By Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The Federal Government has rested the controversial issue of the housing deficit, putting it at 16 million.
Fielding questions from newsmen after the commissioning of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) complex and FHA Express View Estate in Abuja, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Musa Dangiwa, admitted that there are many figures being bandied around, but after a thorough study conducted by the ministry, it arrived at 16 million.
“There are lots of figures being bandied around. You hear 21 million. You hear 27 million. But we have had a study conducted, and we have an approximately accurate figure of about 16 million housing deficit in Nigeria. We’re working closely with it. We’re working diligently at it. All our efforts are made towards reducing the impact, reducing the deficit of housing in Nigeria,” he said.
The minister, who spoke through the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Shuaibu Belgore, disclosed that the cost of the houses ranges from N9 million to about N16 million.
“Now, there are facilities that make it a bit easier to uptake them. When we do not sell land, the price of the land is already taken out. All we’re selling is what it costs to build. And even at that, it’s still a bit subsidised so that Nigerians can afford it. If you are in any way building something, you know what the market prices are. To build this now, I do not know because it’s built by FHA. So, it’s their own records. Perhaps the Managing Director (MD) of FHA can tell you. There are different ranges of buildings. There are middle income. There are low income. As a matter of fact, where we’re heading to is even those of zero income. The president is about to inaugurate the social housing project, which I did not talk about earlier. The social housing project is targeted at delivering 100 houses in every local government in Nigeria. If you do the mathematics, that comes to 77,400 houses across Nigeria. This is basically social housing. It is targeted at the low income—very low income and zero income people. The president has made the pledge that of these 100 houses per local government, 30 per cent of it will be given out free to those who have zero income. While the low income and very low income, it will be priced. The payment for it will be taken at how they can afford it based on their income,” the minister explained.
On the total cost of the estate, the Managing Director (MD) of FHA, Oyetunji Ojo, promised to provide the cost at a later date because, according to him, it was a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project, and it was done before his appointment.
“You will get the finances. Let me be honest with you because I don’t know how to lie. This was a project that was done before I came. In a PPP project, it was a partnership in which people committed some funds. And as I speak with you, it has all been occupied. It’s something I met on ground. And what I decided to do was not to do an abandoned project, because people have committed funds. And that’s what Mr. President told us,” he further explained.
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