CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
With a population of about 173 million people, Nigeria is the largest country in Africa and accounts for 47% of West Africa’s population. Given these large reserves of human and natural resources, the country has significant potential to build a prosperous economy characterized by rapid economic growth through real estate rebranding leading to infrastructural development that can significantly reduce poverty, inequality and improve standards of living of the population through better access to and quality of health care, education and infrastructure services (Falade, 2007).
One of the organization that has been promoting real estate agency rebranding in Nigeria is The Real Estate Developer’s Association of Nigeria (REDAN) which is the principal agency of the organized private sector recognized by government and approved by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) the apex mortgage lender in Nigeria to facilitate the delivery of affordable mass housing in Nigerians (REDAN, 2015).
Housing policy in Nigeria is as old as the history of the country. Thus, we can broadly categorize its historical development under the five distinct phases of the colonial period (before 1960), the post- independence period (1960-1979), the second civilian administration (1979-1983), the military era (1984-1999), and the post military era (1999 to date). The major characteristic of the colonial period was the provision of staff quarters for expatriates and other indigenous staff of parastatals and organizations. This era witnessed the creation of Urban Councils in 1946, the establishment of Lagos Executive Board (LEBD) in 1954, the formation of Nigerian Building Society in 1955, as well as the enactment of Regional Housing Corporation in 1959. Also, the post-independence period experienced some improvements in housing provision during the First National Development Plan period (1962-1968) and the second National Development Plan 1970-1974). Specifically, the formulation of the National Council on Housing in 1971 led to further improvement in housing delivery. The third National Development Plan (1975-1980) made further improvements on housing programmes, policies and The transformation of the Nigerian Building Society into Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria with the promulgation of Decree No 7 of 1977 also brought some improvements into housing delivery in Nigeria. The Land Use Decree (LUD) of 1978 was promulgated in order to guarantee access to land by all Nigerians. Before the promulgation of the LUD, dual land tenure structure was paramount in the country. The LUD came to stabilize the ownership and acquisition of land. Also, during the era, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1979) laid emphasis on the importance of local building materials and the relevance of labour and construction industry. In this same year, the Employees Housing Scheme Decree No 54 of 1979 was promulgated.
This decree made provision for staff housing and housing estates. The housing policy in the 1980s and 1990s was the means by which divided society was being created. The rural areas were neglected and the housing stocks in the urban areas were improved upon. This was as a result of high rate of urbanization and the subsequent housing shortage in urban centres. The military era witnessed further improvements in housing policies and delivery. This was facilitated by the promulgation of the Mortgage Institutions Decree No 53 of 1989. The decree promoted the realization of the major and specific objectives of the National Housing Policy. Furthermore, the Economic Liberalization Policy of Babangida’s administration supported the participation of the private organization in housing delivery. This was closely followed by the promulgation of the Urban and Regional Planning Decree 88 of 1992 as well as the National Housing Fund (NHF) Decree No 3 of 1992. The NHF was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring continuous flow of fund for housing construction and delivery.