FG pledges to bridge 17 million housing deficit

According to Vanguard, Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing,  Mustapha Shehuri, has assured that the present administration is determined to bridge the 17 million housing deficit confronting the nation.

Giving the assurance at the commissioning of the FMBN/Lape Estate, Karu, developed by Lape Construction Services Ltd. under a public private partnership (PPP) arrangement, with Platinum Mortgage Bank Nig. Ltd as financier at the weekend, Shehuri said the residential estate was part of efforts of the government to housing shortfall in Nigeria. The housing estate which was an initiation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN, is sitting on a two hectare land, comprising two phases.

The phase 1 which was commissioned at the weekend consists of 295units of two-bedroom semi-detached bungalows. The phase 2 which is yet to be commissioned comprises 34 units two-bedroom and 94 units of three-bedroom detached bungalows. The minister said the construction of housing estate was in response to the promise of  the present  administration’s resolved to tackle the 17 million housing deficit in the country, pointing out that “Indeed, the ministry’s plan to build mass housing units in every state of the federation for public workers over the next three years, under a public private partnership arrangement has reached an advanced stage in terms of implementation.

“National housing models have been designed and approved for each geopolitical some, which takes care of our socio-cultural and climatic diversities in our choice of house type, promotion of standardisation, as well as the use of local building materials. “This will translate to affordability of housing for Nigerians and will also create employment opportunities for our teeming youths currently unemployed,” Shehuri said.

The Minister of State also reiterated the commitment of the present administration towards supporting the ideals of the national housing programme and FMBN for its effort in stepping up to the challenge of housing deficit by participating in the supply, as well as the demand side of housing finance.

The Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN, Mr. Richard Esin, who commissioned the Estate, revealed that the government has approved that National Housing Fund (NHF) loans of N5 million and below will attract 10 per cent funding, noting that  loan applicants will not be required to make down payment of 10 per cent of the house price.

In addition, he said the cost of mortgage perfection which usually adds another 10 per cent to the upfront costs will be capitalized and repaid gradually over five years, meaning that the effect of these concessions reduces upfront home ownership costs by at least 20 per cent.

Source: Vanguard