The Chairman JEDO Investment Company Limited, Alhaji Aliyu Oroji, who is also the National Vice President of READAN, in this interview with Abdullahi Muhammad, assures Nigerians of the authenticity of FISH programme among other issues
May we meet you sir?
My name is Alhaji Aliyu Oroji Wamakko, I have been chairing the company for about 12 to 15 years after my retirement from the service.
Can you give us an insight into JEDO Investment Company?
JEDO Investment Company is a premier indigenous company that deals in construction, educational institutions, and provision of security facilities and general facility management. But we concentrate on construction, provision of houses for the teaming population of Nigerians and we have been in business with Nigeria since 2009, we have been able to deliver series of projects in respect to housing delivery in Nigeria, I think our name is printed in gold we have provided over 1000 houses to the population of Nigeria.
We were the premier proprietors of JEDO mass Housing Estate at Lugbe where we have over 7,00 seven hundred housing units for medium and low level income earners. we also provided under the Ministerial pilot housing scheme in Suleja we were able to provide 103 houses comprises of three, two and one bedroom units for the low level and medium income earners based on ministerial initiative and Federal Mortgage Bank.
We are also building another 100 houses under this same scheme in Kano we are almost at the completion stage it is also meant for the NHF contributors as it is funded by Federal Mortgage Bank and we are also building another 200 houses in Kuje under the FISH Housing Scheme by the Federal Ministry f Power, Works And Housing we are at the advance stage of our construction.
We also have 150 housing unit in sokoto which was flagged off by the FMB but it is yet to take off because of the funding agreement between the federal mortgage bank and us just to mention a few of what we are doing as JEDO Investment Company Limited.
How can the masses benefit from your housing schemes?
You see, basically I am a mortgage oriented developer so to speak, because I have so many links with FMB and all this projects we have mentioned are linked with them and the aims and objectives is to make this houses available for Federal Mortgage Bank to create mortgages through National Housing Fund contributors (NHF) to benefit under the mortgage arrangement by way of making payment bit by bit I think the federal mortgage bank has come up with another ideas this days with respects to creation of mortgages you can get as much as 15, 20, to 25 years depending on your age or years of service how many years you have spent in service is also considered when creating this mortgages.
And basically all the houses that are build in the benefit of NHF contributors which was an act been set since 1983 during the time of president Muhammad Buahri’s military regime, this initiative was being created and it was called National Housing Fund Contribution that was the time he created Federal mortgage bank as well just to be the custodian of the money that is being generated from this contribution and our target audience or customers in all the projects are all this people because this is what the government has done and we are trying to complement Governments’ effort in reducing the housing deficit in the country. So far so good, we have been moving very fine with the Federal mortgage Bank and the federal ministry of housing which they are partners in this business.
Sir, recently Mr. President appointed a new MD to the Federal Mortgage Bank, what is your advice to him?
Actually I will just tell you what it supposed to be, but personally I have met him and he is a fine gentle man I met with him behind closed doors and we discussed a lot of issues and I promised to go back and give him more details to the experience I have had but I don’t want to mention it on the pages of the Newspapers but I will tell you the only thing I want the new management to concentrate on first and foremost is to have the fear of GOD in their dealings and also they should remember that the people making this contribution are supposed to be the beneficiaries of the money they have contributed and so more emphasis should be laid on the creation of this mortgages.
What is your view of the new programme by the federal government spear headed by the Federal Civil Service Commission known as FISH programme?
On that, I think Ms Oyo Ita is doing wonderfully fine as she has come up a with wonderful idea as the Federation Head of Service, where the civil service has never get it done like this time around.
Of course we are part of the scheme and the scheme’s aim is how the government will provide affordable housing through PPP initiative, creation of mortgages just to put all the housing finance together to make sure the teaming Nigerian civil servant are able to get houses / shelter above their heads.
If you look at it very closely the lady is doing a very marvellous job with the coming up of FISH they were able to enumerate over 80,000 (eighty thousand) civil servants who are looking for houses and recently just last two week ago I was there she upheld the provision of 30 thirty housing project to the teaming Nigeria civil servants, she is reducing the deficit of the Nigeria housing tremendously.
In fact. her idea is working and we believe from the trend we are seeing she will deliver and we will be part and parcel of it to help her deliver this initiatives. We are developers and we believe in the programme she has brought up of that nature even our association has signed an MOU with the programme on the provision of this houses so we hope and pray the government will give her all the courage, all the incentives to make sure this programme is being taking out.
But do you see the programme coming to stay?
Yes of course, she has laid the foundation the only thing is that you know the government is succession one government pass another one comes it is supposed to be on succession it does not meant that when one government is passed the new one will abort the others programme no! they should try to see that it is for the benefit of Nigerians and any government that is coming is going to work for the benefit of Nigeria so therefore, any government that comes will not abort this programme the programme has come to stay.
