Stakeholders want tax incentives for building material producers

Stakeholders in the real estate sector have urged the Federal Government to introduce tax incentives for local manufacturers of building materials.

They said this would attract more foreign investors to produce more affordable materials to bridge the nation’s housing deficit.

The stakeholders made the plea on Thursday in Lagos at the July Breakfast Meeting of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC).

Theme of the meeting was: “Dealing with Housing Delivery Challenges in Nigeria.”

Commenting, Mr Mustapha Njie, the Managing Director, TAF Africa Homes, said that 90 per cent of the materials used for building were imported.

According to him, this contributed to the issues of high cost of building across the country.

Njie said that granting tax incentives would attract the foreigners to set up entity in Nigeria and create jobs, transfer knowledge, save foreign exchange and deepen local content.

“It holds long-time cost-effectiveness for the economy, as it will facilitate the development of more properties and assist in bridging housing gaps in the country,’’ he said.

Njie also called for the development of a robust database for the sector, saying that professionals need adequate data to help investors to plan accurately.

“The data we have on the country’s housing gap has not changed since more than 10 years, even with the increase in the population and migration around the country.

“Long term financing and strengthening of mortgage institutions should be encouraged to allow more people to access to properties,” Njie, represented by Mr Lucky Kawekune, company’s Legal Adviser, said.

Also, Mr Tola Akinhanmi, the acting Head of Real Estate Finance (West Africa), Stanbic IBTC Plc, said that government should evolve structural reform in addressing the financing issues for housing.

In his remarks, Oluwatoyin Akomolafe, NACC President, said that successive governments had developed and created government residential layouts in several locations across the country.

“It is regrettable that the task of instituting effective, affordable and sustainable housing delivery processes continues to challenge policymakers, even as the problems of the housing sector worsens,” he said.

According to him, challenges of the sector are attributed to lack of secure access to land, high cost of construction, limited access to finance, bureaucratic procedures, high cost of land registration and titling.

“Others include uncoordinated policies and implementation at Federal and State levels; ownership rights under the Land Use Act, and affordability gap.

“They are inefficient development control, youth harassment of developers and inelegant revocation and compensation process,’’ Akomolafe said.