Former Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, articulated a compelling argument on Tuesday for a return to intentional, government-led planning and development focusing on infrastructure as a means to achieve inclusive housing and sustainable urban growth in Nigeria, particularly in the South-west region.
Osinbajo’s comments were made at the Real Estate Outlook 2026 event hosted by Wemabod Limited at the Grand Ballroom of Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The event's theme focused on "Unlocking Land and Infrastructure for Inclusive Housing: A Regional Agenda for Sustainable Urban Growth."
Highlighting the successful development of Bodija Estate in Ibadan, Osinbajo noted that its establishment was not an arbitrary occurrence, but rather the result of purposeful planning integrated into a broader regional development agenda that included free education, civil service growth, and economic planning.
He remarked that the housing demand in Bodija had been anticipated and strategically planned, rather than being a mere response to rising population pressures.
According to Osinbajo, Bodija was designed as a holistic community rather than just a cluster of houses. It adhered to a comprehensive planning hierarchy, executed controlled setbacks and plot ratios, maintained low-rise density, and included green buffers and open spaces.
He asserted that the estate emphasized financial viability while ensuring comfort, privacy, and community integration, placing it strategically near job centers, services, and institutions instead of relocating it to the outskirts.
This positioning minimized commuting distances and firmly rooted the estate within the city’s social and economic fabric, which enabled Ibadan to expand around it rather than away.
Osinbajo highlighted that perhaps the most significant achievement of Bodija was its intentional social mixing. The estate was home to modest bungalows for lower-income residents, semi-detached houses for middle-income families, and larger dwellings for more affluent professionals, all living in proximity without segregation.
"Teachers were neighbors to civil servants, and skilled workers shared streets with professionals. This social mixing was deliberately planned, not left to chance," he explained.
He further emphasized the necessity of an infrastructure-first approach in Bodija, where essential services such as roads, drainage, water supply, electricity, educational facilities, and community amenities were provided before residents moved in.
He presented infrastructure as a public asset rather than a private obligation, effectively subsidizing the affordability of living for residents who otherwise would have had to supply basic services themselves.
Osinbajo underscored that infrastructure constitutes the unseen backbone of affordable housing. He noted that when households face the burden of securing water, access roads, and flood defenses, housing becomes unaffordable.
Nevertheless, he expressed regret that the inadequacy of Bodija was not due to its design but the failure to replicate such developments across the South- west.
Osinbajo asserted that had regional governments pursued similar large-scale, mixed-income housing projects every decade since the 1960s, the South-west would now possess a network of inclusive communities characterized by shorter commutes, lower transportation costs, and greater social unity.
He also argued that the planning principles evident in Bodija had implicitly tackled sustainability long before it became a global concern, pointing to the estate's compactness, low-rise orientation, tree cover, and job proximity that collectively lessened energy consumption and flood risk. Remarkably, more than 60 years later, Bodija's layout and property values remain resilient despite infrastructure degradation caused by increased population density, commercialization, and years of underfunding typical of many government-owned estates.
Contrasting Bodija's legacy with current housing developments, Osinbajo noted that economic strain, structural adjustments, and rapid urbanization since the late 1980s led to government withdrawal from direct housing provision, pushing private developers and public-private partnerships to fill the gap.
He stated that this shift produced gated, uniform estates catering to specific income levels, often situated on city peripheries, poorly connected by public transportation.
The implications of this trend include extended commuting times, inflated transport costs, decreased productivity, increased carbon emissions, and urban sprawl.
Osinbajo observed that in many cases, infrastructure had been privatized at the household level, escalating housing expenses and hastening physical decay.
He highlighted that many well-constructed estates intentionally excluded low- and middle-income households due to their pricing, design, and location.
Acknowledging that while modern private estates excelled in several areas, particularly reviving the infrastructure-first principle, they remained prohibitively expensive as infrastructure costs were passed on to buyers, structurally preventing inclusion.
He emphasized that the critical distinction between Bodija and contemporary estates lay in institutional and ideological aspects. Bodija adhered to a definitive sequence: planning first, then infrastructure, followed by housing.
It benefitted from public land assembly, a consolidated planning authority, and socialized infrastructure costs borne by the government.
In contrast, modern estates entrenched exclusion through pricing, location, and gated communities, he pointed out.
Osinbajo identified land and infrastructure as the two primary barriers to achieving inclusive housing.
He noted that scarcity of land was primarily institutional rather than a physical limitation, stemming from fragmented ownership, speculative landholding, high transaction costs, and insufficient coordination.
He further stressed that housing affordability was linked to living costs beyond mere construction expenses.
He advocated for well-structured public-private partnerships whereby governments would supply land, bulk infrastructure, fast-track approvals, and enforce inclusionary zoning, while private developers contributed capital and execution capabilities.
Osinbajo recommended making inclusionary zoning compulsory in large estates to guarantee a steady flow of affordable and social housing.
He also urged state governments to take on the roles of land assemblers and master planners, improve housing finance mechanisms to align with actual incomes, accommodate informal workers through adaptable repayment methods, and digitize land records to streamline processes and mitigate disputes.
Rejecting the idea that governments are incapable of providing housing, Osinbajo cited Borno State's accomplishment of constructing nearly 15,000 housing units in a span of three and a half years despite limited revenues.
He concluded that achieving inclusive housing is possible with the right political commitment, affirming, "It is entirely feasible. It is a matter of priority and political will."
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