Moghalu vows to pursue aggressive policy to solve Nigeria's housing problem

The presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has vowed to pursue an aggressive policy to solve Nigeria's housing problem if elected president.

While speaking at a town hall meeting with presidential candidates on the state of Nigeria's housing market on Saturday, January 12, 2019, Moghalu promised to protect the lives of citizens by pursuing an aggressive policy of social housing.

He said this will be achieved by bringing innovation to housing construction in the country.

"One of the challenges that always arise with the wishes of any government is costing. 'How much does it cost to build a good social house.'

"We're going to bring in technology. The Ministry of Science and Technology will be tasked to develop materials that'll develop social housing at the one third of the cost of what it is today," he said.

The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) further disclosed his plans to improve Nigerian slums instead of tearing them down and making more poor people homeless.

He said, "We have to have a serious policy about slums. We must improve our slums, not seek to eradicate them so that they become posh new residences for the wealthy as we saw in Maroko.

"We need to bring adequate water and sewage management to slums."

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Moghalu vows to repeal Land Use Act

Prof. Kingsley Moghalu ece-auto-gen

Moghalu also assured Nigerians that he would abolish the controversial Land Use Act of 1978 which he said has outlived its purpose and created economic inefficiency in the housing sector.

He said, "My government will move for the repeal of the Land Use Act. The reason is that I think the Land Use Act might have been necessary at some point; but today, has outlived its purpose.

"It has created a massive bureaucracy concerning land titling that prevents investment with economic inefficiency in the housing sector."

He vowed to propose a more efficient method of land regulation in the country if he's elected at the polls next month.

"We will propose an executive bill that makes land titling much more efficient," he said.

The 1978 Land Use Act governs land regulation in the country and has long been criticised for vesting too much power in state governors who are responsible for allocation of land.

Attempts by previous governments to repeal the Act have failed to bear any fruits.

Other presidential candidates present at Saturday's event, which took place at the University of Lagos in Yaba, are Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC), Obiageli Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), and Isaac Ositelu of the Accord Party (AP).

Other presidential candidates that were billed to speak at the event but failed to show up are President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Jerry Gana of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Nigerians will go to the polls to elect a new president on February 16, 2019 with Buhari and Atiku considered to be favourites to win.