Stakeholders urge judicious use of 2017 housing budget

The Tide reports that a member of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, Funke Abayomi, while applauding N141 billion allocation of housing in the 2017 Budget, has called for the proper utilisation of the funds to achieve set goals.
Abayomi made the call in an interviews with The Tide at Onne, Friday.
According to The Tide, she hailed the allocation of the said amount, saying, “it is a good sign that government is actually thinking to bring succor to its citizens in the area of housing”, and expressed the hope that funds would be effectively disbursed.
She pointed out, however, that the effectiveness of the funds would be determined in what sectors of the housing deficit are addressed.
Abayomi explained that there were various levels of housing needs in the country, “we have the low-cost housing for low-income earning, social housing, for the needy and housing of the well-to-do or the may say high income earners.
“If all these categories would be impartially catered for, then we can say the government has done well in looking after its citizens”.
She lamented that in the past funds had be allocated, but only ended up in a few hands.
The female architect suggested that a huge percentage of these funds should be made available as  loans, “so the average worker can gain access to funds too”.
She added that government should also address the bottlenecks in acquiring documentations for properties, to enable more private investors in the real estate industry.

Source: The Tide