Twenty years into its existence, Abuja Properties Development Company is being met with a pointed challenge from housing experts: do more, and do it differently.
At an event marking the company's anniversary, specialists in urban development called for affordable rental schemes and innovative construction methods as practical tools to bring more residents into formal housing. The conversation centered on closing the gap between what is being built in the capital and what ordinary Abujans can actually afford.
The push for new financing models came through clearly. Experts argued that traditional mortgage structures remain out of reach for a significant portion of the population, and that fresh approaches to funding construction and rentals are not optional extras but genuine necessities for any serious expansion of housing access in the FCT.
With Abuja continuing to grow as a seat of government, commerce, and migration, the pressure on its housing stock is only going one direction. How the city's development institutions respond to that pressure in the next twenty years will matter far more than the anniversary itself.
Originally published by BusinessDay.