By ABAH ADAH, Abuja
Pursuant to its vision of constructing Renewed Hope Cities across the country to provide affordable housing to Nigerians, the federal government (FG) has affirmed plans to do ground-breaking for 11,500 housing units across six (6) states in the coming weeks.
Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa, who gave the assurance while giving his scorecard during a ministerial briefing on Thursday to mark his one-year in office, said the move was part of the fruits of the Action Plan they developed upon assumption of office in line with the Presidential Priorities and Deliverables of Mr President.
He said, “We plan to do groundbreaking for 2, 000 housing unit Renewed Hope Cities in Lagos, and 1,500 housing unit Renewed City in Kano through PPP and FMBN next month. We have also acquired land in Enugu and Borno where we plan to build a 2,000 housing unit Renewed Hope City in each location under a PPP arrangement. Other planned locations for the Cities include Nasarawa (2,000 units) and Rivers (2000 units).”
According to him, the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme now has footprints in the FCT and 12 states, and the remaining 18 states have also keyed into the programme by providing unencumbered land at no cost, except that stakeholders were being engaged for budgetary provision.
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“We are currently engaging the National Assembly and Stakeholders towards 2024 Supplementary budgetary provision to enable us kickstart the projects in those 18 remaining States. Most of them have already provided us with unencumbered land at no cost,” he said.
In a related development, the Minister, on behalf of the federal government, signed an agreement during the occasion with Shelter Afrique, a pan-African housing development finance institution, to construct 5,000 housing units across the country.
Highlighting the importance of collaboration, Dangiwa emphasised that the initiative marked the first time the ministry was engaging in such a direct and practical partnership with a multilateral institution.
“We are set to sign a Housing Development Partnership with the Shelter Afrique,” he stated.
The minister lauded the commitment of Shelter Afrique’s leadership, particularly acknowledging the presence of the Managing Director, Mr Thierno Hann, who travelled from Kenya to attend the event.
“I want to especially thank the Managing Director of the Bank, Mr Thierno Habib Hann, for coming from Kenya to be a part of today’s event. His presence underscores the importance of this partnership,” he said.
This initiative is a component of the broader Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which seeks to increase the stock of affordable housing in Nigeria.
The Minister highlighted several milestones that were achieved by the ministry under his leadership to include the groundbreaking of 6,612 housing units across 13 locations nationwide.
“We have made substantial progress in increasing the stock of affordable and decent housing stock for Nigerians with the groundbreaking for 6,612 housing units across 13 locations nationwide under the ministry’s Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme.
“This includes the 3,112-housing unit Renewed Hope City in Karsana Abuja, under Public Private Partnership (PPP). Twelve other locations are being funded under the 2023 Supplementary Budget and they include the 500 Renewed Hope City in Kano and 250 Renewed Hope Estates in Katsina, Yobe, Gombe, Sokoto, Ebonyi, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Benue, Nasarawa, Osun and Oyo.
“Construction is ongoing at all these project sites,” Dangiwa said, adding that
the singular project was expected to employ over 165,000 skilled and unskilled Nigerians, and that the project was expected to be completed in three months.
The Renewed Hope Cities comprise one, two, and three- bedroom blocks of flats; two-, three- and four-bedroom terraces, four-bedroom duplexes, and five-bedroom duplexes, while the Renewed Hope Estates to cater to low- and medium-income earners, comprise one-, two-, and three-bedroom semi-detached bungalows.
In order to have seamless implementation of the housing projects, Dangiwa called for increased budgetary allocations to sustain the momentum.
“We made a solemn request for the budgetary allocation of a minimum of N500bn per annum for the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme,” he said, noting that this request was well-received by the National Assembly,” he said, reiterating the Tinubu-led federal government’s commit to making a difference in the housing sector.