The Minister of State Works and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu, has debunked vehemently the insinuation that the nation’s housing deficit has increased to 22 million as discussed in many fora across the globe.

Aliyu, who spoke with reporters yesterday at a one-day sensitisation forum in Abuja, queried where they got the purported figure, and which organisation carried out the studies to arrive at the housing shortage in the country.He also said that Nigeria needs accurate data of housing shortfall to work on to develop the industry, adding that the government is looking forward to this, and this would help in providing affordable houses for citizens.

Besides, the minister has urged the stakeholders to deliberate on more innovative ways of repositioning the housing and urban development sector for more responsive and to the benefit of every citizen.