As the nation grapples with housing deficit, the FCT Minister of State, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, has advocated for special partnership with private developers through the provision of Mass Housing Scheme at subsidised and affordable rate.
The minister made this call in a paper presentation titled: “Housing provision in this decade,” at the ongoing International Real Estate Conference and Exhibition (IRECE) holding in Abuja.
Mahmoud, who was represented by the director of Resettlement and Compensation, Tpl. Nasiru Suleiman, also asserted that remedial measures like urban renewal programmes should be encouraged.
The minister called on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to build decent and affordable housing estates to house their teeming staff.
Other measures of improving the housing provision in this decade, according to her, include unwavering commitment and political will of government and conscious annual housing budgetary provision targeted at increasing the housing stock of the nation, thereby solving Nigerian housing problem.
While commending the topic of the conference, the minister noted that housing is a basic necessity constituting man’s greatest challenge all over the world and the best indicator of a man’s standard of living.
Earlier, the convener of the conference, Mr. Franklin Ajayi, commended the present FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, for providing developers the opportunity to express their views on the housing sector.
