Federal government has declared a nationwide broader strategy to reduce the housing deficit.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa made this known while inaugurating the FHA Express View Estate 1 and FHA Complex in Lugbe, Abuja, yesterday.
Represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Shuaib Belgore, he said the newly commissioned estate was among the several housing projects being delivered under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
He said: “This event is not just about cutting a ribbon. It is about showing Nigerians that progress is possible.
“The Renewed Hope Agenda is real, and that through institutions like the FHA, we are bringing that vision to life.
“Mr President made housing a priority to close the gap, grow our cities in an orderly way and make sure that every Nigerian, whatever their status, can have a safe place to call home.”
According to Dangiwa, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has the job of driving this vision, setting policies, creating partnerships and strengthening institutions, and one of the strongest tools for delivery is the FHA.
He explained that there are series of renewed hope housing projects across the country including the renewed hope cities project to deliver over 3,000 houses in major cities in Nigeria.
He added that the renewed hope estates cut across 13 states alongside the social housing project which targets the delivery of 77,400 houses, that is 100 houses in every local government in Nigeria is ongoing.
The minister called for stronger partnership between FHA, FMBN, developers, mortgage institutions, cooperatives, pension funds and the private sector to change the story of housing in Nigeria.
Chairman, House Committee on Housing and Habitat, Abdulmumin Jibrin, said there is the need to pump in more money into the housing sector, adding that capacity, human resources and land are available.
“One of the fundamental problems of the housing sector in Nigeria is that we have a situation where the houses are chasing the money.
”We need to change the dynamics to a situation where the money will be chasing the houses,” he said.
Jibrin noted that sometimes there are houses but the capacity to purchase would not be there and called for the need to strengthen FMBN to address the mortgage challenge.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive of FHA, Oyetunde Ojo said FHA’s management hinged its agenda on the Renewed Hope mantra.
Ojo said to achieve it, the Authority visited 28 states and was given lands in all.
He said: “While the Authority has commenced the process of constructing our Renewed Hope Estates in 17 states in phases, we also decided to deliver this housing project that we are commissioning today.
“Express View Estate that we are commissioning today is the first phase and it comprises of about 50 units of terraces and flats.
“On full completion, the entire project is expected to add about 110 housing units to the national housing stock. It is a partnership project that started in 2021 between the Federal Housing Authority and BAM Properties.”
Ojo explained that FHA is working to complete other inherited projects with some slated for commissioning in the coming weeks.
“Let me use this opportunity to tell Nigerians that our management is not only desirous of giving our people affordable and livable estates, we are building a new FHA where our allottees will be secured and our services faster and seamless.
“To achieve this, we initiated the digitalisation of the Authority’s property files, which are now secured in the Galaxy backbone.We are working for the full automation of other aspects of its operations.
“Our laboratory has become operational, where we carry out geological and integrity tests,” he said.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of Federal Mortgage Bank, FMBN, Shehu Osidi stressed the need to empower government institutions to do more.
He said “in Nigeria, we have houses we do not need and we need houses we do not have. Why is this?
“It is because there are a lot of houses that are not affordable to low- and medium-income earners.
“Which is the reason why institutions like FHA and FMBN exist. We finance houses for low- and medium-income earners.”
He added, “Our partnership within the context of the Renewed Home Agenda is that we have provided a bankable optical guarantee.
“So that when these houses are built, Nigerians can apply for mortgages through FMBN to own these houses and then pay gradually over time.” (NAN)
