Nigeria is the most populous black nation in Africa. With a population at over 150 million the nation faces acute shortages in dwelling units, causing

overcrowding, poor living conditions and high rent especially in the countries urban centres.

In a bid to curb the growing shortfall in housing noticed after the 1991 population census, the Federal Government established the National Housing Policy

Decree Number 3 of 1992, which in turn gave birth to the National Housing Fund. The incumbent government of the time realized that there were severe

challenges in the area of qualitative and quantitative housing provision as well as infrastructure provision.

The aim of the fund is to, through contributions by the government, civil servants, private sector and their employees, pool resources which could be used to

provide workers with access by way of mortgage to fund low cost housing acquisition. The fund was also targeted at providing mass low cost housing

development in the nation for the masses.

Alas the noble vision of this scheme is far from being achieved. Housing conditions in the nation have further and furiously deteriorated. Sadly the fund in itself

only focused on housing finance whereas there are a number of critical issues which need to be addressed before a successful housing system can be

implemented.

Policies, land provision and availability; public infrastructure, cost of construction materials, design and labour all need to be factored in to create a workable

housing provision model. Beside the Land Use Act which, by some of its provisions, is an impediment, poor to non-existent public infrastructure remain a major

challenge to housing delivery.

The National Housing Fund even at top level of efficiency, cannot, as a standalone, deliver on the vision of decent housing for the mass of our nation. We must

begin to sincerely address all the various relevant integrated issues that will enable the emergence of a sustainable mass housing delivery model.