The Chief Executive Officer of Afriland Properties Plc, Uzo Oshogwe, has said the government has a critical role to play in reducing the housing deficit in the country while calling for standardisation of the sector.

Oshogwe was quoted in a statement as saying this at the 2021 edition of the Lagos Real Estate Fest held in Lagos.

She noted that while it was not a task left entirely to the government, the government had key roles to play in reducing the steadily rising housing deficit in the country.

She said, “The government needs to get more involved to make housing more affordable. When we talk about public-private partnerships or strategic joint venture projects with the private sector, there is a lot they can do.

“As they say, the government owns all the land; at least, give us the land and it will greatly reduce the high cost of development. Foreign exchange rates are not very favourable now so there should be areas where we can have some subsidies to make affordability a reality.”

The Afriland Properties boss, who spoke on attracting and retaining investment in Nigeria’s real estate market, highlighted that creating enabling investor-friendly policies would provide a tremendous boost to the sector.

Oshogwe added, “There needs to be some form of standardisation in place as this will create confidence among our clients and investors. With standardisation in the industry, you trust who you are going to buy a house from.

“Equally, if I am to give my property to an agent or property manager for rental purposes, I should be able to trust that the agent would carry out the right level of due diligence on the prospective tenants. This will equally help the industry gather vital customer data that relates to real estate transaction history.”