Governorship Debate: Private sector cannot solve Lagos housing crisis alone – NDC’s Doherty

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Funso Doherty, has said the private sector cannot independently address the state’s housing crisis, urging the government to take a leading role in providing affordable accommodation. Doherty made the remarks during the Lagos governorship debate held in Lagos on Sunday and organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, comprising Channels Television, TVC News, The PUNCH, TheCable and Vanguard.

Doherty outlined his proposals for tackling arbitrary rent increases and improving access to affordable housing. He described arbitrary rent increases in Lagos as a form of racketeering and promised to establish an ombudsman office to address complaints and protect tenants if elected. “There is a form of racketeering. We would set up an ombudsman office to deal with this,” he said.

The NDC candidate identified inadequate housing supply as one of the major factors driving rising rents in the state, arguing that housing development had failed to keep pace with growing demand. “The larger solution of the problem is due to supply. Housing supply has not kept up with growing demand,” he said. Doherty maintained that social housing should be a major government responsibility, noting that private developers alone could not meet the accommodation needs of Lagos residents.

“Social housing, that is an area, where government has to be the primary driver, private housing will not do it alone,” he added. He also criticised the state government for allegedly failing to make sufficient investments in areas requiring public intervention, arguing that it had allowed the private sector to take the lead in areas where government should play a more prominent role.

“One of the areas we have a problem with this government is that they don’t step up in a big way in things they should, instead allow the private sector take the lead,” he said.