By Oyintutu Oyinkolade

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Muttaqha Darma, has called for synergy among government agencies in the housing sector to improve coordination and accelerate housing delivery.
Darma made the call in Abuja on Monday at the stakeholders’ conference on the proposed National Real Estate Regulatory Authority (NRERA).
The conference, themed “One vision, One Ecosystem, One National Housing and Real Estate Plan”, was organised by the Office of the Speaker, House of Representatives, and the House Committee on Housing and Habitat.
The minister said the lack of coordination among government agencies had affected the effective delivery of houses to Nigerians, noting that institutions in the sector operated independently.
“The players within the industry, all of us, operate in silos.
“Federal Housing Authority (FHA) does not even know what Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) is doing. FMBN does not know what Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) is doing,” he said.
According to him, the various institutions must work together towards a common goal rather than operate independently.
“Our target is to build houses for Nigerians. We are wasting our time because if we fail, it is us who fail, not the President,” he said.
The minister expressed support for the establishment of NRERA, saying the proposed authority would address the regulatory gaps in the real estate sector.
He said the ministry had reviewed the proposed legislation and recognised its potential to improve the sector.
Darma also disclosed that abandoned housing projects funded by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) across the country were worth about N38 billion.
He said a survey conducted by the ministry revealed abandoned FMBN-funded housing developments in every state of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.
“We realised about N38 billion of contributors’ money, your own money, all the Nigerian workers’ money. N38 billion is wasted,” he said.
He said that the poor management of workers’ contributions could discourage Nigerians from contributing to the National Housing Fund.
The minister urged the committee handling the proposed legislation to ensure that state governments were included in the regulatory framework.
He also called for safeguards to protect homebuyers, tenants, developers and mortgage lenders, including mandatory escrow accounts for buyers and standardised tenancy agreements.
Earlier, Dr Armstrong Takang, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), said effective regulation was necessary to restore investor confidence in Nigeria’s real estate sector.
Takang said the sector contributed 12.71 per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of June 2026, but remained largely unregulated.
He said the absence of a national licensing system had allowed unqualified individuals to operate as estate agents and developers without adequate accountability.
“Anyone can sell land, anyone can collect off-plan payments, run into tens of billions and get away with it. There are very few countries in the world where these are allowed,” he said.
He called for mandatory licensing of real estate operators and the protection of buyers’ funds through designated project accounts.
“An operator must be licensed with the authorities. No one should be operating in the real estate sector without a licence, no matter which part of the value chain they are involved in,” he said.
He added that buyers’ funds should be kept in protected project accounts and released to developers based on evidence of progress on construction.
Takang said effective regulation would attract domestic and foreign investment, protect citizens and support the Federal Government’s one-trillion-dollar economy target.
He urged the National Assembly to ensure the passage of the proposed legislation, describing it as critical to bringing order and transparency to the real estate sector.(NAN)

Edited by Deji Abdulwahab