‘Rural-urban housing initiative will reduce housing deficit’

The National President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Dr. Aliyu Wamako has said the association’s Rural-Urban Housing Initiative 774 will cut deficit in the housing sector when fully implemented.

Nigeria has an estimated housing deficit of 17 million to 20 million, but the Rural-Urban Initiative 774 of REDAN is meant to produce 774,000 houses across the country.

Wamako, who spoke to Daily Trust at the weekend, said the initiative aims to also create a lot of opportunities to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic which has stressed the economy.

“We have support from the federal government and Family Homes Fund Limited. The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria has also bought in and will provide mortgages for the houses to be created. Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company also has a stake and will refinance the mortgages to be created.

“We are equally collaborating with the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) and other professional bodies in the country to make sure the houses are built to standard in all the local governments. We are expecting the professional bodies to provide technical supervisory roles while producing these houses in all the local governments.

“We have also collaborated with the off-takers of these houses, the paramilitary organisations, the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and they have given us strong buy-in into this project which we are sure there will be a return on investment.

“The objective of this initiative is not only to reduce housing deaficit in Nigeria, but also to create job opportunities for our teeming youths, and I believe once we are producing a house, one house can create at least 25 jobs and we are willing to create at least 2,500 in each of the local governments,” he explained.

He further stated that the collaborations would ensure that the houses produced under the initiative were such that local content would be upheld.

The REDAN president added that the association had written letters to all building materials producers in the country and some of them have given a 25 per cent discount on the materials to ensure the houses are affordable.

“We are trying to make the houses cheap, not in terms of how much they will cost, but we want to structure the repayment period that will be longer; we are looking at the payment of N15,000 per month for 20 years.

“But we are yet to arrive at the total cost of the houses with Family Homes Fund Ltd and that is what is holding us back from flagging-off the project in Kaduna,” Wamako added.

He, however, assured that before year-end, construction of the houses would start in Gombe, Ekiti, Lagos, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna and Taraba where parcels of land have already been acquired.