The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc Ahmed Musa Dangiwa has disclosed that a Housing Reform Team of experts and stakeholders has been constituted in order to ensure that housing agencies under the supervision of the Ministry are enhanced to deliver on the Ministry’s target of providing affordable homes to Nigerians. The Minister made this disclosure during a meeting with a delegation from the Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN), led by Mr. Ugochukwu Obiora Chime, at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
He explained that the reform team would be made up of representatives from HDAN, Agencies, professional bodies, as well as academia, to develop a robust framework for the reform of the housing sector by thoroughly reviewing relevant laws and facilitating necessary legislative amendments such as the Land Use Act, 1978, National Housing Fund (NHF) Act, 1992, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) Establishment Act, 1993, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Act, 1973, among others.
“The team will be tasked with streamlining all previous reform blueprints, whitepapers for the agencies and outlining areas requiring reform, with a focus on enhancing efficiency, transparency, and accountability”, he further explained.
While recalling a special Agenda Setting Dinner that was organized in his honor shortly upon resumption in office, Dangiwa was delighted to acquaint the delegation about the prioritization of some key concerns that were raised by the stakeholders at the event.
On DATA, he informed that a Ministry Taskforce has been set up, and is actively working with the National Population Commission to design survey instruments that would address housing-related questions during the upcoming population and housing census exercise, which would in turn establish the actual housing deficit in the Nation.
He also noted that work was in progress to bring reforms that would ensure easy access to land, and to this effect he informed that a land reform committee comprising of state governments, traditional rulers, relevant agencies, professional bodies, academia would be launched, to push for the amendment of the outdated Land Use Act of 1978.
“We invited and met with the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reforms; we now have access to the comprehensive work they have done over the past 14 years on Land Reforms in our country. Immediately after the meeting we set up an Internal Ministerial Committee to review and recommend for inclusion in our land reforms strategy, relevant parts of their recommendations will be the establishment of the National Land Commission to spell out the guidelines and regulations for operationalizing the Land Use Act, 1978”, he added. The Minister highlighted more components of the reform agenda, such as the creation of framework for the establishment of a National Social Housing Fund (NSHF) to deliver decent accommodation to all Nigerians; the work in progress to boost building materials manufacturing in the country that would ensure economic growth, create jobs, and reduce dependency on imports; slum/urban upgrading for Nigerians who cannot afford the FMBN mortgages; as well supporting the efforts to meet the need of affordable housing for Nigerians who can afford to own their homes through mortgages from the FMBN, FHA or commercial mortgages.
He also reviewed aims to deliver 34,500 units of Multi-Level Flats to cater to low-medium income earners, Terrace and Detached Bungalows and also Duplexes for the high-income earners under Phase 1 of the Renewed Hope Cities, in each of the six geo-political zones of the country and FCT; as well as 500 housing units of 1,2- and 3-bedroom affordable bungalows per site in each of the remaining thirty States, under the Renewed Hope Estates.
“Sponsors will include Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s budgetary allocation, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and through Public Private Partnerships with reputable developers. Ownership Options include Mortgage Loans, Rent-to-Own and Outright Purchase”, he specified.
Furthermore, Dangiwa disclosed ongoing comprehensive plan to ensure that all units under the National Housing Programme were completed;
According to him, “We have set up a Ministerial Committee to review the contracts of the abandoned sites as appropriate. We will also assess both the technical and financial capacity of the contractors to ensure that we proceed with only those that are capable. Our goal at the end is to ensure that the government gets value for the investment in the National Housing Programme and that we also learn the lessons from its challenges”.
Earlier in his remarks, the leader of the HDAN delegation, Ugochukwu Obiora Chime acknowledged that the Ministry serves as the blueprint that would bring about massive socio-economic development to the country, giving its potentials as the greatest engine room for employment generation.
He however noted that more work was needed to institutionalize such turnaround in the perception of shelter not just as a means of providing homes for people but also as a means of engendering the massive socio-economic growth as well as multiplier effect in the local economy, by means of the associated activities involved in providing the shelter.
The delegation appealed to the Honorable Minister to wade into issues surrounding the pricing of land Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O), and in addition, set up a committee that would look into the outstanding housing bills at the National Assembly.
They, further expressed confidence in the leadership of the Honorable Minister in proffering and implementing innovative solutions to the problem of housing deficits in Nigeria.
Badamasi Salisu Haiba
Director Information
