*As NAPTIP rolls out staff housing scheme

Member house of representatives, Princess Chinwe Nwabuife, has assured that the 10th National Assembly will make issues of housing deficit and building collapse among others, a top priority in terms of bills initiation and legislation.

She gave the assurance the groundbreaking ceremony of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), Staff Cooperative Housing Estate, yesterday in Abuja.

She said “Laws have been made, bills have passed by our predecessors to ensure that some of these issues we are having in the housing industry are alleviated but we in the 10th assembly see it as a major project and major responsibility that we have to embark upon to ensure that we pass bills and come up with motions so that Nigerians irrespective of social strata or location, urban or rural, have access to qualitative and affordable housing.

“We are also going to collaborate with the manufacturers of building materials and the importers of these building materials down to the retailers of these building materials to ensure that the materials are first and foremost available, Affordable.

Nwabuife adds that the national assembly will also work with professional bodies and government organisations to address the problem of housing collapse.

Director General, NAPTIP Professor Fatima Waziri-Azi, said the agency has always made it a point not to you with staff welfare hence, the support it gives to the staff cooperative in this venture

Represented by the Director Legal and Prosecution, of the agency, Hassan Tahir, the DG said “We prioritise the welfare of staff that is why the cooperative society is being encouraged to embark on membership drive and it is as a result of this drive that the cooperative is able to key into touch opportunity.

President of the cooperative, Mr. Ayeni Yusuf, explained that the three hectare land will be used to build bungalows and duplexes for staff members.

“We are proposing to have about fifty duplexes and sixty bungalows for our members and we are doing it in such a strategic way that they will be each on one side while we remain as a united member of the NAPTIP community.

“Now that we have done the ground breaking, we are believing that work will start earnestly and by the beginning of next year, most of our members will be living in this estate,” he said.