DETERMINED to address the huge shortfall
in the Nigeria’s housing sector which is put at a whopping 18 million units, as
it particularly affects the low income earning groups of the country, Lafarge
Africa Plc, Africa’s cement giant and construction solutions company, has
unveiled a housing scheme known as Easy Home.
The Easy Home initiative which is
targeted mainly at low income earners who ordinarily have no hope of owning
houses of theirs in life because of their low income earning capacity, is
equally meant to meet affordable housing provision of the nation.
At a media roundtable on affordable
housing in Lagos organised by Lafarge recently, the promoters of Easy Home
noted that the scheme is Lafarge Africa Plc’s pragmatic affordable housing
solution, which is expected to build a business initiative with positive social
impacts.
Housing deficit The country’s
Affordable Housing Development Manager, Mr. Aurélien Boyer, while speaking on
the initiative, said the scheme will afford those who find it difficult to
build or buy homes within a short period of time the opportunity to do so,
pointing out that “It is a new dawn, as Lafarge Africa Plc, the continent’s
leading housing and infrastructure solutions company, is out to make it easy
for them to build and own homes with its Easy Home initiative”.
Explaining why Nigerians must build
houses of their own, Boyer said the population of the country increases at 2.8
per cent yearly and is projected to be the world’s third largest by 2050,
adding that there is currently a housing deficit of 17m amidst an urbanization
rate of 4.7 per cent.
Describing the affordable housing
initiative, he said “This is the only home construction solution for low income
earners; it is the solution for this class of people who earn between N20,000
to N30,000 and are aiming to build their own houses. The solution is accessible
to everybody including petty traders, civil servants, taxi drivers, barbers,
etc”.
Also speaking, Mrs. Folashade
Ambrose-Medebem, Lafarge Africa’s Director, Communications and Public Affairs,
said “Easy Home is an ambitious housing solution which involves 25 countries
globally.
In 2016 alone, over 445,000 people
were impacted and it is targeting to impact 25 million people by 2030. In
Nigeria, about 30,000 people have benefited from the initiative and still
counting.
“Lafarge Africa is committed to
facilitating affordable housing across Nigeria with its Easy Home initiative, a
home construction solution which has so far benefited over 30,000 people since
it began three years ago. The solution is an opportunity available for all. We
will provide you with technical support as long as you have a building project
because we vouch for our cement and concrete solutions”, Folashade said.
She explained that based on the long
term aspiration of the affordable housing value proposition at the group level,
LafargeHolcim hopes to positively impact about 25 million around the world by
2020, pointing out that Nigeria would hopefully represent a significant portion
of the projected beneficiaries.
According to the director of
Communications and Public Affairs who disclosed that Easy Home looks at how
people who build are facing the challenges of finance, artisans, project
execution and land acquisition, added that the initiative offers builders the
opportunity to leverage its partnerships such as the one it has with Lapo
Micro-finance Bank which provides housing finance for those that come through
this initiative.
Boyer further stated that the
housing scheme also provides free technical advisory services and assistance, pointing
out that “We deliver a construction estimate such as the quantity of cement,
blocks and their unit cost in just 10 minutes. “These technical advisory
services are offered unconditionally, but the beneficiaries are expected to use
Lafarge cement and blocks because those are the materials the company is
confident to use.
The technical support is also
available to anybody who has his own source of funds other than the one offered
by LAPO Micro-finance Bank”. Boyer said that anyone, whether he is a business
owner, a salary earner or civil servant can apply for this solution,
maintaining however that a prospective client must show evidence of stable
source of income.
He added that to access the loan,
the applicant has to bring a deed of agreement or transfer showing that he is
the owner of the landed property and a proof of income as the primary criteria.
According to Easy Home promoters,
within the three years of its operation, the initiatve has impacted people in
several states of the federation including Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Ondo, Osun,
Nasarawa, Niger, Calabar, Abia, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers.
They said scheme has enabled about
10 percent of its beneficiaries to build business structures such as shops,
schools, clinics, bakeries, while creating opportunities for these businesses
to generate billions of Naira with ample job opportunities for Nigeria’s
teeming youths.
“This is the only home construction
solution for low income earners; it is the solution for this class of people
who earn from N20,000 to N30,000 and are aiming to build their homes. The
solution is accessible to everybody including petty traders, civil servants,
taxi drivers, barbers, etc”, Boyer noted.
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