Concerned by the over 20 million housing deficit in the country, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Government to create a conducive business environment for the private sector to invest in the real estate sector of the economy this year.

The Chamber emphasised that currently, government alone could not bridge the country’s housing gap unless the private sector comes in to reduce the deficit. However, for the private sector to participate effectively, LCCI has urged government to provide the right business environment in terms of regulations, policies and interventions in the country’s real estate sector. The President of LCCI, Dr. Michael Olawale-Cole, made this known in an interview with New Telegraph in Lagos. According to him, the real estate sector is a major contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The LCCI president explained that the GDP growth recorded in the sector for the fourth quarter of last year stood at 1.47 per cent. Olawale-Cole added that this was lower than the growth recorded in 4Q of year 2020, which was 1.34 per cent. On quarter-on-quarter, he noted that the sector grew by 24.41 per cent in 4Q’21, while annual growth was 2.26 per cent in the previous year. Specifically, the renowned industrialist stated that the sector contributed 6.23 per cent to the real GDP in Q4’21. Speaking on the real estate sector prospects this year, the LCCI president said: “The sector is projected to have higher growth in this current year due to the renewed efforts of government in tackling Nigeria’s huge housing deficits. “The huge and growing population of our country remains a driver of growths for the real estate Industry going by its population currently estimated at over over 210 million people with the yearly average growing rates of three per cent.”

He added: “Other major growth drivers include rising urbanisation, growing middle class, increasing investment from local participants that includes pension funds and mutual funds. “Growing number of high network individuals investing in real estate and targeted intervention by the federal government in the housing sector of our economy.” Continuing, he explained: “The government alone cannot bridge the housing deficits in Nigeria but with the right business environment in terms of regulations, policies and interventions, the private sector is better positioned in investing in the real sector.

“Looking at sustainable business models, I call on investors in the real sector to embrace modern technology for service delivery. We also urged government to de-ployed technology in lands documentation and creating a platform that boost of the identification of property, ownership and transactions. “To make on them, this will make the sector more regulated and of course, attract more investors. There should be existence of depths of data if Nigeria’s housing sector is to be resolved.”

Source:Newtelegragh