Indications emerged weekend that the Federal Government would be rolling out cheap and affordable houses as cement producer rally to offer products at heavily discounted prices for the project
The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had recently said it would be constructing 300,000 houses under the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP), for low- income earning Nigerians
Disclosing this at the weekend while visiting the completed model houses in Dei Dei at the Federal Capital Territory, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said it was possible to deliver decent and affordable accommodation that falls within the reach of many Nigerians.
Under the ESP, the Federal Government had mandated the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide financing for the housing scheme for which N200B facility has been approved as the first tranche.
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Osinbajo, while fielding questions from reporters after the visit to one of the construction sites of the social housing scheme, applauded the contributions of major cement manufacturers in the country towards the success of the programme.
According to him, “they have agreed to give cement for this project at a considerable discount which is a very helpful thing to do and we really commend and thank them for the contributions they are making, it is a very patriotic thing on their part. They also see the importance of this Mass Housing Programme.”
After seeing the prototypes of the one-bedroom and two-bedroom bungalows, Osinbajo expressed satisfaction with the quality of the design and the fact that the houses are affordable.
“On average, anybody who is earning N30,000 a month and is ready to spend a third of that amount will be able to afford one of these houses, that is the plan. What I have seen so far, there is a one-bedroom unit and there is a two-bedroom unit, both coming under N2 million.
“I think that this is a very good thing indeed. And a point has been made that it is possible to build good, decent accommodation that isn’t out of the reach of practically everyone.”
Commenting on the implementation of the scheme across the country, the Vice President assured that the Mass Housing Programme will be provided across the country.
“We are hoping that we will be able to replicate this not just in Abuja but all over the country. So far, the Family Homes Fund is in 11 states, and they have given up land for the project.
“We are hoping that this year, we will be able to very rapidly improve the scale and speed of putting these houses in place. Once we are able to get moving quickly, we think we can make available several thousands of houses across the country and more people can afford to live in such houses.”
The Vice President noted that the job creation component of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) would also be actualised through the social housing scheme.
“Also important is the job creation aspect of it. You have young men and women who are builders, architects, civil engineers working on this project. We are hoping that a lot of the building materials will be locally fabricated especially the windows, doors and other components of the houses.”
