Th e Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed that the federal government is working hard to fashion out a functional national housing plan that would include modalities for land acquisition, proto-type houses suitable to geopolitical divides and perhaps cost profi le, among others.
Th e minister said though Nigeria has as a National Housing Policy but was quick to add that it is only a policy statement and not a plan. “We must never be tired to explain the necessity and importance of proper planning. It is the key to successful execution; it is the key to project completion; it is the key to cost control and reduction in variation requests and fi nancial calculations.” Fashola, who spoke at the 35th Annual General Meeting and International Symposium of Shelter Afrique, said it would be most appropriate for the country to have a national housing plan which would contain modalities and models of housing from which the general built environment would draw from. “I recognize that there are people who want land to build for themselves; there are also people who want town houses and duplexes, whether detached or semi-detached”, pointing out that this category of people were not in the majority.
“Th e people who we must focus on are those in the majority and those who are most vulnerable; the people who are in the bracket of those who graduated from University about fi ve years ago and more. “People who are in the income bracket of grade level 9 to 15 in the public service and their counterparts, taxi drivers, market men and women, farmers, artisans who earn the same range of income,” he said stressing that there must be a clear understanding of the people the government wants to build houses for.
Meanwhile, the minister has expressed delight with the response of states to the federal government request for them to release landed property located on the plots which they intend to construct aff ordable homes for Nigerians. Fashola said the government appreciated the response because its initiative is the fi rst key to the roadmap in housing planning meant to facilitate in the reduction of the 17 million shelter defi cit in the country. He also acknowledged the voluntary contribution of some private sector to the initiatives, noting that 12 states have responded to the request for land, and that the Ministry was taking the next step to survey the plots of land and develop layouts, preparatory to commencing development.