Federal Govt commences 300,000 social housing scheme

Federal Govt commences 300,000 social housing scheme

- A total of 300,000 houses for low-income Nigerians will soon be ready for habitation

- To accelerate the speed of the project, cement manufacturers are charing discounted prices to assist the federal government

- Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was at one of the sites over the weekend to monitor the progress of the project

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Cement manufacturers have reached an agreement with the Buhari administration to charge discounted prices as the federal government commences its plan to build 300,000 houses for low-income Nigerians.

The plan is under the Econ Sustainability Plan (ESP) of the administration and it is managed by Family Homes Funds Limited (FHFL).

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo visited one of the sites on Saturday, January 2 to monitor the progress of work done so far.

Answering reporters' questions after the visit to one of the construction sites of the social housing scheme, in Dei Dei, FCT, Abuja, Osinbajo noted the contributions of major cement manufacturers in the country towards the success of the programme.

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Federal Govt commences 300,000 social housing scheme
A prototype of one of the 300,000 social housing scheme. Photo credit: @NGRPresident
Source: Twitter

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After seeing the prototypes of the one-bedroom and two-bedroom bungalows, the vice president expressed satisfaction with the quality of the design and the fact that the houses are very affordable.

His words:

“On average, anybody earning N30,000 a month and is ready to spend a third of that amount will be able to afford one of these houses, that is the plan. What I have seen so far, there is a 1-bedroom unit and there is a 2-bedroom unit, both coming under N2million.”

Already, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said it will release a cumulative maximum limit of N200billionn to provide construction finance facility to enable FHFL to implement the federal government’s social housing programme as part of the Economic Sustainability Plan 2020.

Also, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has indicated its interest in partnering FHFL to provide affordable post-service housing for its personnel as part of efforts to improve their post-retirement life.

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The Post-Service Housing Scheme is targeted at the Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) cadre in the NAF.

Some Nigerians have been commenting on the project via social media.

Eno-Abasi Sunday wrote on Twitter:

“Nigeria needs 700,000 houses yearly for 14 years to address the existing 17 million housing deficit. Buhari government pledged to create at least two million new homeowners in its first year and one million annually thereafter. Five years after, even one million yet to be delivered.”

Uwa Kings wrote:

“Cement should be made cheap in all nook and cranny of Nigeria. You don't need to make any arrangements for some discount for 300,000 houses in a country with more than 17 million housing deficit. Buhari should make cement cheap for all. People are paying N4,000 for 50kg. Too bad!”

Aldo Fulbe wrote:

“The low-income earners might not be able to access these houses due to the corrupt nature of our system... few elites might hijack everything.”

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Kate Nnaji wrote:

“The mass social housing scheme is a great initiative that will help low-income earners own a house but we need to ensure that this process is transparent and it isn’t hijacked so those the houses are meant for will get it.”

In a related development, the federal government has partnered with some experts through the ministry of works and housing to build about 2000 housing units in Delta state.

Legit.ng gathered that the housing units will be located at Ugbolu in Asaba, the Delta state capital.

Meanwhile, the work of the Presidential Task Team on the restoration of law and order in Apapa ended last month when the team submitted a report to the presidency and returned responsibility on traffic management back to the Lagos state government.

This information was contained in a report seen by Legit.ng and submitted by the executive vice-chairman of the now rested Presidential Task Team, Comrade Kayode Opeifa.

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According to the report, the Lagos state government would now take the task forward while the Nigerian Port Authority would fix its call-up system to effectively manage the movement of trucks in and out of the ports.

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Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Jerrywright Ukwu avatar

Jerrywright Ukwu Jerrywright Ukwu is an Abuja-based senior political/defence correspondent. He is a graduate of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos and the International Institute of Journalism in Abuja. He is also a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists. He spends his leisure-time reading history books. He can be reached via email at jerrywright39@yahoo.com.