The Managing Director of Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Hon Oyetunde Ojo has said that the federal government would build 500 housing units in Kaduna state as part of effort to address the problem of housing deficit in Nigeria.
This was even as he said the FG is planning a massive housing project across the country.
The Managing Director of Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Hon. Oyetunde Ojo made this known while receiving the Right of Occupancy (RoO) for 157 hectares of land given to the Authority by Kaduna state government.
“With 157 hectares of land, we can assure the residents of Kaduna that, in phases that, we will do more than 500 housing units in different categories.
“Though, this land is in three locations, on the land, we are going to create diaspora cities. Our first point of consideration on the building is for the people, we will make sure we build massively because this is the message of Mr President to make sure we deliver houses for Nigerians at an affordable rate.
“This is why we keep telling Nigerians to be patient a little bit because this is a journey. We were here in Kaduna two months ago and we have seen the result of the journey. His Excellency Governor Uba Sani especially to say a very big thank you by making sure the land is available.
“Another process is the building which we are about start the groundbreaking in Kaduna and in less than a month from now, you will start seeing the work of Mr President, I won’t say the work FHA.
“We are planning massive housing projects across Nigeria. The Federal Housing Authority will be building, Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is building and even private developers are building. That is why the Federal Executive Council has recently passed the infrastructural fund in which FHA is going to be a major beneficiary.
“We are assuring Nigerians that, in one year from now, they won’t be able to count the number of housing units that Emily’s have been delivered,” he said.
He however said that the housing will come in a mortgage of 25 years, which would make it affordable for both the formal and the informal sectors, especially, the lands were being provided free by the state governments.
While presenting the land documents to the FHA Managing Director, Governor Uba Sani said building affordable houses is one of key focuses of his administration, adding that, his government had in the last one year allocated over 1,000 hectares of land to developers both private and government agencies who are willing to build affordable houses to people of the state.
Governor Uba Sani described housing as not just a luxury but a necessity and a fundamental human right for everyone to have a house. “Here in Kaduna, we have really made it clear that, in our time, we will try as much as possible to ensure that, people who are underserved and poor have at least roof on top of their heads.
“Because of our effort, we have also attracted people who are willing to Kaduna to build houses for us even free. You may be aware that Qatar Charity Foundation is doing one of the major, i think the biggest. Today they are building hundreds of houses for the underprivileged in Kaduna free.
“For me the reason they have decided to focus here is because they realized that Kaduna State government is very serious to ensuring that we build affordable houses to people,” he said.
Governor Sani assured the Managing Director that Kaduna State has absolute confidence in him with his team because of his commitment and reaffirmed the determination of the state government to provide all the necessary support to the Federal Housing Authority to fully commence the project soon.
He encouraged the Managing Director and his team to inform him on any support they may require that could help in facilitating the groundbreaking of the project in the next two weeks.