Ogunbiyi Assumes Office as Perm Sec Housing Ministry, Vows to Uphold Service Ethics in the Ministry

The newly assigned Permanent Secretary to the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Marcus Olaniyi Ogunbiyi, has assumed office at the Ministry's Headquarters in Abuja, Friday, January12th, 2024.

Dr Ogunbiyi was deployed to Housing Ministry from the office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OHCSF), where he held fort as the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office (CMO)

At the occassion, Dr. Ogunbiyi expressed his commitment and readiness to work with the staff of the Ministry, and solicited for their support and cooperation, while also promising to foster peace in order to collectively achieve the desired mandate of the Ministry.

The Permanent Secretary, who is a champion of the Performance Management System, a pillar of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP 25), pledged to continue in his quest to promote a seamless implementation of the Plan in the Ministry.

"As great disciples of the Head of Service, we must all do everything possible to uphold the implementation of FCSSIP 25 in our Ministry, because it has come to stay in the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development”, he stressed.

Dr Ogunbiyi took over from the outgoing Permanent Secretary, Works and Housing, Mamuda Mamman, who supervises both the Works and Housing ministries since the demerger of the two ministries in August, 2023. Mamman was deployed to the Federal Ministry of Power. 

In his remarks, on behalf of the staff of the Housing ministry, Director and Head of department, Engineering Services, Engr. Cyril Onyeneke welcomed the new Permanent Secretary and expressed enthusiasm to cooperate as well as follow his directions in order to achieve the goals of the Ministry.

Highlight of the occasion was the formal signing and presentation of the handover notes between the outgoing and incoming Permanent Secretaries.

In attendance at the event were the management and staff of the Ministry

Shelter Afrique Holds 42nd AGM In Abuja – Nigeria

The hosting of the 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Symposium Of Shelter Afrique (SHAF) is now confirmed to be holding in Abuja Nigeria from the 7th -12th of May ,2023.

Shelter Afrique (SHAF) is a company for Habitat and Housing, established in 1982 by African Governments, the African Development Bank (AFDB) and African Reinsurance Corporation (African–Re).  This company is dedicated to providing funding solutions for affordable housing projects across Africa

Nigeria is a founding member of this company and holds position as the second largest shareholder after Kenya with investments totaling (USD) $30,724,961:00 and a shareholding of 15.80 % 

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Shelter Afrique Constitutes the main policy organ of the company and it provides a forum for shareholders to collectively review and deliberate on the performance of the company once every year.

On the other hand, the Annual Symposium held during the AGM, is one of the key activities of Shelter Afrique, which is an avenue for collaboration and synthesizing emerging lessons, knowledge, best practices and innovations. Over the year the symposium has served to document and disseminate information to African Countries, stakeholders and key partners on the provision of affordable housing in Africa. 

Nigeria, as at present is the first Vice –President of the 41st AGM Bureau recently held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in July of 2022; making her to be in the pole position to become the Chairman of the 42nd AGM Bureau In this wise, the country is going to host the 42nd AGM Symposium in Abuja by May 2023.

Some of the key stakeholders expected at the meeting are:

a)    Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN)
b)     Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria (MBAN)
c)    Family Homes Fund (FHF)
d)    Nigeria Mortgage Reinsurance Company (NMRC)
e)    Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN)
f)    Federal Housing Authority (FHA)
g)    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
h)     Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN)
i)    Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP)
j)     Federal and State Ministries and Agencies in charge of  Housing, Urban Development, Finance and Economic Matters.

Other activities during this AGM are:

Ministerial Roundtable session with Ministers of Planning Economy and Business Development Investor Relations Session as side event. 

It promises to be an impactful session.

ADDRESS BY THE DIRECTOR (FINANCE & ACCOUNTS), BARR. OKORO OSONDU PETER ON THE OCCATION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE IPSAS IMPLIMANTATION COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT HELD ON FRIDAY, 14^TH FEBUARY 2025 AT THE DFA’S OFFICE, FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, MABUSHI-ABUJA.

 It is my pleasure to welcome you as member of this important committee and to congratulate you for being found worthy to serve in this capacity. Today marks a significant milestone in our journey towards enhancing transparency, accountability and effective financial reporting.

2. Your committee is expected to implement all the operational guidelines issued by the office of the Accountant -General of the Federation vide Treasury Circular Ref.No TRY/A5 & B5/2014 OAGF/CAD/POL./C.0301/VOL.1 dated 23^rd October ,2014 captioned “steps to successful Implementation of International Public sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) Accrual Basis in Nigeria by 2016” that will ensure the successful implementation of IPSAS by the ministry especially on the Identification,  measurement and Disclosure in our books of account and financial statement, all Non-current Assets of the Ministry including Legacy Assets (Property, Plant and Equipment) acquired prior to commencement of IPSAS Accrual effective 1^st January 2016.Moreso, with the recent pronouncement by the Accountant-General of the Federation of the intention to sanction MDA,s that fail to upload their Legacy Assets to the GIFMIS platform on or before 31^st December,2024 so as to reduce drastically the negative Net Assets of about 33 Trillion Naira which is not good for the Financial Position of the country.

3. I therefore charge you to work collaboratively, leveraging your collective expertise to overcome any obstacles and achieve the committee’s goals. I also want to assure you of my resolve to provide necessary support towards a seamless discharge of your duty.

4.  Again I congratulate you on your nomination to serve the nation in this capacity. I wish you God’s guidance.

5.  It is therefore my honour and privilege to inaugurate the IPSAS Implementation committee of the Federal Ministry of Housing & Urban Development.

 Thank you all!         

Welcome Remarks by the Honourable Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, at the Presentation of the 1st to 3rd Quarters 2024 Performance Assessment on Implementation of the Presidential Priorities and Ministerial Deliverables on Monday, December 9, 2024

The Special Adviser to Mr. President on Policy and Coordination & Head, Central Delivery Coordination Unit, Hadiza Bala Usman, and her Team, 

The Hon. Minister of State, Rt. Hon. Yusuf Abdullahi Ata, 

The Permanent Secretary, Dr. Marcus O. Ogunbiyi, 

Heads of our Agencies – FHA, FMBN, and OSGoF, 

Directors, 

Aides, 

Members of the Press, 

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

1. It is my pleasure to welcome the Special Adviser to Mr. President on Policy and Coordination & Head, Central Delivery Coordination Unit, my sister, Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman, and her team to the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for a review of our performance. 

2. Madam, we are delighted to have you with us here today. The work that you and your team are doing is critical to actualizing the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President. By constantly monitoring and shining a light on our work, the Central Delivery Coordination Unit keeps us all on our toes. Well done! 

3. It has been over eleven months since we commenced reporting on our deliverables. As your team has already seen from our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarter reports, we have been focused, working hard, and creatively as a Ministry to deliver results and impact. 

4. Although your assessment covers only our 3rd-quarter performance, I am pleased to update you that we have not paused but are making even more progress. Under the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme, we currently have construction ongoing for a total of 10,112 housing units at fourteen (14) sites nationwide. This includes 3,000 housing units for estates in 12 states—250 units each, funded under the 2023 N50bn supplementary budget—and 3,612 units for cities in Kano (500 units – budgetary) and FCT (3,112 units – under PPP).

5. From December 17 to 18, Mr. President has graciously accepted to break ground for two additional Renewed Hope Cities totaling 3,500 units —2,000 housing units in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, and 1,500 housing units in Kano. In fact, construction work is already ongoing at these sites. This brings the total active sites under the Ministry’s Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme to 13,612 units.

6. When we add these figures to the housing units delivered by our agencies—the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and the Federal Housing Authority (FHA)—we are clearly on track to meet our annual target of 20,000 housing units. Initially, our plan was to deliver 500 units under Renewed Hope Estates in each of the twelve locations. However, the rise in building material costs forced us to reduce the target to 250 units, which affected our output.

7. It will also interest you to note that less than 50% of the funding for these projects is from budgetary allocation. We have embraced Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and innovatively leveraging private sector funding for the delivery of these projects because we know that the less than N50bn budgetary allocation is grossly inadequate to make a difference.

8. With more Renewed Hope Cities Sites coming up – 2,000 units each - in Nasarawa, Enugu, Borno States and housing development institutions like Shelter Afrique Development Bank (ShafDB), the Ministry wants to assure the Central Coordination and Delivery Unit that the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is fully on course to another stellar reporting round of stellar performance.

9. If we are looking at where we are coming from, we can praise ourselves. This is because we have already outperformed by 100 percent the previous 8 years before the Renewed Hope Agenda. However, when we look at the size of the housing problem which requires that we build 550,000 housing units per annum over the next years, it is clear that we are far from scratching the surface. This means we must do more. The Ministry needs a bigger budgetary allocation for housing even as we drive PPPs. We have engaged the National Assembly, and they have expressed willingness to support a N500bn budget for the Ministry in 2025. We would like the CDCU Unit to help us support and push this cause.

10. Madam, it is also important to note that our Ministry operates on two pillars: Housing and Urban Development. We are also seeking to deepen our urban development interventions. We just came back from the UN – Habitat Executive Board Meeting in Nairobi that I chaired. In our engagements on the sidelines, the Executive Director assured us that every Naira we invest in our National Urban Renewal and Slum Upgrade Programme (NURSUP) could be leveraged threefold through their institutional partners. This means an investment of N50bn could attract an additional N100bn, totaling N150bn. We need a revolving fund to drive sustainable urban development.  We therefore need a minimum of a N50billion revolving fund to drive sustainable Urban Development which is key to Nigeria meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 20230. Under slum upgrades, we are providing basic services such as access roads, drainage, water, and sanitation facilities to make slum areas more livable. We currently have over 100 projects nationwide, with close to 60 completed. 

11. I have taken time to speak on efforts to increase housing stock and urban development because they are the foundation of our ministry, and we have moved significantly forward since we sent in the 3^rd quarter reports. We have also made progress on the other areas but the last reports that we submitted are fair representations.

12. While we celebrate these achievements, it is essential to acknowledge the challenges that have impeded our efforts, which the Ministry is hopeful of collaborating with the CRDCU to address.  For example,  the slow release of budget appropriation has restricted the scope and achievement of some of our Reform Initiatives.  Notably, the high cost of building materials and the rate of inflation have impacted on our ability to deliver affordable housing at scale.  In this regard, while exploring alterantive financing sources from the Private Sector and our Developnetment Partners,  we particularly solicit the support of the CRDCU in ensuring the early release of budgetary allocation from the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Development. 

13. We also solicit the support of the CRDCU in the area of partnerships with the State Government, National Economic Council (NEC) and also the National Assembly and other key Stakeholders; such as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the Ministry of Finance in achievement of the Ministerial Deliverables on the Review of the Land Use Act and Development of fiscal incentives for Private Investors to manufacture local building components, respectively.

14. As we evaluate our performance today, I want to appreciate the efforts of the Permananet Secretary, Heads of Agencies, our Directors and the Delivey Desk Officers towards the achievement of the Miniserial Deliverables targets. I also extend my gratitude to the Special Adviser to Mr. President on Policy and Coordination, my sister, Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman and her Team for their support and diligence in tracking of our Deliverables.

15. At the Ministry we are committed to delivering on our deliverables and even exceeding them.

Thank you.