The Senate Committee on Housing, on Thursday, accused the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) of not doing enough to address the housing deficit, which was put at 18 million units.
Chairman of the Committee and former Ebonyi state governor, Senator Sam Egwu, said the pace of delivery at the FHA does not reflect any urgency or commitment to bridge the widening housing deficit.
According to the Senator who led other members of the Committee on oversight visit to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, the findings of the Committee showed that the parastatal is in a “terrible financial situation”.
He said, “the Federal Housing Authority is in a terrible financial situation, we are interested to find out what they are doing with the money they are realizing, we want to do everything to make the FHA work. If there is any way through legislative interventions and bills to support this Ministry to make sure that the parastatals actualize their mandates.”
The Committee also suggested that the funds provided for the Federal Government’s Mass Housing Project should be placed under the supervision of the FHA, adding that the parastatal will do better if it has financial autonomy.
The Committee faulted the allocation of funds for the Nnamdi Azikiwe Mausoleum and Library in the 2019 budget, when the project was completed and commissioned in 2018.
A member of the Committee and Senator representing Sokoto South, Senator Ibrahim Danbaba, who made the observation, said, “the Nnamdi Azikiwe Mausoleum and Library was completed in 2018, provision was made for 2017, 2018 and 2019, if the project was completed in 2018,
why make another provision for 2019?”.
In his response, the Works Minister, Babatunde Fashola, said that 1094 units of houses have been completed, while about 3000 units are ongoing at different levels of completion across the country, except in Lagos and Rivers states where they have land issues.
He also disclosed that the Ministry has also embarked on the remodeling of Federal Secretariats across the country and built new ones in some states where they were no Federal Secretariats.
Source: thenationonlineng
