Nigeria requires N42tr to meet housing needs - Minister

Dipo Laleye, Minna - 01.07.2009

Nigeria will require over N42 trillion to meet the 16 million housing deficit facing the country, the Minister of Works, Housing and Urban Development, Alhaji Hassan Lawal, said this in Minna, Niger State, on Tuesday.

Alhaji Lawal said government was not in a position to secure such a huge amount, hence the adoption of the public private partnership (PPP) initiative to solve the housing needs of the country.

Speaking at a handing over of site to a private developer, BNTI Limited, the minister said since the PPP initiative started, over 650 housing units had been provided for Niger State alone, with other parts of the country benefiting from the same or higher number of houses.

Under the PPP, the minister, who was represented by Mr. Ola Banjo, the officer in charge of the programme, said the responsibility of the government was to provide the land and other services and ensure that houses constructed fell within the national building code.

He said the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) was already being repositioned to make it play its role more effectively, adding that buyers of the houses would repay the cost of the buildings in over 25 years at ‘single.