Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, made the disclosure at
the weekend, when he inspected prototypes of the homes in Dei Dei at the
Federal Capital Territory.
Osinbajo said it is indeed possible to deliver decent and
affordable accommodation that will be within the reach of many Nigerians.
Answering reporters’ questions after the visit to one of the
construction sites of the Social Housing scheme, the VP noted the contributions
of major cement manufacturers in the country towards the success of the
programme.
According to him, “they have agreed to give cement for this
project at considerable discount which is a very helpful thing to do and we
really commend and thank them for the contributions they are making.
`”It is a very patriotic thing on their part. They also see
the importance of this Mass Housing Programme.”
After seeing the prototypes of the one-bedroom and
two-bedroom bungalows, Prof. Osinbajo expressed satisfaction with the quality
of the design and the fact that the houses are very affordable.
The Vice President noted that, “on the average, anybody who
is earning N30,000 a month and is ready to spend a third of that amount, will
be able to afford one of these houses, that is the plan.
“What I have seen so far, there is a one-bedroom unit and
there is a two-bedroom unit, both coming under N2 million.
“I think that this is a very good thing indeed. And a point
has been made that it is possible to build good, decent accommodation that
isn’t out of the reach of practically everyone.”
Commenting on the implementation of the scheme across the
country, the Vice President assured that the Mass Housing Programme will be
provided across the country.
“We are hoping that we will be able to replicate this not
just in Abuja but all over the country. So far, the Family Homes Fund is in 11
States, and they have given up land for the project.
“We are hoping that this year, we will be able to very
rapidly improve the scale and speed of putting these houses in place. Once we
are able to get moving quickly, we think we can make available several
thousands of houses across the country and more people can afford to live in
such houses.”
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The prototype low cost homes in Dei Dei Abuja |
“Also important is the job creation aspect of it. You have
young men and women who are builders, architects, civil engineers working on
this project. We are hoping that a lot of the building materials will be
locally fabricated especially the windows, doors and other components of the
houses.”
The social housing scheme of Buhari administration is an
important aspect of the plan by the Federal Government to address the housing
needs in the country by building thousands of low-cost houses and in the
process create wealth and jobs for youths that will be engaged in the
construction of the houses.
Under the ESP, the Federal Government has mandated the
Central Bank to provide financing for the housing scheme and a N200B facility
has been approved as the first tranche already.
There would also be Rent to Own option as part of the
administration’s resolve to impact the common man in this social housing plan
expected to generate 1.8m jobs and deliver houses to about 1.5m Nigerian
families.
The implementing agency, Family Homes Fund (FHF) Ltd, an
agency under the Federal Ministry of Finance, has already mobilized thousands
of Cooperative groups across the country who will participate in the Social
Housing plan as the main warehouse agents and also mobilize the low-income
buyers.
For instance, FHF has met with 93 Cooperative Leaders from
the 6 geographical zones, under the aegis of the Co-Operatives Federation of
Nigeria.
Individuals who do not belong to cooperatives have not been
left out as they can also apply through the portal: www.nshp.gov.ng.