From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Federal Government, yesterday, said that it was reviewing most of the housing policies to bring them in tandem with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu towards growing the economy and creating job opportunities for Nigerians.
Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, who disclosed this, yesterday, in Abuja, when members of Nigeria Institute of Architects (NIA) visited him in his office, also noted that reviewing these policies would create enabling environment that could lead to economic growth, adding that, it would be a catalyst for job creation and lifting Nigerians out of poverty.
On the housing collapse that has become ubiquitous in Nigeria, the minister assured them that the ministry would look into it, noting that, with the collective inputs of the professionals in the built environment and state commissioners of housing, the ministry will come up with policies on how to curtail the menace.
“We are positioning the ministry to perform optimally to function as the organ that can provide policy directions to housing sector,” the minister remarked.
Earlier, the President of NIA, Enyi Ben-Eboh, had listed areas impeding the practice of architecture in Nigeria and urged the minister to look into it.
Such areas include,
regulating the influx of building materials by working with Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to create a unit that will solely deal on building materials coming into the country; reviewing the National Housing Policy in a way that it would be beneficial to architects; soliciting for a policy that could be making funding for housing on the first line of charge; the Ministry of Housing to come up with policy to regulate the activities of private developers in Nigeria; appropriate and befitting career placement for architects in the ministry to ensure professional development and speedy career progression.
The NIA President also urged the minister to ensure that architects are critically involved in the National Development Plan (2021-2025) to help the federal government to achieve the mandate of providing 500, 000 – 1 million houses yearly.
He also expressed his desire to resuscitate the regular meeting of Chief Architects of Nigeria, which he said, would enable positive practice of architecture in the country.
Eboh further proposed the establishment of the Office of Architect General of the Federation to oversee the members and their operation in Nigeria.
ENDS