The vice president assured that the federal government will ramp up efforts so more Nigerians have access to electricity and affordable housing.
Over two thousand hectares of land with titled documents have been given by 24 states for the Buhari administration's
Equally, an agreement has now been reached with at least one major cement manufacturer in the country to sell at significantly discounted prices as low as N2600 per bag of cement for the social housing projects. This was after a meeting the vice president held with three major cement manufacturers in the country namely
These were some of the highlights emerging from a review meeting on the Economic Sustainability Plan implementation presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the
Commenting on the implementation of components of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP), Mr Osinbajo said the Buhari administration will continue to focus on creating more jobs while improving access to power and affordable housing for the majority of Nigerians.
Highlighting the progress so far, the vice president assured that the federal government will ramp up efforts so more Nigerians have access to electricity and affordable housing.
According to the presentation made by the Managing Director of the
He explained that REA is currently tracking transactions worth N55 billion potentially contributing the first two million connections in
For instance, the programme is currently tracking four transactions in the commercial bank upstream channel contributing 3,500 jobs and 100,000 connections.
The MD added that nine participants have submitted applications for over N4 billion of the N20 billion allocated with three companies close to receiving disbursements.
According to the MD, "Bleu Camel Energy with a loan amount of N3 billion is targeting to create 600 jobs; Sunking, another investor with a loan amount of N3 billion will create 1,500 jobs; Auxno Solar with N300 million loan amount targets 100 jobs while
On the other hand but in the same vein, the Managing Director/CEO of the
"We are having a successful push in assembling land to feed the housing construction. So far about 2156.4ha have been assembled ready for development. This has the capacity to accommodate about 65,000 homes," he said.
While the rates are significantly low, the MD noted that this period can also be extended through refinancing.
"This will help to improve access to housing for low-income people in the informal sector who-(otherwise) will not have an opportunity to access a mortgage," he stated.
He further said that in addition to the typical 2, 3, and 4-bedroom housing units, the FHFL was considering a "Students and Young People's Housing - to address the needs of young people."
An agreement with the
It would be recalled that the CBN had committed to a N200 billion facility with a guarantee by the FG via the finance ministry for the
Speaking further, the FHFL MD noted the agency has struck partnerships with
He added that the FHFL has signed an MoU with the
He said, "So far about 7,333 SME groups and individuals are registered on the online portal. Up to 2,000 of these will be involved in current projects.
"We will be drawing from ongoing experience on our project in Yola where the construction of 3,600 homes are ongoing and a partnership between FHFL and the
For the ESP Social Housing Adewole said "about 228 Manufacturers of
Already sites for early start projects have been identified in all the six geo-political zones in addition to the FCT. The sites include those in Ekiti and Ogun in the South-west, Enugu, and Abia in the South-east, Delta, and Edo in the South-south, Yobe, and Bauchi in the North-east,
Speaking specifically on the mass housing scheme, Mr Osinbajo emphasized that the focus must be on providing affordable housing for the masses.
According to him, "if the federal government is going to intervene in housing, most of it should be social housing. Everybody else, including the private sector, can build N9.6 million worth houses, but nobody else will do social housing.
"All over the world, when government intervenes, it is social housing... those who cannot afford housing are the ones we must focus attention on.
"I think that we have enough problems with finding homes for the vast majority of Nigerians who cannot find a home. The people who are poorest who have no houses are the people we should target because that is what government should do. Let's focus on this social housing."
The vice president added that the federal government will continue to collaborate with states to ensure more Nigerians benefit from the social housing scheme.
Under the Social Housing Programme, the federal government plans to support 1.5 million Nigerians to acquire low-cost houses through mortgage options and also Rent to Own option. The scheme is expected to also generate 1.8 million jobs and deliver houses to about 1.5 million Nigerian families. The houses are to be priced around and N2 million and N4 million each putting it within the reach of the low-income earners, depending on the number of rooms. There are one, two and three bedrooms options.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
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