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From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
As part of measures to tackle the housing deficit in Nigeria, Federal Government, at weekend, constructed over 5,000 houses across the country.
The houses which have different designs have one, two and three semi-detached bungalows.
There are also one bedroom condominium of block of flats; two bedroom condominium and three bedroom condominium.
Speaking to some editors in Abuja, at the weekend on how Nigerians could acquire them, Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said that the forms are already online.
According to him, the least selling price is N7,222,0000 and the highest will cost N16, 491, 455.
“The highest is a three bedroom bungalow semi-detached. So, it is not just a house but has land around it. Each of these bungalows has adjoining lands.
One bedroom bungalow is 77 square metres. The two bedroom is 90 square metres and the three bedroom is 137 square metres.
“As for block of flats, one bedroom is 60 square metres which is bigger than a conventional one. The two bedroom is 76 square metres and the three bedroom is 110 square metres” he said, adding, how that the prices differ from state to state.
“Of course, there is a slight differential of block of flats built in riverine areas from places where you have flat land like Abeokuta or Edo. So, when we went to Bayelsa, for example, what we used to build a bungalow in Nasarawa was used for only the foundation. We want to make sure that even if the government is not making profit, at least we will recover the cost and put the money back” he noted.
Consequently, Fashola urged interested Nigerians to apply online as the projects serve many purposes.
“The forms are online. This allows for more openness. This is the first phase because we didn’t just set out to build houses. This project serves many purposes.
“We conducted a national survey when I took over to find out what is acceptable. We found out that what is acceptable is bungalows. We also found out that there is no money to build.
“Today, we have 5,000 units in different stages of completion. It also helps to achieve the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) because when we conceived this idea, we had about 1000 different contractors—small and medium sized companies. There is no foreign involvement. We are all Nigerian contractors. So, we have achieved that objective.
“We gave them an opportunity to contribute to nation-building. We also sustained some of their staff. There is also a value chain to this in terms of supply of materials. All the materials they used were locally made materials. That is also part of the economic objective” he said.
Recall that the government has on several occasions debunked the 17 million or 22 million housing deficit being bandied around by experts in the built industry, saying that the data was not from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the only authoritative data producer in Nigeria.
Speaking to Daily Sun, in Abuja, Fashola said that the Federal Government is investigating the source of 17 million housing deficit figure, adding that it is neither from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) nor from World Bank.
He, however, assured that after the investigation, the result would be made public.
Recall also, that the Managing Director, Shelter-Afrique, Andrew Chimphondah had in his presentation at a one-day sensitisation forum on Land, Housing and Urban Development Multilateral Programme of Collaboration and 10th Session of the World
Urban Forum (WUF10) in Abuja, said that Nigeria has a 22 million housing deficit.
