2.4 billion is the projected number of people to be added to the current 7billion world population between 2015 and 2050, more than half (approximately 1.3 billion) of which will come from Africa (UN DESA report,). Nigeria with a population of over 170 million and an annual population growth rate of 2.8%, which far exceeds the world average of 1.1%, is projected to have a population of about 400 million by 2050.

This explosion in population will further compound the infrastructural challenges we suffer in the country if our present systems and mindset are not changed. The National Bureau of Statistics in 2014 alerted that the country needs about 17 million houses to meet the World Bank/United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) standards for housing with safe drinking water, no overcrowding and adequate sanitary facilities. Judging by the present rate of additional 720,000 units annually, this number is expected to increase to an over 25 million housing deficit by 2050. These numbers are alarming to say the least, and call for a concerted effort by all tiers of government and the private sector.

The efforts of the government at bridging the housing gap has been in 5 epochs; The Pre independence era which saw the establishment of the Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB) and the Nigerian Building Society. During this era housing for expatriates, indigenous staff of Railways Corporation, Police, and the armed forces where constructed in Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, and Enugu; During the early independence era between 1960 – 1980, the government promulgated the land use decree 1978, it established the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) 1973 and built the FESTAC 28,500 units of housing out of the planned 202,000.
The Nigerian Building Society metamorphosed into Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN); In the third epoch between 1980 – 1990, the National Housing Policy was established also during this era 47,500 units were built instead of the planned 200,000 units across the then 19 states of the federation. “Housing for All by the Year 2000A.D’’ was the slogan for the government housing policy during the fourth epoch between 1990 – 1999 however in spite of government’s best efforts only about 6, 000 units of the planned 121, 000 units were realized. The present era 2000 – 2016 has seen the reengineering of the NHP -2006, the creation of the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and the formation of the New National Housing and Urban Development Policy (NHUDP).

A total of about 4,470 units were constructed out of the planned 10,271 units through Public Private Partnership (PPP). An additional 100 units of housing was built through the Presidential Mandate Housing Scheme compare that to the planned 500 units.

In summary the Federal Government housing policies can be classified into 5 broad categories:
a. Provide enabling laws for greater private sector participation in the provision of housing.
b. Mobilize long-term, sustainable and cheap funding for the housing sector.
c. Develop and promote the use of certified local labor and locally produced building materials as a means of reducing construction cost.
d. Develop and promote the use of appropriate technology in housing construction.
e. Make land for housing development easily accessible and affordable.
The development and promotion of appropriate technology in housing construction is the least explored option of these policy thrusts and deserves more mention. Prefabricated home technology otherwise known as prefab home technology is the construction of homes with off-site, factory manufactured building components. It is the most appropriate building technology for use in Nigeria because it’s advantages far exceeds the stigma of living in temporary, mass produced ‘ugly’ homes:
Prefab homes have a much shorter time of construction. It takes less than a week to build the foundations and assemble a typical 3-bedroom house using this technology. Recently the Chinese constructed a 57-story, 800 apartment building, called Mini Sky City, in 19 working days!(www.bbc.com, 2016)
The technology has been time tested and proven. It is not technically a new technology even in Nigeria as most of our traditional homes were built with composite wood and clay walls etc. The technology was first used in India as far back as the 18th century in Akbar. (Irfan Habib (1992))

“Time is money”. Due to the shortened time of delivery, the prefab ‘dry’ system has been proven to be cheaper than the traditional ‘wet’ construction system of bricks and mortar. Reduction in loan tenure can sometimes translate to as much as 50% cheaper construction cost. Also due to the significantly lesser weight of the prefab system, costly foundation systems are unnecessary.

Much less labor is required in the assembly of prefab homes as compared to the conventional alternative. 4 trained personnel can conveniently assemble a 3-bedroom home in 3 days. However, you will require over 20 personnel to build the same 3-bedroom home in 30 days.

The appropriate technology must utilize locally available materials. Nigeria is endowed with natural resources such as structural grade timber and with a carefully managed, sustainable timber harvesting program this resources can further benefit us in mass home delivery. With the recent agreement between the Nigerian Government and Messrs. Global Steel Holdings Limited of India, it is hoped that the Ajaokuta Steel plant will start operations in no distant future thereby enabling Nigerians utilize iron-ore and carbon deposits in the manufacture and use of steel (Abdulmalik, 2016 ). Recyclable waste materials including industrial fly ash, rice husk, and other agricultural wastes can be utilized in the manufacture of composite building components.
The Nigerian government has explored several policies without much result in quest to stem the ever increasing housing deficit. The use of prefab building technology is the last frontier in this quest for mass, affordable decent housing for Nigerians. This time-tested approach will address the issues of cost of construction, quality of product, availability of building materials, skilled manpower and time of delivery.
References

UN DESA report,. (n.d.). “World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision”. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/2015-report.html
(2016, June 11). Retrieved from www.bbc.com: http://www.bbc.com/news/resources/idt-3cca82c0-af80-4c3a-8a79-84fda5015115
Irfan Habib (1992). (n.d.). Akbar and Technology, Social Scientist 20 (9-10): 3-15 [3-4].
Abdulmalik, A. ( 2016 , July 8 ). 206565-exclusive-nigeria-indian-firm-reach-agreement-ajaokuta-steel-company.html. Retrieved from http://www.premiumtimesng.com: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/206565-exclusive-nigeria-indian-firm-reach-agreement-ajaokuta-steel-company.html