Stakeholders call for effective participation, monitoring in workers housing project

Recently,  Office of Head of Service of the Federation  introduced  mass housing scheme for civil servants  under Federal Integrated Staff Housing, FISH, to  address  welfare concerns of civil servants,  contribute  to the development of national economies through the generation  of employment in the building and allied industries. FISH was  officially flagged off last week at  […]

Recently,  Office of Head of Service of the Federation  introduced  mass housing scheme for civil servants  under Federal Integrated Staff Housing, FISH, to  address  welfare concerns of civil servants,  contribute  to the development of national economies through the generation  of employment in the building and allied industries.
FISH was  officially flagged off last week at  the Apo Tafyi  District of Abuja by the  Minister of State for Power, Works, and Housing, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, who said  that despite the allocation of over N40 billion to housing in the 2016 budget, the Federal Housing Authority, FHA, taking cognizance of the resource constraints in the economy, would implement the housing project under the Public-Private-Partnership policy of his administration.
He said the government was targeting about 5,000 housing units in all the states within three years and  urged  the workers to re-dedicate themselves to service.
The Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Deaconess Ayo Joan, said the project  would be sited on a 60 hectare land  and provide  houses  for various categories of workers in the federal civil service by 2019.
 “The upper limit price for the low cost houses are N5m, N9m and N12m for one bedroom, two bedrooms and three bedrooms respectively. These prices can be lower depending on the level of infrastructure and site services FISH programme can provide.”
Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifered Ekanem Oyo-Ita,  lamented that a large proportion of civil servants lived in slums and unplanned settlements because of their inability to own a house or rent decent accommodation in a planned layout or in the city.
She said it was, therefore, pertinent to implement the FISH programme to enable civil servants own homes as a means to uplift their morale, commitment, stewardship, and quality during and after service.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, an umbrella body of Nigeria workers, lauded the housing  project but wants more workers participations in it.
The NLC President Ayuba Wabba told Daily Trust that s housing is very critical to workers welfare and that government has done well by initiating the programme, but not engaging workers unions in the project is something that called for concern.
He said, “Workers are very critical. However noble that project is,  because people I think for either lack of knowledge forget the centrality of unions. Workers cannot engage employers individually and if you look at it,  the provision of the law is very explicit, workers by provision of section 40 of the constitution has a right to have unions for the purpose of representing their interest. I expected that when that policy is being initiated, workers should be consulted through their unions. I have actually discussed with my counterparts, the Trade Union Congress President and I think none of labour centres had been contacted. We are not contacted and I think we are not part of it. It will also be  good to be part of the policy with a view of defending the interest of workers because at the end of the day,  if you are doing something for the workers,  it will be good also for them to be carried along from the initial process  and how it is going to benefit them.’’
Wabba noted that housing is one of the basic requirements of workers and that affordable housing is one area that a lot of workers have been yearning to have over their heads.
He added: “If you remember the issue of the National Housing Fund was something, the workers through the same process, were actually convinced to participate in that programme. Workers salaries were being deducted on monthly basis for the purpose of providing affordable housing for them. So, I think if we can be able to look at the details we can then see what form  of workers can  benefit from such programe . Whether their contributions can be actually used to access those houses, whether there would be any form of contributions because what we are wary of is, if there is any hidden charges or contributions  outside what they are contributing presently to the National Housing Fund. But I think it should be a good policy for government to think that one important area that workers need attention is the provision of affordable houses, but I think it should be all inclusive where the workers can then be taking into confidence through their unions. We have many unions representing different sectors of the economy so that there will be checks and balances because I saw also that it is going to be done through a private developer  and therefore if there is a private developer;  there is government, workers need to be represented so that if there is any infringement the workers can also seek for what can address such infringement.  So  I think that is what is lacking but I think the policy is a good initiative  because we have seen in the past the low cost housing that is being given to workers in many states , that happened during Shagari administration where we had many houses that were given- federal  low cost housing and workers benefited from it.  In all of that I think there should a process of consultation where the workers’ interest will be also taken on board but for now we only saw it on the pages of newspapers we think they should go beyond that by proving a platform where those workers can be represented through their  unions to engage issues so their interest can be represented and the houses can be truly affordable.’’
Also, Bldr. Alao Abdul Razaq, National General Secretary of Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB) lauded the project but urged the government to ensure that professionals are engaged to handle very section of the housing project.
He said since the project is meant to house hundreds of Nigerians the construction work involved should be properly monitored from stage one to the last to avoid poor construction and even building collapse  that  has become a recurring decimal in the country.
He specifically called on government to be wary of the fact that different sections of the construction work require professionals that specialized in them.
“A situation where an engineer should be asked to do all the construction work is not wise.  quantity surveyors should be engaged to do the costing, architects the drawings and engineers should do the monitoring and builders as the case may be.”
He said these would not only guaranteed quality affordable housing for Nigerians but will also curb over-costing , manipulation of figures and under utilization of building materials  as part of cutting corners by unscrupulous  professionals.
Alao also enjoined  government to ensure that it has funding available for the projects before even venturing in it as this would  not only delay the projects unnecessarily but will lead to doubling of the initial estimated  cost of the  projects.
“The affordability target of the housing project will be defeated if it was delayed  as cost of building materials are not stable. If they can handle just two let them build on that,’’ he advised.