President Bola Tinubu has flagged off the construction of 3,112 pilot housing project under the Renewed Hope Housing Scheme at Karsana area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The president, in his keynote address, emphasised the importance of housing to mankind and analysed it as a fundamental right which every government owes its citizens.
Tinubu, who made his first public appearance after returning from a two-week private visit to Paris, also commended the housing ministry for its efforts towards achieving the Renewed Hope mandate for housing and urban development.
He said, “I listened to the minister say they are committed to transforming Nigeria into a giant construction site of housing units. He has shown that he is an exemplary champion that understands how to use housing as a catalyst for economic resurgence and national development. We must all be positive about our country and work together so that we can win together.”
He commended the ministry for taking the initiative to involve the private sector through public private partnership (PPP) arrangements, underscoring the immense role the private sector can play in helping to achieve the future that Nigerians can be proud of.
Earlier in his address, the minister of housing and urban development, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, revealed that most of the ministry’s project is consummated through a public-private partnership between the ministry and a consortium of companies.
He said the ministry plans to construct 50,000 housing units of various house types in the first phase using various funding sources, including budgetary allocations, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, and public-private partnership, among others.
Dangiwa who stressed that the programme aims to address social inequality by providing a broad range of affordable ownership options, disclosed that the options include single digit and up to 30-year mortgage loans to be provided by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria as well as through the Rent-to-Own options where beneficiaries can move in and pay towards homeownership in monthly, quarterly, or annual instalments and Outright Purchase for high income earners.
“We plan to deliver a total of 50,000 housing units across Nigeria. The cities will have 1,000 housing units per site in one location in each of the six geo-political zones in the country and FCT, while the Estates will have 500 housing units per site in the remaining thirty (30) states.
“We have designed the Renewed Hope Cities as integrated living communities targeting all income brackets. They comprise one-bedroom blocks of flats, two-bedroom blocks of flats and three- bedroom blocks of flats; two-, three- and four-bedroom terraces as well as four-bedroom duplexes, and five-bedroom duplexes”.
