National Housing Programme: Nigerians Invited To Apply As Fashola Launches Portal For Sale Of Houses  ·      Over 5,000 houses up for sale across 34 states of the Federation, which construction generated jobs, economic growth, says Minister ·      Online sale to ensure credibility, openness and reduce human intervention, underhand practice ·      Encourages FHA, FMBN, to use portal, states to adapt portal for sales of their houses ·      President of NGE, Permanent Secretary, commend FG, Minister for commitment to housing delivery, innovativeness   Nigerians can now apply for houses built under the current Federal Government’s National Housing Programme (NHP) in 34 states of the country following the launch, Friday of the portal by the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN through which interested members of the public could apply for allocation.   The formal launch of the portal https://nhp.worksandhousing.gov.ng which took place at the Conference Room of the Ministry in Mabushi, Abuja, throws open the door for Nigerians to apply online to buy the available 5,000 plus housing units, ranging from 1, 2 to 3 bedroom bungalows and blocks of flats in any location of their choice. In his remarks at the ceremony, which was attended by prominent stakeholders and media executives including the President, Nigeria Guild of Editors, Mr. Mustapha Isah, Fashola said the decision by the Ministry to sell the available houses online was to bring credibility to the exercise and reduce human intervention as well as give all categories of buyers a level playing field.   The Minister told his audience, “We converge here just to introduce a portal on which the National Housing Programme pilot will be offered for sale to the public.  What that means is that we will not be selling printed forms, the forms are online and this allows for more openness, limits human intervention and any disposition to any underhand practice”.    Clarifying that the decision to adopt online sale of forms and limit human intervention was not an indictment of the staff, he added, “It is just to make the system more accountable and people seeing credibility if they win and if they are not successful they will equally know that the system has at least given them a fair chance”. Fashola, who described the launch of the portal as “the end game of our economic objective”, explained that the government did not just set out to build houses, adding that the project has served many purposes, the first of which was to test what sort of houses Nigerians would like to live in so as to make policies to guide its agencies and parastatals, as well as other stakeholders, to build what could be acceptable in the markets. “We are the policy head of those parastatals like the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and so on. We are saying that the National Housing Programme had not succeeded in the past and some of the houses built then still remain empty. So we conducted a national survey across the zones just to find out what is acceptable”, the Minister said. The findings, he said, were that while in the Northern part of the country there was preference for bungalow and large expanse of land which encouraged building horizontally, in the Southern part, there seemed to be acceptance for blocks of flats and lack of space which made building vertically necessary. Emphasizing that the current National Housing Programme is a pilot or demonstration scheme meant, among others, to galvanize private sector participation, Fashola explained further, “We applied for land from the states and we set out to do a demonstration or a pilot programme because we then wanted to validate what we saw and build a pilot scheme”. “So as at today we have built 5,000 plus units in different stages of completion. We have done in Phase 1 and we have done in Phase 2 and some have started in Phase 3”, the Minister reiterated adding that the other purpose the scheme has served was to fulfill part of the objectives of the administration’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). He added, “It was also a way to implement our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) because as at the time we conceived this programme, the country was in recession”, expressing delight that it has fulfilled that objective because over 1,000 contractors were engaged on the building sites; “businesses owned by Nigerians and Nigerian contractors”. Pointing out that no foreign contractor was engaged in the project, Fashola added that it was not only an opportunity for nation building but an opportunity for the contractors to sustain their staff. In his goodwill message after the launch, President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr. Mustapha Isah, commended the Federal Government for its commitment to housing delivery. He also commended the Minister for the innovations he has brought to bear at the national level, which, according to him, was a replication of his development initiatives as Governor in Lagos State. Also in his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Babangida Hussaini commended President Buhari and the Minister for their commitment to programmes and projects that promote prosperity for the citizens and grow the nation’s economy. Aside the NGE President, other media personalities present were the Special Assistant, Digital/New Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Tolu Ogunlesi, the Secretary General of the NGE and Editor, Nation’s Capital, THISDAY Newspaper Group, Mr. Iyobosa Uwugiaren and the Deputy-Editor, BusinessDay Newspaper, Abuja Bureau Office, while from the Ministry, were Directors, Special Advisers and other top officials as well as Media Correspondents.   ...

Budget 2022: Our focus is to Complete Ongoing Housing Projects – Fashola …As Ministry launches web-portal for subscription to completed homes under FG’s National Housing Programme on Friday The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN has told the National Assembly Joint Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development that the priority of the Housing Sector in the 2022 Budget was completion of ongoing projects.   Fashola spoke during the defense of the Housing Sector’s 2022 Budget proposals before the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday, November 9th, 2021. He said, " Mr Chairman you may wish to note that the sector's 2022 Budget Proposals was prepared taking into cognizance the Federal Government's Thrust, as articulated in the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP). In carrying out its mandate the sector has resolved to pursue completion of ongoing projects with the adequate and timely release of budgetary allocation."   The Minister also revealed that the Ministry would be launching the National Housing Programme’s web-portal on Friday to enable interested Nigerians to commence the process of subscribing to completed houses under the programme.   He explained that the platform would include the mode of payment that would ensure transparency in the process of acquisition of the houses and other features that would help avoid the risk of double allocation.   According to the Minister, the priority areas which the 2022 Housing Budget was anchored on include: Federal Government’s National Housing Programme and construction and completion of Federal Secretariats in six States of Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Nasarawa, Osun and Zamfara States.   Others include provision of Infrastructure (road, electricity and water) through special intervention programmes in various locations in the country; and continuous intervention programmes through constituency projects that meet the needs of the grassroots as well as providing them with dividends of democracy.   On the performance of the 2021 Budget, Fashola told the Committee that , despite the Covid-19 pandemic that disrupted implementation from March 2020 the Housing Sector had achieved completion of several projects.   He listed the projects to include; design and installation of solar power PV microgrid system and energy retrofitting at the headquarters of the Ministry in Mabushi, major rehabilitation and restoration of 24 existing Federal Secretariats in 24 States and numerous constituencies, direct mandate and zonal intervention projects that have direct impact and bearing on the lives of the citizens, among others.   Speaking on the challenges, the Minister mentioned the maintenance and operation of public buildings which he said must adopt best practices in applying health and safety measures, such as routine maintenance, lowering costs, proactive workforce and leveraging technology.   Other challenges, apart from insufficient budgetary provision for projects according to the Minister were; the National Housing Programme being bedevilled by high cost of building materials; and the inability of some States to donate unencumbered land for the take-off of the phase II and III of the National Housing Programme.   Several members of the Joint Committee commended the Ministry for a detailed and well outlined presentation.   ...

FG Repositions The Management Of FHA for Effective Service Delivery …Now has 5 Departments, 2 Executive Directors reassigned as 3 new others come on board President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR has approved the reorganization of the management of Federal Housing Authority (FHA) for effective service delivery. The objective of the new structure of the Authority is to enhance the implementation of the maintenance of FHA Estates across the country which will generate new businesses and jobs in the construction industry in pursuance of the Federal Public Assets Maintenance Policy approved by the Federal Executive Council. The new structure of the Authority has the following Departments: (a) Estates Services (b) Housing Finance and Accounts (c) Management   Services (d) Project Implementation (e) Research and Innovation Development  According to the Presidential approval, the two officers reassigned are the former Executive Director, Business Development, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibril who will now move to the Research and Innovation Development Department, and the former Executive Director, Housing Finance and Corporate Services, Mr. Ekpenyong Maurice  who has been moved to the Management Services Department.  The newly appointed Executive Directors include Babakobi Mohammed Hauwa, Estate Services; Adamu Kure, Housing Finance and Accounts; and Chinonso Sam-Omoke ,Project Implementation.   The expansion of the Management of the Authority will bring a lot of advantages which include attraction of new investments in the construction of new estates across the country and generation of new jobs and businesses, in line with Mr. President’s promise of taking One Hundred Million Nigerians out of poverty.   ...