Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) has called on government at all levels to adopt an infrastructure-first approach to housing delivery.
He said Nigeria’s housing crisis is the result of weak political will and institutional failure rather than the absence of workable housing models.
Osinbajo gave the charge at this year’s WEMABOD Limited’s Real Estate Outlook themed “Unlocking Land and Infrastructure for Inclusive Housing: A Regional Agenda for Sustainable Urban Growth.”
The former vice president, while drawing lessons from the historic Bodija Estate in Ibadan, said Nigeria once demonstrated a successful model of inclusive and well-planned housing but failed to replicate it over time.
According to him, Bodija was deliberately conceived as a complete neighbourhood rather than a mere collection of houses, with housing demand anticipated and planned for as part of a broader development programme.
“Demand was anticipated. It was planned for and shaped, not reacted to after the fact,” he said.
He stated that the estate was designed with clear planning standards, low-rise density, green buffers and open spaces, while prioritising accommodation, privacy and social integration over isolation.
Osinbajo noted that Bodija’s strategic location close to employment centres, public institutions and essential services reduced commuting distances and further ensured that the estate was firmly integrated into the city’s economic and social life.
He added that one of the estate’s most significant achievements was deliberate with modest bungalows for lower-income households, semi-detached units for middle-income earners and larger homes for senior professionals living within the same community.
He, therefore, stressed that the estate’s success was also driven by the delivery of infrastructure before occupation, including roads, drainage, water supply, electricity, schools and community facilities.
According to him, infrastructure served as a hidden subsidy that lowered the true cost of living and made housing affordable by removing the burden of self-provision from households.
He said the failure of Bodija was not in its design but in its non-replication across the South-West region and the country.
Osinbajo contrasted this with modern housing developments, which he described as largely gated, homogeneous and driven by short-term commercial considerations.
He noted that many contemporary estates are located on urban fringes, far from employment centres and public transport, resulting in longer commute times, higher transport costs, lost productivity and increased carbon emissions.
According to him, infrastructure in many of such estates had effectively been privatised at the household level, with residents forced to self-provide water, power, access roads and waste management, thereby driving up housing costs and excluding low- and middle-income earners.
Osinbajo, however, rejected the notion that governments are incapable of delivering mass housing, insisting that the problem lies in priorities rather than capacity.
He cited examples from his tenure as Vice President, noting that Borno State delivered nearly 15,000 housing units within three and a half years despite limited internally generated revenue.
The former Vice President identified land and infrastructure as the two major constraints to inclusive housing, and call for government-led land assembly, early provision of bulk infrastructure and mandatory inclusionary zoning in large housing developments.
He also advocated properly structured public-private partnerships in which governments provide land, infrastructure and clear regulatory frameworks, and further added that private developers will bring capital, execution capacity and market expertise.
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