Nigeria’s Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has commended the private sector for taking a leading position in addressing housing needs of the country.
Fashola, who was represented by the Minister of State for Works and Housing, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, said the present administration was keen in promoting affordable housing for citizens.
He disclosed this at the 15th Abuja International Housing show in Abuja on Monday with the theme “Sustainable and Resilient Housing Solutions for a Post Pandemic World”.
The minister identified affordable housing as part of the agenda of the current government.
“As part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s developmental agenda of addressing Housing needs in Nigeria, the Federal Government inaugurated a pragmatic National Housing Programme (NHP) for the construction of acceptable and affordable houses nationwide.
“The first phase of the programme commenced in the 2016 financial year in 34 States and FCT. Further to the above, the Ministry is promoting local content in line with the Executive Orders 3 and 5.
“The use of available local building materials in the NHP has stimulated the economy through the production and use of these materials,” he said.
He added that the overall economic value chain arising from the housing construction activities was mostly beneficial to the Nigerian youths who were directly involved in the physical production of the houses.
Also, the Ghana Minister of State for Works and Housing, Mrs Freda Prempeh, said investing in the widespread construction of decent, affordable housing needed to be a top priority of every Nation.
Prempeh noted that the provision of affordable and decent housing for the middle and low-income segments of the population remained a challenge which must be worked out.
In the same vein, the Minister of Environment, Dr Mohammed Abubakar said that apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, the planet change pandemic if not appropriately handle could cripple the housing sector.
Abubakar said that countries were beginning to lose their land as result of climate change, noting that all hands must be on deck to address the issue of land degradation.
