2020 Budget: Proposed N40bn For Housing Sector Inadequate ― Reps

The House of Representatives on Tuesday expressed displeasure over poor budgetary allocation to the housing sector in the 2019 Appropriation Bill brought before the Parliament last week by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Chairman, House Committee on Housing and Habitat, Hon. Mustapha Dawaki who stated this at the inaugural meeting of the Committee in Abuja, observed that over N40 billion out of N262 billion proposed for the works and housing sector approved for the sector was inadequate, hence called for repositioning of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in the bid to boost housing delivery across the country.

“The housing Ministry was independent before the merger after President Buhari was elected. Power was a different Ministry, works was a different Ministry, housing was also a different Ministry. But now power has been detached from the three that were combined; now we have Committee on Works and Housing.

“And if I’m not mistaken, the large chunk of the budget allocation in the President’s proposal for Ministry of Works and housing is about N262 billion and chunk of the money will go for Works by the nature of job they are doing because of the federal roads to be done in Nigeria, those that are ongoing and those that have not been completed and those that are about to be awarded underworks sector.

“But I believe that the housing sector we also have a chunk of money especially for the initiative by President Buhari which is the national housing programme and under the first year we had about N47 billion and the second year it was about N37 billion,” he noted.

In the same vein, the House Committee on Ecological Fund has reiterated its resolve to ensure efficient and effective utilization of Ecological Funds by the 774 Local Government Areas, the 36 States of the Federation.

Hon. Isiaka Ibrahim who assured on effective oversight of the ecological fund office decried the plight Nigerians suffered from various ecological problems across the country.

According to him, “our Committee (green though), in concert with our counterparts in the Senate, shall strive vigorously to synergize with the Executive and every other stakeholder to improve on the existing narratives of our trajectory for extensive reforms, including legislative backings.

Credit: Nigerian Tribune