….. outlines strategies, significant achievements by the housing ministry.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa has affirmed commitment to the vision of the Housing Ministry which is to create an efficient housing market that gives all Nigerians the right to a secure, decent, and affordable home as a platform for active participation in economic development.
Dangiwa, also outlined the significant strides made by his ministry in advancing the Renewed Hope Housing Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
He spoke during the Ministerial Press briefing in Abuja, organised by the Minister of Information and National Orientation.
Dangiwa mentioned that the strategy of the housing ministry to move the housing sector forward revolves around three core pillars which are; growing the economy, lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, and creating an enabling environment, affirming that the Renewed Hope Housing Programme is designed to be a catalyst for economic growth.
According to the Minister, the launching of the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Development Programme earlier this year by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at Karsana, Abuja, will deliver, under phase one, a total of 50,000 housing units across Nigeria.
Giving a detail description of the projects, Dangiwa said that the Cities will have 1,000 housing units per site in one location in each of the six geo-political zones in the country and FCT, while the Estates will have 500 housing units per site in the remaining thirty (30) States.
“We have designed the Renewed Hope Cities as integrated living communities targeting all income brackets. They comprise one-bedroom blocks of flats, two-bedroom blocks of flats and three- bedroom blocks of flats; two-, three- and four-bedroom terraces, four-bedroom duplexes, and five-bedroom duplexes,” he added.
He also explained “To enhance affordability and ease of offtake, we used organic designs where one bedroom can be expanded to two-bedrooms and three-bedrooms as the income of beneficiaries increase over time”.
Dangiwa also spelt out a cross subsidy plan that will allow housing units built under the Renewed Hope Cities to be sold at commercial rate and a substantial percentage to be sold at concessionary rates to low- and medium-income Nigerians who are members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Accordingly, he said that the construction and development of new areas, cities and estates will generate employment opportunities, stimulate local businesses, and attract investments.
“The 50,000 units to deliver under phase 1 will create 1,250,000 direct and indirect construction jobs. This is in addition to the value chain effects of purchase, supply of building materials, businesses around the construction sites,” he explained.
Dangiwa also revealed that the recent launch of an Online Housing Portal by the Ministry was to ease the process of acquiring homes that are built under the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme.
To achieve inclusivity in the housing sector, the Minister further stated that, the creation of a National Social Housing Fund (NSHF) was to ensure that all Nigerians including those with no income, the vulnerable and underprivileged groups have access to decent and dignified accommodation, saying that President Tinubu believes that access to decent shelter is not only a necessity but a human right and all Nigerians across all income segments deserve a decent home to live and grow.
He also listed the potential sources of funds for the National Social Housing Fund to include; Gains from the removal of fuel subsidy, Profit after tax from pension fund administrator investments, Contributions from corporate bodies and institutions as part of their corporate social responsibility, Public Private Partnerships, International donor support and Government allocation, amongst others.
On National Housing Program (NHP), the Minister spoke about the advertisement of Expression of Interest forms with 4 (four) windows of subscription giving room for all income segments; he said the Outright payment got 1,294, Mortgage 2,408, Rent– to– Own got 2,148 and Installment payments, 3039 expression of interests.
He noted that the first batch of Offer of New Provisional Allocation Letters were released last month for successful applicants under the Outright Payment option.
Furthermore, Dangiwa reviewed the inauguration of a housing reform task teams namely: Building Materials Manufacturing Task Team, Housing Institutions Reform Task Team, Multi-Agency Project Delivery Team and Land Reforms Task Team; that would ensure repositioning and optimizing performance of the Ministry to deliver on the target of providing affordable homes to Nigerians.
He stated some of the obligations of the task team which includes a thorough review of relevant laws and facilitation of 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, Driving Nationwide adoption and passage of the foreclosure law in states, amongst others.
He further revealed that the Task Teams have sent in preliminary reports and will conclude their assignments soon, assuring that the Ministry is committed to implementing the stated reforms and initiatives to change the landscape of the housing sector for good and deliver the Renewed Hope Agenda for Housing and Urban Development.
On Slum Upgrade Programme, Dangiwa also disclosed that the Ministry is set to embark on National Slum Upgrade Programme in 26 sites nationwide under the phase one of the programme, highlighting the key services to be provided as water supply, solar streetlights, rehabilitation of access roads, construction of drainages, waste management and sanitation services, amongst others.
In assuring Nigerians of successful and prompt completion of the Renewed Hope Housing Cities and Estates, the Minister mentioned that government has approved the total sum of 126.5bn from the 2023 supplementary and 2024 budgets for these projects including slum upgrade and urban renewal, maintaining, “Nationwide, we currently have estates in 12 States and Cities in 3.” He added.
The estates are sited in Katsina, Yobe, Gombe, Abia, Nasarawa, Benue, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Sokoto, Oyo, and Osun while the cities are in Abuja, Yobe, and Lagos.
The Minister further mentioned that Contractors have been mobilized and have commenced work to deliver a total of 3,500, revealing that work has commenced for 3,112 housing units under the PPP, bringing the total number of housing units currently under construction to 6,612.
Badamasi Salisu Haiba
Director (Information & Public Relations)
