Anambra pledges affordable housing for workers as FMBN, NLC end project

Anambra State government has expressed readiness to provide affordable housing for workers and described housing as cardinal point of the administration in the state.

Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo gave the assurance in Awka last week, while commissioning housing estates of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigerian Employees Consultative Association (NECA).

He said the housing projects, located at Hill View Estate, Nkwelle Ezunaka in Oyi Local Government Area of the State, is under the national affordable housing delivery programme for Nigerian workers.

Soludo who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Ernest Ezeajugh, called on banks and other mortgage providers to make available leisure parks in the estate. He expressed his readiness to provide land and other infrastructures for the scheme, adding that apart from civil servants, his administration still embark on providing housing for others.

In his address, the Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Madi Hamman disclosed that project, developed under phase II of the collaboration, consists of 180 housing units, comprising 120 units of two-bedroom semi detached bungalows and 60 units of three- bedroom fully detached bungalows at N7 million and N8 million respectively.

Hamman who was represented by the Executive Director, Business Development and Portfolio Management, Kingsley Chukwuma, explained that the organization’s strategic collaborative engagements with workers had grown beyond mere rhetoric to reality.

“The FMBN remains the only institution offering affordable mortgages to Nigerians at less than 10 percent interest rate through products like Individual NHFLoan, Individual NHF Construction Loan, Home Renovation Loan, Rent- to-own product and Cooperative Housing Development Loan.”

“The Estate is fully serviced with basic infrastructure, including internal road network, drainages, electricity and water to create a conductive and liveable environment.

“The project was fully funded by the bank in fulfillment of its commitment to realisation of workers’ home ownership dreams”, he noted.

Earlier, the NLC National President, Joe Ajaero, had harped on the need for civil servants to procure the housing scheme at affordable price, adding that their present salary would not go for such costly price.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Housing Corporation, Anambra State, Chike Anyaonu, stated that the housing fee slash was to support civil servants and other individuals to become landlords.

Representative of Nigerian Employees Consultative Association (NECA), Samuel Chukwudi, in a remark, said the event is another success story, reminding that similar projects had been commissioned in four states.

He called for more housing estates for Nigerians to live and become landlords in view of the economic hardship, particularly among Nigerian workers.