In his welcome address, the Convener of AIHS, Barr Festus Adebayo, underscored the importance of this year’s theme as the housing sector post-pandemic should be viewed as a necessary and critical social infrastructure for fighting the menace of the pandemic.
Adebayo noted that to prevent the mass fatalities witnessed in some countries due to the COVID-19 infections, it was pertinent to invest in innovations that would enable housing to be a tool in combating the virus.
While commending the CBN, Ministry of Finance and other stakeholders for the establishment of the N200 billion National Social Housing Programme managed by the Family Homes Funds to deliver 300,000 housing units for low-income earners, he stressed on the need to build affordable housing by government and the private sector to effectively tackle the growing house deficit.
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He revealed that the event billed for July 26 to 29 will host critical stakeholders “to deliberate on Nigeria’s housing deficit figures and the way forward in terms of the segmentation of our housing needs and what is expected and required from both urban and rural perspectives using both local and international best practices.”
He added that to ensure affordable housing, youth need to get involved in designing new model of houses, thus, a youth housing design competition is organised to stir creativity in the housing sector.
“We remain unrelenting in advocating for the development and rollout of affordable housing by government and the private sector and will like to commend the response of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Finance and other stakeholders towards the establishment of N200 billion National Social Housing Programme being managed by the Family Homes funds to deliver 300,000 housing units for low income earners across the federation.”
Family Homes Funds (FHF)
To date, the fund has financed the development of 11,700 affordable homes in Bauchi, Delta, Ogun, Kano, Nasawara, Kaduna, Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states. It targets to spend $3 billion on this class of homeowners. x
The agreement was signed by the FHFL Managing Director, Mr. Femi Adewole and its Chairman, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, while the minister, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed represented the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Over the next four years, the fund aims to invest up to $3 billion (N1.3 trillion) in the development of 500,000 housing units for the low-income groups. In the process, the company will create 1.5 million jobs and enable homeownership through its creative products.
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has enumerated the achievements of this administration in infrastructure development.
He stressed that the infrastructure development were part of the efforts to lift 100 million Nigerians from poverty.
Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of State for Works and Housing, Mr. Abubakar Aliyu, spoke while delivering his keynote address at the Annual Conference of the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), which took place in Abuja.
According to him, some of the infrastructure included the commencement of the 156Km Lagos Ibadan rail service and the completion and commissioning of 327 km ItakpeâWarri Standard Gauge Rail after 33 years of abandonment by previous administrations.