TALKING POINTS FOR THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, ARC. AHMED MUSA DANGIWA, AT THE MINISTERIAL BRIEFING HOLDING ON FRIDAY MAY 24TH 2024
Good morning Nigerians. It is my pleasure to share with you what we have been doing at the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in driving the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, since we assumed office.
First permit me to give a background on the vision, mission and strategy of the Ministry.
Our vision at the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is to create an efficient housing market where all Nigerians have a right to a secure, decent, and affordable home as a platform for active participation in economic development.
The Ministry’s overall strategy, action plan is centered around the three core pillars of the Tinubu Renewed Hope Agenda which includes.
Growing the Economy
Lifting 100M Nigerians out of poverty and
Creating an enabling environment.
Our target since we assumed duty is to increase the availability of affordable housing units across different income segments by an additional 50,000 per year, Initiate urban & slum upgrading programs aimed at improving living conditions, infrastructure, and basic services in informal settlements, Implement policies that promote inclusivity and address the needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups, including persons with disabilities, women, and the elderly.
We also aim to facilitate partnerships between the public and private sectors to increase housing production and urban infrastructure development.
Some of the major achievements of the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development since we came on board are as follows:
RENEWED HOPE CITIES AND ESTATES
One, we have planned and commenced the actualization of the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Development Programme, which Mr. President launched earlier this year.
Under phase One, we plan to deliver a total of 50,000 housing units across Nigeria. The Cities will have 1,000 housing units per site in one location in each of the six geo-political zones in the country and FCT, while the Estates will have 500 housing units per site in the remaining thirty (30) States.
We have designed the Renewed Hope Cities as integrated living communities targeting all income brackets. They comprise one-bedroom blocks of flats, two-bedroom blocks of flats and three- bedroom blocks of flats; two-, three- and four-bedroom terraces, four-bedroom duplexes, and five-bedroom duplexes.
On the other hand, we have conceptualized the Renewed Hope Estates to cater to low- and medium-income earners. They comprise one-, two-, and three-bedroom semi-detached bungalows. To enhance affordability and ease of offtake, we used organic designs where one bedroom can be expanded to two-bedrooms and three-bedrooms as the income of beneficiaries increase over time.
Furthermore, the program aims to address social inequality by providing a broad range of affordable ownership options. This includes single digit and up to 30-year mortgage loans to be provided by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Rent-to-Own options where beneficiaries can move in and pay towards homeownership in monthly, quarterly, or annual instalments and Outright Purchase for high income earners.
Government approved the total sum of 126.5bn from the 2023 supplementary and 2024 budget for these projects including slum upgrade and urban renewal. Nationwide, we currently have estates in 12 States and Cities in 3. The estates are sited in Katsina, Yobe, Gombe, Abia, Nasarawa, Benue, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Sokoto, Oyo, and Osun. The cities are in Abuja, Yobe, and Lagos. Contractors have been mobilized and have commenced work to deliver a total of 3,500. We also signed an MoU with reputable developers to develop 100k housing units nationwide. Work has commenced for 3,112 housing units under this PPP bringing the total number of housing units currently under construction to 6,612.
We have also made cross subsidy a key part of our efforts to enhance affordability for low-medium income earners to foster integrated living. Under this concept, the housing units built in the Renewed Hope Cities will be sold at commercial rate while a substantial percentage will be sold at concessionary rates to low- and medium-income Nigerians who are members of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress.
The Renewed Hope Housing Programme is designed to be a catalyst for economic growth. The construction and development of these new areas will generate employment opportunities, stimulate local businesses, and attract investments. The 50,000 units that we plan to deliver under phase 1 will create 1,250,000 direct and indirect construction jobs. This is in addition to the value chain effects of purchase, supply of building materials, businesses around the construction sites, etc.
From the Ministry’s 2024 Approved Budget, we are also rolling out another batch of Renewed Hope Estates comprising 250-housing units each in 6 additional states totalling 1,500 housing units.
Recently, we launched an Online Housing Portal to ease the process of acquiring homes that we are building under the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme.
NATIONAL SLUM UPGRADE PROGRAM
Under Phase 1 of the Slum Upgrading Programme, the Ministry plans a total of 26 sites nationwide. This includes four (4) sites in each of the six regions of the country totaling twenty-four (24) and two (2) in the FCT. The key services to be provided at the identified sites will include water supply, solar streetlights, rehabilitation of access roads, construction of drainages and waste management and sanitation services amongst others
NATIONAL HOUSING PROGRAMME – SALE OF HOMES
Since the inception of the administration of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and the Renewed Hope Housing programme, we have taken pragmatic steps to fast track the sale and occupation of the housing units across the country.
We advertised Expression of Interest forms with 4 (four) windows of subscription to give room for all income segments of Nigerians as follows:
(i) Outright payment
(ii) Mortgage
(iii) Rent – to – Own
(v) Instalmental payment
We received a total of 8,925 Expression of Interest. This comprises 1,294 for Outright Purchase, 2,408 for Mortgage, 2,184 for Rent-To-Own and 3,039 for Instalment payment.
Last month we released the 1st batch of Offer of New Provisional Allocation Letters for Outright Payment for successful applicants
CREATION OF A NATIONAL SOCIAL HOUSING FUND (NSHF)
Also, in line with Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda to ensure that all Nigerians including the NO INCOME, vulnerable and underprivileged groups have access to decent and dignified accommodation, we are also creating the framework for the establishment of a National Social Housing Fund (NSHF). This is because we believe that access to decent shelter is a not only a necessity but a human right and that all Nigerians across all income segments deserve a decent home to live and grow.
Potential sources of funds include:
Gains from the removal of fuel subsidy,
Profit aô€…Œer tax from pension fund administrator investments,
Contribu􀆟ons from corporate bodies and ins􀆟tu􀆟ons as part of their corporate social responsibility,
Public private partnerships,
interna􀆟onal donor support,
Government alloca􀆟on amongst others
COMMENCEMENT OF HOUSING SECTOR REFORMS
To ensure that housing agencies under the supervision of the Ministry are optimized to deliver on our target of providing affordable homes to Nigerians, we inaugurated a Housing Reform Task Team of experts, stakeholders – including HDAN representatives, agency representatives, professional bodies, and academia to develop a robust framework for reform of the housing sector including thorough review of relevant laws and facilitation of necessary legislative amendments. This includes the following:
a. The Land Use Act, 1978
b. National Housing Fund (NHF) Act,1992
c. Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) Establishment Act, 1993
d. Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Act,1973
e. PenCom Act to allow for increased investment in housing.
f. Driving Nationwide adoption and passage of the foreclosure law in states.
To lower the cost of building materials, we are also working to boost building materials manufacturing in the country. This will ensure economic growth, create jobs, and reduce dependency on imports. On this we inaugurated a Building Materials Manufacturing Task Team comprising of experts and representatives from relevant government agencies, academia, professional bodies, and industry associations. They will conduct a thorough assessment of the current state of the building materials manufacturing sector and produce a strategic plan for reforming the sector for implementation.
To increase the stock of housing supply, we also inaugurated a Multi-Agency Project Delivery Team. The Team will ensure that all housing agencies work together towards optimizing their strengths to deliver decent and affordable housing to Nigerians. The Team comprises highly qualified and experienced professionals with expertise in housing development, urban planning, infrastructure, finance, and project management.
We are also working to implement the much-needed reforms that will ensure quick, easy, and efficient access to land. We have inaugurated a land reforms Task Team comprising state governments, traditional rulers, relevant agencies, professional bodies, academia, stakeholders to ensure buy-in and inclusivity.
With their recommendations we will draft an Executive Bill and proceed to the National Assembly for the amendment of the obsolete Land Use Act 1978 that has hindered the development of the housing sector.
Part of this will also be the establishment of the National Land Commission to spell out the guidelines and regulations for operationalizing the Land Use Act, 1978.
These Task Teams have already sent in preliminary reports and will conclude their assignments soon.
We are committed to implementing these stated reforms and initiatives to change the landscape of the housing sector for good and deliver the renewed hope agenda for housing and urban development.
Thank you and may God bless Nigeria and our President.
0 Comments