Shelter Afrique signs MoU with estate developers for 6,000 homes

Kebbi govt plans free houses for civil servants, vulnerable

The Pan-African finance institution – Shelter Afrique and Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) have concretised their pact for the construction of 6,000 houses in the country.

The agreement signed on the sideline of the Abuja International Housing Show, was between the Managing Director, Shelter Afrique, Andrew Chimphondah and REDAN President, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko,. It will see to the development of 1,000 units of houses in each of the six geopolitical zones.

Chimphondah said that they have strategies that would help Nigeria’s COVID-19 recovery and support large-scale affordable housing schemes through the issuance of N250 billion bond.

“The plan is to provide housing and homeownership for low and medium income homebuyers, which will result in improving their standard of living. Housing has both forward and backward linkages with the economy. The contribution of construction and rental housing to economies such as Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya can be as high as 14 per cent.”

Chimphondah also revealed that 107 million people are living in urban centres as at last year, adding that urbanisation rate stands at 4.17 per cent. He said Nigeria has a mortgage rate of 25 per cent and term of 20 years.

He, however, commended Federal Government’s commitment to invest $619 million in solar homes systems that will light up five million households and serve about 25 million citizens, who are not currently connected to national grid.

Wamakko said the signing of the MoU is a demonstration of the value they have placed on Shelter Afrique. “With the pact, it will address several issues affecting housing development in Nigeria,” he said.

He hoped that the agreement would proffer practical solutions on increasing housing stock for the growing population and creating of employment as well as contributing to economic growth.

His words: “COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise and though many countries have succeeded in curtailing the spread of the virus, it is still a lingering problem and new waves have emerged. Solutions to the pandemic rest principally with having sufficient functional homes.

“We are also collaborating with the professional bodies in the built industry to achieve quality standards, and Building Materials Producers and Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBBRI) to actualise our quest for a Nigerian House.”

Wamakko said: “Our immediate focus is to build 100 affordable housing units in each local council. The private sector is ready to take drastic actions to invest in the construction of affordable and decent houses.

“As an institution on the supply side of the housing delivery, we have marshaled resources, interfaced with critical partners in the housing value chain, which includes the Family Homes Funds Limited and Shelter Afrique to provide construction finance through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).”

MEANWHILE, the Kebbi State Government plans to construct 5,000 homes and allocate them, free of charge to junior civil servants and less privileged in the four emirates of the state.

The General Manager, State Housing Corporation, Mohammed Abdullahi, who stated this at the Abuja International Housing show in Abuja, said plans are also underway to build 650 social housing units in different locations.

He explained that land is not a challenge in Kebbi State because there are massive hectares of land, adding, “Family Homes Funds is currently constructing 10,000 houses for the indigenes as dividend of democracy.

“Many developers are thronging the state as a result of the land, which is now available for them to build houses. I am here to see the ground breaking achievements of other states and organisations, and to exchange ideas.”

He stated that government was investing in the housing units being handled by a developer, Omini frontier. “Discussions are on to proffer practical solutions on how to increase the stock of housing in Kebbi state,” he said.