Abuja – The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing says it is discussing with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) on how to review the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme to enhance the sector.
Fashola made this known in his keynote address at the 2016 Affordable Housing Summit organised by the ministry in collaboration with German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) on Monday in Abuja.
Fashola said that the discussions with FMBN is also focusing on its recapitalisation, to boost housing delivery in the country.
He noted that the 2012 National Housing Policy of 2012 aims at providing affordable housing for Nigerians.
Fashola noted that questions arising from the National Housing Policy had compelled the ministry to review some methods of implementing the policy.
According to him, the methods are initiatives by the Federal Housing Authority and Private Public Partnership initiatives, through Development Lease Agreements (DLAs).
“While we may retain the initiatives with modifications, we must develop something new and different that is useful for reducing our housing deficit.
“This will help to diversify our economy, grow our Small and Medium Enterprises and local capacity, then evolve into something that is sustainable that the majority of Nigerians can benefit from.
Fashola stated that the ministry’s internal reappraisal revealed that since inception, FHA had built about 40,000 housing units in approximately 40 years.
“Our DLAs and PPPs over a decade, under the Construction Finance Initiative, targets delivery of 21,008 housing units with a current delivery of 2,750 completed units so far.
“Our appraisal shows different designs of houses originated by different contractors that do not necessarily accord with the market needs and are therefore not attractive or affordable by the off-taking public.
He said that the ministry had also reduced the possibility of hundreds of different designs in a year to 12 designs, thereby proposing to choose six designs of one bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom flats and bungalows that would respond to cultural diversity.
“We have standardised fittings such as doors, windows, tiles, roof boards and other accessories to be produced by the local manufacturers as our support for local industries, SMEs and in pursuit of diversification and job creation.
“We will start with the traditional methods of construction known to our people so that bricklayers, painters, welders, carpenters and other artisans can find opportunities for inclusion and employment.
“Our housing must be tied to our income, which must be tied to our jobs. It is the way to create credit that our housing industry desperately needs.”
He decried the the existing system of paying one or two years advance rent, while civil servants receive salaries monthly.
“This is one of the reasons why many houses are empty, because of the advanc payment, and not only because of the huge rate of rent.”
He said that the Ministry of Finance would act as consultant for deepening access to capital for housing construction and supply, and also the financing of acquisition.
“When all is finally done, we expect to see a private sector involvement that builds to an agreed national design, and a Federal Government that can utilise incentives, fiscal policies to guarantee off-take, and supply to citizens on mortgage finance.
In a remark, Gen. Tunde Reiss (rtd), President First World Communities Ltd., identified affordability gap as a major obstacle to home ownership in the country.
Reiss advised the government to focus on large-scale housing delivery, considering off-takers objective and infrastructural development in the country.
The two-day summit with the theme “Developing a Blueprint for Affordable Housing Delivery in Nigeria has as its focus, off-takers, affordable housing finance, access to capital market and mortgages.
