Housing Deficit: FG to build 30,000 houses in six zones

The federal government is planning to provide 30,000 houses across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria as a way of reducing the national housing deficit in the country. This was disclosed by the Acting Managing Director (MD), Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Umar Gonto, while addressing members of House of Representatives Committee on Housing and Habitat […]

The federal government is planning to provide 30,000 houses across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria as a way of reducing the national housing deficit in the country.

This was disclosed by the Acting Managing Director (MD), Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Umar Gonto, while addressing members of House of Representatives Committee on Housing and Habitat on Wednesday.

He said that, apart from ongoing housing projects across the country, the 30,000 houses will be spread across the geopolitical zones to help tackle housing shortage.

Gonto said that, since the change of legislation which took its mandate including the National Housing scheme to the Ministry of Works and Housing, the FHA had embarked on commercial housing to compete with other players in the industry.

According to him, the agency had been removed from the Budget since 2005 which prompted it to find other ways of getting funds.

He said plans were also underway by the agency for a comprehensive housing intervention in the North East, especially for the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.

In his remarks, chairman of the Committee, Mustapha Bala Dawaki (APC, Kano), commended the agency for its resilience and initiative in providing services to Nigerians despite its financial constraints.

He disclosed that, in order to complement its efforts, the federal government will be providing N10 billion under Service Wide Votes to finance the various initiatives in the housing sector, including the Social Housing scheme.