Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, says more than 80 per cent of Nigerians cannot afford mortgage to own houses.
The minister said this on Monday at the maiden edition of the Kaduna International Housing Exhibition, which held at the Yar’Adua Hall, in Kaduna.
According to the minister, statistics have shown that almost half of Nigeria’s population of over 201 million are poor and have weak purchasing power.
He added that the recent macro-economic challenges, including inflation have made things worse. He said the major issue governments at all levels need to address in the desire to deliver sustainable housing to citizens, is the issue of affordability.
His words: “In fact, of the 43 million households, over 85 per cent have less than N1.1m purchasing power. Of this, 40 per cent (about 17.2 million households fall into the poverty income group and 47 per cent (about 20.2 million) fall into the low-income group.
“On the whole, statistics reveal that Nigeria is a low-income country as it has only 13 per cent of its population as middle class.”
