Hard hit by downturn

The coronavirus pandemic further exposed the fault lines of the building and construction sector. Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie reports that poor infrastructure, funding, regulation and compliance remain major challenges for the sector

Many households do not have sufficient access to soap and water for handwashing, a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has found. Washing of hands with soap under running water for at least 20 seconds is a key part of preventing the spread of coronavirus.

However, in its National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS) on the socio-economic effects of COVID-19 on households conducted in June 2020, the NBS stated that 24 per cent had insufficient soap and seven per cent had insufficient water for washing hands. T he survey was the second of a planned 12 series of the COVID-19 NLPS of households in Nigeria – 1,950 households – to monitor the economic impact of the pandemic and other shocks.

According to the report, despite high awareness of safety measures, almost a quarter of respondents did not have sufficient soap to wash their hands. In the baseline, soap and cleaning supplies were the most commonly needed items, and most families confirmed that they were unable to purchase soap when needed.

Poorer households are more likely to have insufficient access to soap and water to wash their hands. The shortage of water for drinking and washing hands faced by households was primarily due either to a disruption in the supply or inability to access the source of water.

A breakdown showed that 28.4 per cent of the household could not afford water to wash their hand while 78.8 per cent could not  afford soap to wash their hands. Also, a large share of households reported that they could not afford to buy sufficient supplies of water,  17 per cent for drinking water and 28 per cent for handwashing water.

Prior to the pandemic, access to water was an issue in some areas. Some communities travelled miles to get water and in most cases, they were left with contaminated water, either from a stream or river.

According to a report of the Joint Monitoring Programme of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) entitled: “Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2000-2017”, one in three people globally do not have access to clean drinking water.

The survey indicated that 69 million Nigerians do not have access to safe water and 19 million have to walk long distances to get unsafe water from lakes, streams, and rivers.

There was also report that the construction sector lost significant number of jobs during the period, worsening the woes of the sector.

With increases in pump price of fuel and electricity tariffs, increased costs  made the construction sector to groan almost to a breaking point. Operators said the many increases have negative effects on the construction and real estate sector as the purchasing power of people have become very low occasioned by job losses and lower incomes.

“The construction industry engages a lot of actors, including professionals, artisans, and business organisations such as contractors, materials manufacturers, equipment manufacturers or leasing organisations. Many of the organisations are small medium enterprises that remain the engine room of growth in national economies. The use of the construction industry to grow national economies cannot be overemphasised. A cursory survey of some building materials manufacturers indicated that many are closing shops due to the cost of production combined with the harrowing effect of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the President, Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB), Kunle Awobodu said.

He warned that increasing energy costs would further suffocate the few that are still surviving, adding that the implication of this scenario on improving housing stock for example is better imagined.

He advised the government and relevant stakeholders to stimulate a scenario for the production of inputs such as doors, windows and other components for large housing projects.

He advised that what the nation needs at this time is the ability to look inwards in line with the government espoused policy pronouncements and executive orders on local content.

“Generally, energy is required to run homes from many angles.  For managers of estates, the service charge would  have to go up.  Then the costs will be push over to renters or tenants.  So every renter will be paying more  in terms of rent.   Owners of dwelling will also incur more cost to run homes.  Ultimately, costing of housing will also go up. For construction,  energy is consumed in many ways – material production,  construction process – these will also be affected. Construction   cost Will also go up although marginally,” Past president, Association of Town Planning Consultants (ATOPCON), Moses Ogunleye.

Past Chairman, Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Jide Oke  also said the increase in the prices of electricity, fuel and introduction  of stamp duty would greatly impact negatively on the construction sector.