PROPERTY NEWS

In a quest to continuously beam searchlight on critical issues affecting the Nigerian housing sector, experts will deliberate on the challenges confronting the sector at the10th Lagos Housing Fair, which will hold in Ikeja from April 26 to May 1, 2010.

The organisers of the expo, Beachland Resources Limited, Eko FM and Standards Organisation of Nigeria, said at a press conference on Thursday that the government had addressed some problems in the sector but there were still some major issues affecting the building and construction industry.

They identified some of the problems still affecting the housing sector as poor access to land, lack of finance, exorbitant prices of building materials and poor mortgage system amongst others.

The Chairman, Lagos Housing Fair Committee, Mr. Moses Ogunleye, said, 'Nigeria as a country has recorded a lot of poor quality housing projects leading to either decay of buildings earlier than expected or outright failure.

"There have also been buildings constructed with no adherence to due diligence in terms of material usage. We are particularly concerned with the need to explore all avenues for promoting new or alternate materials. This has a great benefit for our economy, as production of new materials, either as entirely new inventions or as modifications, will expand the sector."

He also said that that there was the need to set minimum standards on building, pre-design, design, construction and post construction stages with a view to ensuring quality, safety and proficiency in the building industry.

He said, "There is still the issue of use of untested products and materials. Likewise, the preponderance of inappropriate or what is generally referred to as substandard materials. It appears the urge of members of the public to have quick houses gave a boost to this phenomenon.

"We believe the production of safe, healthy and functional buildings is germane to the effectiveness of the housing sector, more so, when it concerns well being of the citizenry."

He added that the inability of government agencies to effectively carry out enforcement and compliance monitoring on building developments was another reason why the nation was still having buildings of poor quality.

On how to address the problems faced by the sector, Ogunleye advised government agencies charged with building control in the country to brace up for the challenges, adding, "There is need to stem the tide of a large number of uncertified building products in the market."