The Nigerian Government has commissioned 200 units of bungalows in Kaduna State, north-west Nigeria, as part of efforts to bridge the housing deficit.
The housing units, fully funded by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), are among the first batch of Federal Government Mass Housing Schemes to be built across the country.
At the commissioning of the houses at Sky Diamond Estate in the State capital, Mrs Akon Eyakenyi , who represented Nigeria’s Vice President, Namadi Sambo, re-stated the commitment of the Federal Government to providing shelter for all Nigerians.
Mrs Akon Eyakenyi is the the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.
She said the project was a testimony of the determination of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to provide low cost housing for all Nigerians.
The Minister commissioned the project on behalf of the Vice President, describing it as a demonstration of the present administration’s desire to bring affordable houses to the doorsteps of the citizen’s, particularly low income earners.
Significant Improvement In Housing
Mrs Eyakenyi disclosed that the housing gap in Nigeria was being reduced gradually by the present administration, especially with the drive to build more houses.
She further stated that the past four years had witnessed painstaking and remarkable achievements in many sectors, stressing that Nigerians are beginning to notice significant improvement in housing and urban development arising from the implementation of the many people-oriented projects.
The 200 housing units which was financed by FMBN, using resources of the National Housing Fund was completed within a period of one year.
The beneficiaries are Nigerians who work in both public and private sector and are also contributors to the National Housing Fund.
As part of its contribution to the project, Kaduna State government provided 20 hectares of land for the project at no cost and also constructed all access roads into the estate.
This was aimed at ensuring that the project was not abandoned half way due to lack of basic infrastructure.
While commending the Federal Government for choosing Kaduna as one of the pilot states for the project, Governor Muhktar Yero said the estate would contribute to the decongestion of the State capital.
Governor Yero disclosed that the State government had earmarked 12,000 hectares of lands for estate development aimed to accommodate over one million people in the State capital and other satellite cities, adding that government had so far spent over 1.2 billion Naira to provide affordable houses for the people of the State.
In his speech, the Managing Director of FMBN, Gimba Ya’u Kumo, described the commissioning as another credit to the successes of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda in the housing sector.
Kumo disclosed that the manner of collaboration had been successfully implemented in the six geo- political zones of Nigeria for the benefit of Nigerians, especially contributors to the National Housing Scheme(NHS).
Kumo added that under the arrangement, the government had provided construction, financing and in most cases, unencumbered land for housing development.
A representative of the Labour union, Mr Augustine Etafo, in a goodwill message, commended the Federal Government for the project.
The Estate consists of 200 number of three bedroom semi-detached bungalow, 500 KVA transformer and tarred access roads.