Real estate expert and Chief Executive Officer of Aerofield Homes, Mr Armstrong Akintunde, has called on government at all levels to strengthen partnerships with real estate firms that have capacity to provide decent and affordable housing for Nigerians.

He also advised the Federal Government to strengthen mortgage banks to enhance their capacity to provide mortgage loans.

Akintunde also challenged the various government regulatory bodies to increase their enforcing standards in the New Year, adding that this would go a long way in helping to reduce cases of building collapse across the country.

The property merchant made this observation while speaking with journalists, according to a statement.

He was quoted to have said, “Although, it is the desire of many Nigerians to have a comfortable place of their own but more often than not the means is not there, we all know that building a house is a bit capital intensive depending on your taste.

“However, just as it is done in the developed world, the government must strengthen the nation’s mortgage banks such that they could make funds available for many Nigerians to have houses of their own. Such funds could be made available to some selected real estate firms that, in turn, will build the houses while the beneficiaries of this scheme pay back the loans over a period of agreed years.”

Worried by the problem of incessant building collapses in the country, the expert linked the problem to greed and wrong attitude on the part of both builders and the government.

Firm unveils plan to tackle housing challenges He said, “The builders and the government, that is, our regulator are more often seen not to be doing many things right. Many Nigerians are too engrossed in cutting corners and until we do away with such unpatriotic acts, we will continue to have issues with collapse building.

“A builder wants to use substandard materials. The government officers who are to supervise and inspect the standards of materials to be used are not ready to go to the site to inspect them once the builders are ready to settle them. This is worrisome and must be tackled in the New Year.”

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