to him, refusal to adopt cheaper methods of building and lack of building materials have led to high cost of building.
Nduka was of the opinion that the rising price of building materials was discouraging investors from investing in the construction sector and low income earners from owning houses.
He urged the government to subsidise the price of building materials to boost activities in the real estate sector.
He said that low income earners would gain, if government could assist by reducing the cost of building materials.
“The high cost of imported materials has resulted in general increase in the price of building materials.
“If price of building materials continue to rise, a time will come when the average Nigerian will not be able to buy them.
“So, it behoves on the Federal Government to help in subsidising the price to reduce the burden of doing business in the real estate sector,” he said.
According to him, rising price of building materials is capable of truncating the country’s economic growth.
He said that the rapid population growth posed a challenge to the country’s housing development, but a plus to her real estate market, if building materials were affordable.
“Our housing sub-sector development may be hampered if price of building materials continues to rise unchecked because the cost of iron rods, window and door frames and other building materials are all ascending,” he said.
Nduka said that the way forward was for government to bridge housing gap by encouraging partnership between the public and private sectors.
He said that the land could be made available, while the enabling environment should be provided for the private firms to develop the landed property.
