White Paper On House Allocation Goes Public, March

A comprehensive report of government’s housing allocations and payments in Rivers State in now ready and will go public by March, this year.

Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Marshall Uwom, gave the hint to The Tide on Wednesday, saying the Executive Council had to endorse the report before it was made public.

The report, he further disclosed, covers all housing schemes both abandoned, under construction and those completed, with detailed allocation, payment records and debts.

He stated that the report would address controversies surrounding the various government-owned housing schemes which over the years had been occupied by illegal occupants.

“The report is comprehensive because we set up committees to look at the status of vacant plots, level of development, allocation and integrity of those long abandoned.”

The Rivers State Commissioner for Housing assured that when the report finally goes public, controversies surrounding some of the housing schemes would be settled, as legal occupiers had nothing to worry about.

He expressed worry that many government-owned housing estates had been overtaken by illegal occupants, with high level of conversions in some of them.

The Tide learnt that the affected estates, include among others, Elekahia, Marine Base, Iriebe and Igbo-Etche, as there are huge backlogs of payments and dilapidation in most of the estates.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi had on Tuesday, during a chat with newsmen, ordered the Commissioner for Housing to revive the Igbo-Etche Housing Scheme and make it ready for occupation.

The development is coming on the heels of recent plan by the state government to commence the construction of 1,000 social housing schemes in the new city.

The new housing scheme is a collaboration with a German firm, LST, consisting of prefabricated components, and would be subsidised by government.

Mr Uwom told The Tide that the houses had a life span of 100 years and had been adapted for the Nigerian climate, while assuring the public that, “we want Rivers people to win and live in their houses.”

Going by plans, work is expected to commence in March and will be completed in six months, according to Governor Amaechi.

USAID’s Assistant Administrator, Mr Earl Gast; Administrator, Dr Rajiv Shah; CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), between USAID and Federal Government in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN