As part of its commitment to provide affordable housing to Nigerians, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in collaboration with Labour Unions has concluded arrangement to unveil 600 housing units to workers contributing to the National Housing Fund (NHF) in six States of Jigawa, Nasarawa, Kogi, Enugu, Akwaibom and Adamawa.
The president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba who stated this in Abuja during a courtesy visit to the management of FMBN, noted that the essence of the visit was to brief the bank on the progress made so far towards the implementation of FMBN/NLC/TUC/NECA National Affordable Housing Delivery Programme (NAHDP) for Nigerian workers.
The programme, which is a culmination of collaborative efforts between FMBN and the labour centres to address the daunting challenge of home ownership among workers in Nigeria was planned to provide 100 houses in each State, starting with the pilot projects in 14 States of Jigawa, Nasarawa, Kogi, Enugu, Akwaibom, Adamawa, Ondo, Ogun, Delta, Abia, Sokoto, Katsina and Borno while the FCT and Lagos were designated as special centres.
He noted that the first phase of the project across the 14 States is 80 percent competed while the six States would be commissioned by April, adding that the second phase is about to take-off.
To this end, he appealed to State governors where the programme is yet to commence to provide the bank with 10 hectares of land to enable them implement the programme in their respective States.
Wabba called on the governors to provide infrastructure to the estates so as to make the houses more affordable, adding that the bank is presently reviewing the building designs likewise the bill of quantities to further enhance affordability and conformity with building codes.
On his part, the director-general of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Mr Timothy Olawale said that the partnership with the bank and its commitment towards affordable housing scheme reinforced the confidence of workers since they would access the houses through their contributions.
According to him, “There is no suspicion that the houses will be hijacked by higher authorities because the distribution and access to the houses will be done through the stakeholders, employers and the labour centres, so that there will be control”.
Source: leadership
