Over 200 applicants of the housing scheme in Ogun State, who stated that they completed their payments between 2021 and 2022 but are still awaiting the government’s allocation of the housing, have rejected a 300% increase and refund.
Last week, the group raised concerns over delayed allocations at Prince Court Estate, Kobape, Abeokuta, despite having fully paid into Gateway Mortgage Bank accounts.
The representative of the applicants, Adeyemi Aremu, on behalf of the applicants faulted the process, urging the Governor Dapo Abiodun to fast track their allocation since the payment has been made years ago.
The Commissioner for Housing, Jagunmolu Jamiu Omoniyi, denied any wrongdoing but attributed the situation to “galloping inflation,” which he said necessitated adjustments, pushing the new payment to N20 million.
He explained that the market value of the property had significantly risen to N20 million, up from the N5.5 million initially paid by the applicants, noting that the government had immediately activated stakeholders’ meetings to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
“The truth of the matter is that the delay in the process of allocation to applicants was caused by the sudden need for variations in the cost of the property as a result of galloping inflation as witnessed in the last year, as the cost value of the houses have gone up as against the N5.5m initially paid by the applicants, with such houses commanding up to N20m in open market.
“Consequently, the Government plans to engage all the applicants through various stakeholders’ meetings, as there will be an adjustment in the price of the property.
“To this end, those who are willing and able to meet up with the little adjustment will immediately get their allocations attended to and delivery structured within record time at the conclusion of the stakeholders’ meetings while those who cannot afford the adjustment will be free to request for instant refund of their deposits plus CBN’s prescribed interest rate.”
Reacting to the Commissioner in a statement on Monday, the representative of the group, Adeyemi Aremu, said the applicants rejected the new development, saying that “We once again wish to set the records straight and let the Dapo Abiodun led government in Ogun state and the Ministry of Housing be aware that we would vehemently reject their proposal to refund or increase the price of shelter in the Prince Court Estate, after meeting our side of the bargain.
“It should be noted that the transaction in itself is a concluded deal, since about 3 years ago.
“The agreement was to buy forms for the allocations for N5,000 with each house costing N5,500,000 and a rebate for retired civil servants who were asked to pay N4,950,000 which were duly paid for in year 2020 and 2021 respectively (we were persuaded none of the categories stated above made full payment in 2022 to start with).”
The applicants wondered what could be the excuse three years after? “After all we had fulfilled our own part of the bargain that we have duly paid, Are we the ones responsible for the delay? It is quite clear that government’s abandonment, delay and non allocation on time caused the price variation, thus the Dapo Abiodun led Administration should take responsibility for its failure to meet their side of the bargain.
“It would interest you to know that all applicants paid at the same time and we were divided into 3 phases based on criteria known to them, while 2 phases had been given shelter, all of us in this 3rd category are yet to receive any allocation despite paying at the same time frame. Why should we be exempted for this kind of punishment and recklessness?
“While no stakeholders meeting has been called, any increment from N5.5 million to N20 million as proposed by the Ministry for Housing or refund at this time would amount to fraud, arm twisting and cheating, which in no small measure would reduce the confidence and trust in the government of Ogun State.
“It is on this note we are appealing to Governor Dapo Abiodun to instruct the Ministry of Housing to fulfill its part of the bargain and promptly allocate the houses paid for, to us without further delay. What we paid for is 2 bungalow semi-detached shell houses which are to be roofed, plastered outside with external casement windows, entrance and exit doors, painted outside with gray colour exactly as allocated to both phase 1 and 2.
They called on Nigerians, activists, the media and other stakeholders to come to their aid and save them from “this daylight robbery”. “We also call on the Gateway Mortgage Bank to protect the interests of its clients and ensure we receive our houses as promised in no distant time,” they said.
