The President of Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria(AHCN), Dr.Victor Onukwugha, says his association will collaborate with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute(NBRRI) on possible ways to improve housing delivery in Nigeria.
The President stated this in Abuja on Wednesday when he led members of his association on a courtesy call to the management of NBRRI under the leadership of its Director General, Prof Samson Duna.
Onukwugha said the high cost of housing units that are not affordable to majority of Nigerians especially the low income earners necessitated the collaboration with the FMBN and NBBRI codenamed “FMBN, AHCN and NBRRI Stakeholders Collaboration on Decent and Affordable Housing” which was initiated in 2018 to address housing affordability issues through the use of local building materials from NBRRI.
He said” We are still very committed to developing affordable housing through the use of local materials and our renewed effort is geared towards making housing affordable especially to low income earners and discourage notable apathy for the use of local building materials especially red bricks”.
The President added that AHCN is committed to reducing homelessness in Nigeria by providing a minimum of 1000 housing units annually in each state of the federation through an initiative called ERAHOMS.
Onukwugha commended NBRRI for researching on the use of pozzolana as an alternative to cement and assured of AHCN’s readiness to assist the Institute in making the research see the light of the day.
In his reaction, the Director-General of NBRRI, Prof. Samson Duna, expressed the readiness of his Institute to partner with AHCN on ensuring Nigerians have access to good and affordable houses.
He said NBBRI will come up with a direction that will guide the partnership with AHCN so as to make impact in the lives of people and as well ensure staff of the Institute are sent to attend trainings organized by the Association.
Prof. Duna listed some of the achievements of NBRRI under his leadership to include the construction of plane in Ota and Jos with two different materials adding that the Institute will construct a pilot house this year as well as explore the usage of Plastic waste in the construction of houses.
