The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, has disclosed that plans are on the way to enumerate empty houses across the country to address housing deficits.
Nigeria as a country is said to be faced with huge housing deficits, which are reportedly in the region of millions. Though, there is no available date to this effect.
Speaking at a town hall meeting over the weekend in Abuja, Fashola said his ministry had called on the National Population Commission to help it in undertaking the task, while conducting the national population census.
“Last week or two weeks ago, I called on the National Population Commission that as they are about to embark on census in the country, they should assist us in collecting data, about Nigeria’s housing needs. What kind of houses that they find in households whether it is owned or rented. If it is rented do, they want to buy or do they want to rent, let us build a body of data under the census exercise.
“Because we will be enumerating houses so that we can have a more precise need of Nigerians. I have copied that letter to collaborative ministries including planning and budget. So I hope that they will help us in the next census exercise,’’ he said.
The minister said he was also engaging some consultants in his ministry to do a sampling data on empty houses, adding that it would be done to address concerns about the access to housing “we also see a lot of empty houses unoccupied, how many they are and why they are empty.”
Speaking on workers’ benefiting from the National Housing Scheme, Fashola said an agreement had been reached with labour to allocate 10 per cent of the houses to workers.
“We have an agreement with the unions that 10 per cent of the National Housing project will be for them, but in order for them to do so, they still have to go to the housing portal. Because we have created a portal on the web, people who are interested in acquiring the national housing programme in the 34 states, go to the ministry’s website.
“You have the national housing portal there, download the form, you have to fill a form, show your ID card, show that you are a tax payer and process the form online. We have eliminated the process where people are selling form with human interference,” he said.
