By Sarah NEGEDU
If Nigeria must address the challenges of housing deficit currently affecting the country, then there is the need for a special partnership with private developers through the provision of Mass Housing Scheme at subsidized and affordable rate.
This was the position of the FCT Minister of State, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, at the International Real Estate Conference and Exhibition, IRECE, held in Abuja.
Mahmoud, in a paper presentation titled: “Housing Provision in this Decade”, also asserted that remedial measures like urban renewal programmes should be encouraged.
The minister who was represented by the Director of Resettlement and Compensation, Tpl. Nasiru Suleiman, called on Ministries, Departments and Agencies to build decent and affordable housing estates to house their teeming staff.
Other measures of improving the housing provision in this decade according to her, include unwavering commitment and political will of government and conscious annual housing budgetary provision targeted at increasing the housing stock of the nation, thereby solving Nigerian housing problem.
While commending the topic of the conference, the minister noted that housing is a basic necessity constituting one man’s greatest challenges all over the world and best indicators of a man’s standard of living.
Earlier, the convener of the conference, Mr. Franklin Ajayi, commended the present FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, for providing developers the opportunity to express their views in the housing sector.
Ajayi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Sim and Lloyd Limited, however, appealed for friendly policies that would encourage private developers with a view to solving the housing deficit in Nigeria.
