LAGOS—President Olusegun Obasanjo weekend in Lagos renewed his charge to Housing Corporations in the country to build at least 500 housing units in each state of the federation and Abuja using local building materials. He also announced plans by the government to inject more funds into the country’s mortgage system next year to enable prospective house owners obtain mortgage loans for the construction of their houses.
President Obasanjo who spoke at the commissioning of three housing estates constructed by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) under the National Housing Programme (NHP) scheme of 1994, said the pumping of more money into the mortgage system has become imperative because of importance of housing to the hierarchy of human needs which is third after food and clothing. The commissioned estates were Satellite 2 Housing Estate, FHA Abesan 1 Ojokoro and FHA Abesan 4 Ipaja.
The President noted that his administration is committed to the provision of affordable homes to the low-income group in the country through an effective and efficient mortgage scheme while providing an enabling environment for private developers to cater for the needs of the medium and high-income groups in Nigeria, pointing out that he was delighted to note a significant increase in private sector participation in housing construction since the announcement of the new government policy thrust of a private sector-driven housing delivery.
He said while the Federal Government is committed to increasing the housing stock for Nigerians, there is a need for effective collaboration with the state governments to achieve this lofty goal to the benefit of all Nigerians, stressing however that the beneficiaries of these houses should complement government’s effort by keeping such houses and their environment clean.
According to him, “there is a need for effective public enlightenment which will mobilize massive citizen participation in managing both urban and rural settlements. The time has come for property developers, whether public or private, throughout the country to insert clauses relating to maintenance of purchased houses and their surroundings in the purchase agreement.
“Such clauses should take care of the maintenance of the premises, landscaping, littering of premises, conformity to the bye-laws, payment of annual ground rent, service charge and strict use of the premises as residential areas.
Commending the FHA for the completion of the estates, he said he was in Portharcourt in April this year to commission the 264 housing units at the Trans Amadi Garden Estate Phase 1, followed by the commissioning of the 656 units at Gaduwa prototype housing estate in Abuja, pointing out that the commissioning of the estates in Lagos demonstrated the country is making steady progress in its housing delivery effort.
Noting that the Housing and Urban Development Ministry is gradually getting its bearing right with reference to abandoned national housing programme sites across the country, the President stated the he was informed that more abandoned sites of the NHP will be completed before the first quarter of next year.
