2,000 hectares of land mapped out for FG’s social housing – Presidency

The Presidency on Sunday said over 2,000 hectares of land with titled documents have been given by 24 States for President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s social housing programme.

A presidential spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement, said 17 states had also indicated interest to participate in the solar power programme.

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Akande said both programmes were important elements of the ongoing Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP).

He said these were some of the highlights emerging from a review meeting on the ESP implementation presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa over the weekend.

He said an agreement had been reached with at least one major cement manufacturer in the country to sell at significantly discounted prices as low as N2,600 per bag of cement for the social housing projects.

Akande said this was after a meeting Osinbajo held with three major cement manufacturers in the country namely Dangote Cement, Bua Cement and Lafarge Cement manufacturers.

He quoted Osinbajo as saying that the Buhari administration would continue to focus on creating more jobs while improving access to power and affordable housing for majority of Nigerians.

Akande said the vice president also stated that the Federal Government would continue to collaborate with States to ensure more Nigerians benefit from the housing scheme.

He said the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Ahmad Salihijo, disclosed that the Solar Power Naija team had had engagements with the six states who had identified private sector developers.

The team, according to him, has also selected Akwa Ibom, Ekiti and Kano as pilot states for the state-guaranteed transaction model for the solar power programme.

“He explained that REA is currently tracking transactions worth N55 billion potentially contributing the first two million connections in Nigeria and providing thousands of jobs,” Akande stated.