The Minister Of Housing and Urban Development in Nigeria, Ms Akon Eyakenyi, has directed developers to seek approval with the ministry before embarking on constructions.
The directive is coming on the heels of increasing scam in the housing delivery schemes in Nigeria, especially the one involving a private developer and the Nigeria Labour Congress.
The Minister also added that Nigerians should make inquiries from the ministry before subscribing to housing scheme.
She also stated that the Federal Government was working to reduce the cost of housing and bridging the deficit.
Mrs Akon Eyakenyi said to ensure Nigerians are not defrauded under housing delivery schemes, the ministry would henceforth verify the authenticity of all developers.
Its been reported that Nigeria has 17 million housing deficit which requires two decades to bridge and the need for consistent efforts to fill this housing gap was why the consultative meeting between key players in the housing sector and finance was held convened.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said that the housing sector was a key driver of the economy for which the Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing company with a 300 million dollars credit from the world bank was recently set up with zero interest to drive the sector.