A Professor of Applied Valuation at the Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), Isaac Olatunji, has urged a radical overhaul of Nigeria's housing delivery system by adopting data-driven housing choices and long-term tenancy models. Delivering the 24th Inaugural Lecture of FUOYE titled “Housing Care and Support for Nigerians: Exploring the Optimality Dimension to a Critical Real Estate Decision,” Olatunji argued that housing delivery must evolve beyond mere shelter provision to a scientifically guided system that ensures citizens' well-being and economic stability.
The OPTi Revolution Framework
Olatunji introduced the “OPTi Revolution,” a housing decision-support framework built around the Optimality Index (OPTi), which he compared to the global Moody's rating system. This system mathematically balances income, transport costs, commuting distance, housing quality, and family activity patterns to help Nigerians make informed housing choices. He stated, “Just as a GPS tells you the fastest route, OPTi tells you the best utility home. We can keep building 700,000 houses yearly, but if we do not fix how end-users choose them and how long they can stay in them, we are simply building magnets of despair instead of magnets of hope.”
Housing Poverty and Research Findings
The professor lamented that despite successive government housing programmes, poverty levels in Nigeria have risen from 54.4 percent in 2007 to an estimated 63 percent in 2025, insisting that poor housing and urban poverty are inseparable. Research findings revealed that about 65 percent of Abuja's vulnerable middle class are at risk of “housing poverty” due to hidden costs from poor housing choices, fuel price hikes, and transportation burdens. Additionally, it takes an average middle-income family in Abuja between 15 and 18 months to secure suitable accommodation, which Olatunji described as a major drain on national productivity.
Recommendations for Reform
Olatunji called for the institutionalisation of Residential Accommodation Procurement (RAP) counselling under the guidelines of the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria and the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers. He urged estate surveyors and valuers to evolve from conventional “house agents” into professional housing procurement counsellors capable of deploying ICT-based tools and Excel-driven analytics to guide families toward optimal housing decisions. He further advocated long-term tenancy arrangements ranging from 16 to 33 years, arguing that such tenure security would encourage tenants to invest in housing modernisation and environmental improvements. Integrating the RAP model with long-term tenancy would create a win-win outcome for citizens, professionals, and government by improving housing well-being, creating wealth, and reducing urban poverty.
Government and Stakeholder Response
The don urged the Federal Government to institutionalise the OPTi Decision-Support System for both public and private sector housing counselling as part of efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Reacting to the lecture, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Strategic Partnerships, Research, Innovation and Linkages of FUOYE, Prof. Babatunde Afolabi, commended Olatunji for highlighting the deep-rooted challenges confronting Nigeria's housing sector. Afolabi noted that the research findings indicated a national housing deficit estimated at about 15 million units. “He has been able to highlight the major challenges in the Nigerian housing industry. By his estimate and research over the years, there is about a 15 million housing deficit, which means there is a lot to be done as a nation to bridge the gap,” he said. He expressed confidence that the recommendations would significantly assist policymakers and stakeholders in addressing Nigeria's housing crisis.
