The House Committee on Housing and Habitat said, increasing the budgetary allocation of the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to N500 billion would reduce housing deficit in Nigeria.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin made this known during the committee’s oversight function to the Ministry on Thursday in Abuja.

Jibrin said that the budget, when increased, would enable the ministry to deliver more houses to Nigerians.

“I believe that I have the total support of my committee members for us to be able to increase their budgetary allocation to N500 billion.

“Let me also say that the increment is in line with the housing policy thrust of the present administration’s renewed hope agenda.

“When you have a ministry that is targeting, in the immediate, some 10,000 to 20,000 housing units per year and want to move it up to about 50,000 units, you will know even without being told what the overhead will cost,” he said.

Jibrin pledged the support of the legislative arm to the housing ministry in getting certain exemptions, residential waivers and some of the regulatory issues that might hinder the delivery of houses.

He said the committee was seriously concerned about building collapse cases in Nigeria due to lack of compliance with regulation or failure of enforcement of those regulations.

He tasked the ministry to come up with measures to monitor the level of regulatory compliance and enforcement in the housing sector

Earlier, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, said the Ministry has a dual challenge of inadequate housing supply and substandard houses.

Dangiwa said that addressing the housing challenge in Nigeria would involve a combination of urban renewal, slum upgrade and building of new houses.

He listed some of the challenges in the housing sector to include: review of Land Use Act ,unpaid liabilities of over N300 billion, inadequate budgetary allocation and shortage of manpower.

According to him, Nigeria requires about 550,000 units of houses over the next ten years to meet the housing deficit, which would gulp about N5.5 trillion per annum .

” We are aware that all these cannot come from the Government; we are working on Public-Private-Partnership and other sources of housing finance to bridge the gap.

“However, we must do more as a government in terms of budgetary allocation to Housing and Urban Development.

” In the 2023 supplementary budget we got 100 billion naira; In the 2024 budget, we received approval for about 80 billion; This is a far cry from what is needed to make a difference,” he said

Dangiwa said that to enable the Ministry and the current government to deliver on housing there was a need to increase the housing budget to 500 billion annually.

He noted that the N500 billion would be a profitable investment that would not only help the government to deliver on its mandate to enhance access to decent shelter, but also create jobs and boost economic development.

” In fact, the houses will be built, sold and the money would be returned to government over time ,” he said