Housing: Town Planner Makes Case For Workers Cooperatives

As a way of tackling
the housing deficit, especially among the workers, a town planner in Port Harcourt, Mr. Ikiriko Opiriba, has urged workers and professionals working in the same organization to group themselves together to form a housing cooperative union.
He said that time has come when workers in the same organization, particularly those in government establishment should begin to take their destiny in their own hand, and look inward to address their housing challenges, instead of waiting for government.
Speaking in a  chat with The Tide in Port Harcourt, shortly after a stakeholders meeting on housing in Port Harcourt, Mr Opiriba stated that the idea of forming cooperative is to raise fund which is very vital in housing development.
Opiriba, who is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planning (NITP) said that when such colleagues in such working environment pull their resources together, they will  be able to raise funds that can enable them acquire land and share it among their members, according to their individual capacity and capability.
He cited the example of an institution in Port Harcourt, where some academic staff organized themselves into a cooperative and contributed to their housing development pointing out that such move yielded good result.
According to him, such funds were mobilized to procure vast land where participants got one, two and half plots of land according to their capability and their contributions in the process.
The town planner also advised that such group (s) after procuring land, can through their umbrella union, approach the government for the provision of some infrastructure like electricity and roads.
He said that such infrastructure can  help to transform the place to an estate, adding that the idea of cooperating will stand out to tackle housing problems.