The Federal Government has been urged to leverage housing corporations for the realisation of its Renewed Hope Cities and Estates programme across the federation.
According to the Executive Secretary, Association of Housing Corporation of Nigeria (AHCN), Mr Toye Eniola, housing corporations are critical if the intention of the Federal Government is to provide affordable and quality housing for low income Nigerians.
He pointed out that housing corporations have the spread, human capacity and experience to build mass and affordable houses in every state in Nigeria.
Eniola emphasised the need to involve the state’s housing corporations in the realisation of the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates programme in an interview with Nigerian Tribune.
He explained that going by the present economic challenges and shrinking purchasing power, it would be difficult for private developers, who are profit-oriented, to build social houses for the teeming Nigerians in need of accommodation.
He said what the majority of Nigerians need is a social housing due to their low-income and huge nation’s housing deficit of over 20 million units.
Rather than embarking on direct construction, he urged both the federal and state governments to empower their housing corporations to construct affordable houses, while providing the enabling environment for seamless operations in order to make the dream a reality.
According to him, the state housing corporations and Federal Housing Authority should be empowered to embark on the construction of social housing to reduce homelessness among low-income Nigerians.
He emphasised the capacity of both the federal and state housing corporations to deliver affordable houses, recalling that foremost housing estates such as Jakande Estates in Iponri, Abesan, Isolo, Iba and Mile 2 were constructed by the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation.
Eniola also mentioned that the Shagari estates in most state’s capitals across Nigeria were done by the Federal Housing Authority.
It is only the government that can produce social housing through the state housing corporations. Private companies cannot do social housing; they are profit-oriented,” he said.
The AHCN’s scribe wants the federal government to hand over all its abandoned estates across Nigeria to the housing corporation to revive and manage.
On the level of involvement of housing corporations in the actualisation of the programme, Eniola explained that AHCN was not in the picture at the initial stage until the leadership of the association paid a courtesy visit to the minister on how the group can be part of the agenda.
He said the leaders were able to convince the minister on the need to allow housing corporations drive the agenda in each state of the federation.
In addition, Eniola said the housing minister promised to work with the association and that details of their involvement are yet to be finalised.
Besides, he said the minister urged housing corporations to liaise with their state governments for participation in the project.
The AHCN’s Executive Secretary stated that major issues with the state government were the claims of not having the required funds.
For the actualisation of the housing agenda, he said the Federal Government had some financial allocation for participating agencies, provided the state governments would be able to provide cheap land in their territories.
“If states release land, housing corporations will be engaged,” he said.
According to him, the Federal Government should provide guarantee if AHCN can facilitate some funds and bring them down to the state governments.
He urged the state and federal governments to create conducive atmosphere for housing corporations to produce social housing for Nigerians.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had on February 8, 2023, officially launched the nationwide Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme of the Federal Government.
The project is an initiative of the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
The ministry plans to construct 50,000 housing units of various house types in the first phase using various funding sources, including budgetary allocations, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and Public-Private Partnership, among others.
The launch by President Tinubu coincided with the groundbreaking for a 20,000 housing unit Renewed Hope Cities project at the Karsana District of the Federal Capital Territory, being developed under a Public-Private Partnership arrangement with a consortium of companies.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, had assured Nigerians of the commitment of the ministry to drive the ‘Renewed Hope’ vision for housing and urban development and make it a reality through the provision of decent, affordable and quality homes with infrastructure that support dignified living for Nigerians in the Federal Capital Territory, state capitals and across the country.
“Under phase one, we plan to deliver a total of 50,000 housing units across Nigeria. The cities will have 1,000 housing units per site in one location in each of the six geo-political zones in the country and FCT, while the estates will have 500 housing units per site in the remaining 30 States,” he said.
The minister explained that the projects have been conceptualised and designed as integrated living communities which will accommodate citizens from all income brackets, with units comprising one-bedroom blocks of flats, two-bedroom blocks of flats and three-bedroom blocks of flats; two-, three- and four-bedroom terraces, four-bedroom duplexes and five-bedroom duplexes.
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