Aliyu Wammako, the former leader of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, has urged President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency concerning the volatile costs of building materials. He argues that this action is necessary to combat the surge in house rents across the country.
In a statement released on Thursday, Wammako emphasized that while the high cost of housing is a significant issue for millions of citizens, the government must focus on the primary driver of the problem: construction expenses. He noted that rent is simply the final result of an economic process involving land acquisition, labor, infrastructure, and materials like cement, steel, and roofing sheets, which have seen drastic price hikes.
Wammako highlighted that landlords are essentially recovering their production investments. As the price of essential inputs—such as a bag of cement rising toward N13,000—and labor costs increase, rental prices inevitably follow. Therefore, he contends that attempting to regulate rent without lowering building costs is ineffective.
Instead, he suggests that government policy should prioritize reducing energy and transport costs, promoting local manufacturing, and improving access to financing for developers. While acknowledging current federal initiatives and the work of the Federal Mortgage Bank, he advocated for strengthening these programs rather than implementing measures that might discourage private investment. Wammako concluded that the most sustainable way to lower rents is to increase housing supply by making the construction process itself more affordable.
