A former President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, Aliyu Wammako, has asked President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on the rising cost of building materials amid skyrocketing house rents across Nigeria.
Wammako made the call in a statement on Thursday.
According to him, the growing concern over the rising cost of housing in Nigeria is understandable and deserves urgent national attention from the Tinubu administration.
“Millions of Nigerians are struggling to afford decent accommodation, and the government must continue to seek lasting solutions,” he stated.
He, however, noted that the conversation must be anchored on the real cause of the problem, which is the rising cost of building, rather than its visible consequence.
According to him, a government-focused policy to reduce the cost of building materials will directly make housing cheaper for Nigerians.
“The housing crisis confronting Nigeria today is fundamentally a construction cost crisis. Rent is merely the end product of an economic chain that begins with the cost of acquiring land, purchasing building materials, paying for labour, accessing finance and providing infrastructure.
“A landlord does not manufacture rent in isolation. He builds with cement, reinforcement rods, roofing sheets, electrical fittings, plumbing materials and other inputs whose prices have risen dramatically in recent years. Cement is now approaching N13,000 per bag in many parts of the country. The prices of steel, roofing materials and other essential components continue to climb almost daily. Labour costs have also doubled, with artisans who previously earned about N4,000 a day
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