FG completes 2,500 housing units in 34 states

The Federal Government has completed 2,500 housing units in 34 states, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said.

Fashola, who disclosed this at the National Policy on Development summit in Abuja, also stated the government was currently working on 500 roads and bridges across the country.

He further noted that as part of efforts to bridge the infrastructure gap in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing had intervened in the construction of internal roads in 44 tertiary institutions.

The minister spoke through his Minister of State for Works and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu, while delivering the keynote address at the NPoD summit.

Commenting on the housing deficit in Nigeria, the minister said, “The ministry is concerned about mitigating the deficit and ensuring that Nigerians wherever they reside have access to affordable, conducive and hygienic housing.

“The National Housing Programme is ongoing across the country with over 2,500 units completed in 34 states of the federation.”

Fashola further revealed that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Housing Authority were increasing the housing stock for Nigerians through several programs such as rent to own and mortgage finance ownership.

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, stressed the need for the National Orientation Agency to work assiduously to encourage Nigerians to patronize Nigeria-made products.

He noted that if Nigerian products were not patronized, the country’s revenue from crude oil would continue to create jobs and wealth for other nations because of the preference for foreign goods over locally produced products.

Speaking on behalf of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, David Adejoh, stated that the Federal Government had been trying to prioritize and balance between the welfare of Nigerians and infrastructural needs of the country.

He, however, stated that funding had been a major challenge and assured participants at the program that the government would continue doing its best to meet the needs of Nigerians.

Source: PUNCH