I am sure you are wondering what 'PPP' stands for and how it is the panacea to Nigeria's Housing problems. PPP stands for "Private-Public-Partnership". It is a type of business relationship between a government agency and a private-sector establishment geared towards conceptualizing and completing projects that will benefit the public such as Low Cost Housing Estates, public transportation networks amongst others.
This concept is quite popular in most Western Countries. In many developed countries, government has no business directly building houses or estates. The role of government is to create a conducive investment atmosphere such as putting in place mortgage insurance through banks and building societies and also provision of their necessary infrastructure. A typical example of a Private-Public-Partnership in the United States is the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) which partners with mortgage institutions.
Experts believe that this holds the key to revolutionizing Nigeria's moribund real estate industry and Nigeria's struggling economy. It appears Nigeria's Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is thinking in this direction as she is tinkering with the prospect of fashioning an encouraging mortgage regime especially for low income earners in Nigeria. It is high time the aforementioned concept was integrated into Nigeria's National Housing Policy.
The housing or real estate sector in Nigeria if well harnessed, will have a multiplier-effect on other aspects of the economy such as churning out sustainable employment opportunities for Nigeria's teeming unemployed youths.
Now let us envision the ripple-effect of a booming real estate sector in Nigeria. This will translate into more jobs for building engineers, architect's, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, private security guard's and other interconnected business opportunities. If the aforementioned folks are economically empowered, they will in turn be galvanized to spend on their basic needs which will eventually rub off on the larger economy. Of course not forgetting the fact that a booming real estate industry will also accrue taxes, revenues to the government.