The Managing Editor, who doubles as the Property Editor of The Guardian, Mr Chinedum Uwaegbulam, has emerged Property Editor of the Year 2023 at Africa Housing Awards Ceremony held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, at the weekend.
The President, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Johnbull Amayaevbo; and President, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Nathaniel Atebije, won The Best President of Professional Bodies.
Other awardees include Mortgage Bank of the Year, AG Mortgage Bank Plc and City Code Mortgage Bank Ltd; and Africa Housing Finance Company of the Year, Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company.
In a goodwill message, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, said the task of developing decent and affordable housing is a collective endeavour and functional system that works for Africans.
He said: “We are all parts of the housing eco-system and all that we do in various areas of responsibilities will impact positively or negatively on the collective desire to build a better housing platform that will deliver houses in all countries in Africa, especially in Nigeria.
“Our plan is to ensure that agencies under the Ministry are optimised to deliver on our target of providing affordable homes to Nigerians, we have composed a Reform Team of experts, professional bodies and academia to develop a framework.”
He commended the organisers, Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN) for sustaining the Africa Housing Awards, and called on them to be constantly reminded that millions are in need of houses that cut across all income segments.
Dangiwa told the award winners: Your recognition and honour should stir all of you to work harder towards ensuring that they fix the housing deficit in Africa as they unlock the power of the sector to ignite national development.
Earlier, Chairman of the ceremony, Suleman Hassan, said the event created an opportunity to look at the impact of the industry, and to see where they have missed and work towards improving the sector to make stakeholders ensure service delivery for the homeowners.
The convener of the Africa Housing Awards, Festus Adebayo, expressed delight that housing has been separated from the Ministry of Works, saying: “This shows the importance of the Federal Government attached to providing homes for Nigerians.”
