Jonathan’s Scorecard: Addressing The Housing Deficit

The Federal Govern
ment has repeatedly expressed concern about Nigeria’s 17 million housing and President Goodluck Jonathan, during a recent retreat held on the housing sector, pledged to redress the trend through equitable access to land.
The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the FCT Minister recently reiterated government’s commitment to providing affordable houses to the citizens when they appeared at the ongoing Ministerial Platform.
In her presentation, Ms Amal Pepple, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, said that the ministry was collaborating with relevant stakeholders to address the contentious issues in land administration and management.
“The ministry is working in partnership with the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform and other stakeholders to address the plethora of issues in land administration and management.
“The aim is to ensure that land owners have secured titles and bankable assets.
“Discussions are ongoing with state governors to reduce the cost of land title applications and turnaround time to approve land applications, in order to bring down the prices of houses for the citizenry.
“In addition, efforts are being intensified to update the land database management/processing system in the country,’’ she added.
Pepple said that 2,667 Certificates of Occupancy(C of Os) had been granted and 1,651 consents for the transfer of land titles granted; while 3,787 serviced plots had been created.
On housing delivery, the minister said that 16, 447 housing units had been added to the national stock since 2011 through the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).
She said that 238 housing units were delivered under the Prototype Housing Scheme and 2,009 housing units were delivered under the Public-Private Partnership/Contractor Finance; while 1,756 housing units were delivered through the FHA.
Others are 4,934 housing units delivered through mortgages created by the FMBN, and 7,510 housing units delivered through estate development loans provided by the FMBN.
She listed some of the places where these projects are located as Ijora and Ikoyi in Lagos State; Kuje, Gwarimpa and Apo in the FCT; Asaba, Odukpani in Cross River ; Gorin Gora in Kaduna State; Gombe and Owerri, among others.
Furthermore, Pepple said that the ministry was establishing 150 fully serviced residential plots per site, spread across 12 states in the country’s six geo-political zones and the FCT.
“Some of the pilot site areas are Kuje in FCT; Igbogbo and Osborne 11 in Lagos; Gubio Road, Yola in Adamawa; Bichi in Kano State; Bida in Niger; Republic Layout in Enugu State, and Rumuodomanya in Port Harcourt,’’ she said.
On manpower development, she said that 140 artisans were trained in the vocational training centres of the ministry, while the School of Architectural and Building Technicians would be established in Kuje.
According to Pepple, efforts are being made to establish six more skills acquisition /vocational centres across the country with the support of the Subsidy, Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).
Besides, the minister said that urban development programmes were being pursued with vigour, with a special focus on slums’ upgrading and the articulation of National Physical Development Plan, among others.
“The development of a comprehensive roadmap on Housing and Urban Development will significantly boost current efforts to make our cities safer, more productive, inclusive, gender sensitive and environmentally friendly,’’ she said.
The FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed, in his presentation, stressed that massive construction and rehabilitation of roads were carried out in the FCT in the last two years, while many road projects were still ongoing.
He said that projects were also being executed under the Land Swap District Development Initiative.
“The initiative entails giving an investor a particular percentage of land in a district in exchange for the provision of infrastructure and other forms of development,’’ he said.
Mohammed listed ongoing projects under the initiative as the development of Abuja Industrial Park, the development of Sheretti Cheche District, development of Ketti District, development of Gwagwa District and waste management schemes, among others.
The minister also listed some of the roads that were constructed and rehabilitated in the last two years as Airport Road Expressway, Kubwa Expressway, primary roads to mass housing projects, the Usman Dam-Gurara-Damjere road.
He added that the resurfacing of existing roads and other remedial works were executed in Wuse 1 and Garki District.
On the provision of infrastructure in the satellite towns, the minister said that many roads and housing projects had been completed, while others were ongoing.
He listed the satellite towns that had benefited from the projects as Kubwa, Karshi, Bwari, Karshara, Gwagwalada and Mpape, among others.
On transport services, Mohammed said that the management of “On-Street Parking System’’, which had 4,800 spaces in the city centre, was concessioned to four companies.
He noted that the policy had ensured orderliness in the city, while reducing traffic congestion and creating 1,130 jobs.
Speaking on the new transport regime in the FCT, the minister said that seven operators had been licenced, while 370 high-capacity buses were made available for their services.
“For now, four of the companies are currently operating daily on some routes in FCT with 270 buses and more are to ply the roads as soon as the routes improve,’’ he added.
Mohammed said that the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Self-employed Commercial Drivers Association (SECDA) and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) were among the licenced operators.
On education, the minister said that nine new junior secondary schools and two senior secondary schools were established, while 1, 215 classrooms completed in the area councils, among other projects
He also said that more than 40 science and introductory technology laboratories were completed, while nine new libraries were constructed and furnished in junior secondary schools.
“In addition, 1,308,780 pupils/students textbooks and instructional materials were distributed to Basic Education Schools in 2013,’’ he added.
On health, the minister said that two bedded intensive care units were equipped at Wuse and Asokoro district hospitals, while a world-class eye centre was equipped at Kubwa General Hospital.
Besides, call rooms were equipped at Wuse District Hospital, while five bedded emergency paediatric units were set up at Wuse and Maitama district hospitals, he said.
Other projects, according to Mohammed, include seven bedded dialysis centre at Wuse and Asokoro District, radiological centres in Kubwa and Gwarimpa hospitals.
He said that professional development training was conducted for all cadres of medical staff in primary and secondary health facilities in the territory.
Stakeholders commend the two ministries for their achievements and urge them to record more feats in the coming years.
They, however, bemoan the outrageous cost of acquiring land and high cost of house rent in the FCT in spite of the huge investments in the sectors coordinated by the two ministries.
Okoronkwo writes for News Agency of Nigeria.

Chijioke Okoronkwo,