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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Obasanjo urges states to provide facilities for housing schemes
PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo has appealed to state governments to provide infrastructure for housing estates being built by the Federal Government under the national site and services scheme.
The scheme, promoted by the Ministry of Housing was designed in 1987 to shift the government's attention away from direct construction of houses. The plots are allocated to individuals with the state governments providing infrastructure like roads, water and electricity. More than 15,000 plots for residential, commercial and industrial developments were allotted to people in states such as Enugu, Anambra, Lagos, Imo, Kano, Rivers, Kwara and Ondo.
Obasanjo spoke at an event organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development at the weekend to mark the successful completion of three abandoned estates, under the national housing programme in Lagos.
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."
He noted that the lack of infrastructure had turned most of the existing estates in the cities to slums and made mockery of masterplans in the states. He said that the objective of the government's housing policy was to make many Nigerians homeowners.
His words: "This administration is committed to the provision of affordable homes to the low income group through an effective and efficient mortgage scheme while providing an enabling environment for the private developers to cater for the needs of the medium and high income group in the country."
The President called on all Nigerians to imbibe maintenance culture and environmental sanitation, especially those living in all federal government estates.
He added: "Beneficiaries should complement government's effort by keeping such houses and the environment clean. There is a need for effective public enlightenment, which will mobilize citizenry participation in managing both urban and rural settlements.
"Time has come for property developers, whether public or private, throughout the country to insert clauses relating to maintenance of purchased houses and its surroundings in the purchased agreements. Such clauses should take care of the maintenance of the premises, landscaping, littering of premises, conformity to bye-laws, payment of annual ground rent, service charge and strict use of the premises as residential purposes."
He also enjoined architects and engineers to embrace the use of alternative building materials in the crusade to meet the housing needs of Nigerians.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Chief Mobolaji Osomo stated that the ministry was determined to meet the challenges of the target of delivering 40,000 housing units yearly. According to her, no democratic government can claim to have impacted in a positive manner on the lives of the people except it addresses adequately the twin problems of inadequate shelter and poor living conditions.
"We have introduced a more comprehensive approach to housing development through our partnership and business development programme. We believe that housing provision must be taken within the framework that is inclusive and responsive to local conditions and should involve a considerable number of stakeholders, including the beneficiaries," she said.
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