The Federal Government on Friday inaugurated 116 units of 2-bedroom semi-detached bungalows at the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) Estate at Gwagwalada Area of Abuja.
Speaking at the event, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, expressed delight at the successful implementation of the project after its ground-breaking not quite long ago.
According to Yemi-Esan, the FISH project is one of the key programmes of the six pillars of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (2021 to 2025).
She added that the priority area of FCSSIP25 was devoted to enhancing the value proposition for civil servants, regarding their welfare.
She said the current house price with different income ratios among civil servants had made it difficult for some civil servants to purchase their own house in the nation’s capital, hence the need for government intervention programmes.
“To tackle these challenges therefore, and with the objectives of delivering affordable houses for civil servants, the office of the HOCSF established a FISH programme with the main objective of reducing the cost of housing for civil servants to the barest minimum.
“These houses and their keys will be delivered to those fortunate civil servants today and in the course of this event, there will be a symbolic presentation of keys to four officers who have been allocated houses in this estate, ” she said.
In his remark, the Executive Secretary, of the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board (FGSHLB), Mr Ibrahim Mairiga, who congratulated the beneficiaries, described the Estate structure as a model worth emulatbecause of the infrastructure within the premises.
Mairiga lauded the efforts of the head of the service, who collaborated with his office for the successful implementation of the projects.
Meanwhile, a staff member with the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, Mr Lawal Babatunde, one of the beneficiaries, expressed appreciation on behalf of others.
Babatunde commended the gesture of the office of the HOCSF and the FGSHLB for creating such an opportunity for civil servants.
“As civil servants from the core ministries to become proud house owners in the FCT, indeed it is a thing of joy for such an opportunity, indeed we are grateful,” he said.
