How state governments are frustrating housing projects – FHA

The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) yesterday decried that many of the houses it had built across Nigeria remained unsold as most state governments provided land where the houses would be hard to sell.

The Acting Managing Director of the FHA, Umar Gonto, disclosed this in Abuja while addressing members of House of Representatives Committee on Housing and Habitat.

He said the Federal Government planned to provide 30,000 houses across the six geopolitical zones in the country to address the housing deficit.

According to him, the agency has been removed from the budget since 2005, which prompted it to find other ways of getting funds.

He said the agency was working on other new projects, especially in Abuja.

He said the FHA recently acquired 750 hectares land in Abuja, the size of Gwarimpa, to start another project; while the one around Apo had also resumed after a long-running litigation.

The chairman of the committee, Mustapha Bala Dawaki, said the federal government would be providing N10 billion under the Service Wide Votes to finance the various initiatives in the housing sector including the Social Housing scheme.