Delta targets 400 housing units to curb soaring rents
The Federal Government has revealed that it committed over N70 billion on mobilisation under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to drive large-scale urban housing developments and bridge the Nigerian housing deficit under the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, who made the announcement yesterday while declaring open the 19th edition of the Africa International Housing Show (AIHS) in Abuja, also said the Federal Government is planning a state-by-state home ownership and a housing development campaign aimed at bridging policy execution gaps at sub-national levels in collaboration with state governments, private developers and development partners.
Dangiwa further announced that part of the efforts in closing the housing deficit through partnerships includes convening state housing roundtables and embedding housing reform champions in state governments.
The Nigerian housing deficit is estimated, by various data, to be between 20 and 28 million despite various housing programmes initiated by successive governments.
The Guardian checks show that between 2015 and 2025, cumulatively 10 years of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration, only 13, 612 housing units have been completed despite huge budgetary allocations under the 2020-2025 National Development plan initiated during the late President Muhammad Buhari adminstration, which promised one million affordable housing units yearly, as well as the Renewed Hope Housing programme of the current administration.
Dangiwa had stated that the previous Buhari administration completed and sold 3,500 housing units under the National Housing Programme.He also noted that the current Tinubu administration is completing the construction of 10,112 units across 14 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), claiming this exceeds the previous administration’s achievements in housing delivery.
However, delivering his address at the 19th AIHS, the minister pointed out that affordability was a huge obstacle to home ownership on the African continent, despite growing housing supply efforts.
MEANWHILE, the Delta State Government has unveiled a comprehensive housing plan to address the increasing accommodation challenges across the state, including a target of over 400 housing units in various localities across the state.
The state government also announced new policies to regulate housing agents and rent charges. The Commissioner for Housing, Godknows Angele, disclosed these initiatives while receiving members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Government House Chapel, led by its Chairman, Ifeanyi Olannye, during a courtesy visit to his office in Asaba.
Highlighting some of the ministry’s recent interventions, Angele said that in partnership with federal agencies, the state would soon inaugurate 30 one-bedroom apartments at the 181 Amphibian Battalion in Agbor, Ika South Local Council. He added that the ministry recently renovated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Asaba, and was currently working on a two-storey building comprising 40 self-contained rooms at Admiralty University, Ibusa, near Asaba, the state capital
According to the commissioner, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has approved the construction of 12 four-bedroom duplexes for permanent secretaries in the state.
