By Agency Reporter

Thursday, 17 Feb 2011

A real estate expert, Mr. Adeyemi Williams, has urged the Federal Government to review the Act setting up the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria to enable the masses to benefit from the bank.

Williams told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Wednesday that the review was necessary because the bank was not meeting the yearnings of the low income earners.

He said that the bank was only serving the interest of the rich “because housing has not been ranked high in government spending.”

He said, “This is the cause of shanty towns and overcrowding in urban areas. It has been estimated that about 85 per cent of the urban population live in single rooms.

“Often, we have up to eight to 12 persons living in a room, resulting in poor living conditions of many urban dwellers.”

Williams said that only about 27 per cent of urban dwellers had access to pipe-borne water while less than 10 per cent had toilets indoor.

Source: Punch