The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc Ahmed Musa Dangiwa has charged Heads of Departments of the Ministry to find innovative ways to ensure that the Ministry delivers on its mandate to provide affordable housing to Nigerians.
Arc Dangiwa issued the directive on Day 1 of detailed Ministerial Briefings from Principal Officers of the Ministry on Wednesday.
He sought to re-align the Ministry’s functions along the lines of efficiency, affordability and greater impact.
In order to achieve this, the Minister set up an affordable Housing Design Committee, comprising architects, surveyors and other professionals.
Dangiwa tasked the members of the Committee to come up with at least 3 different housing designs that are affordable, acceptable, and accessible to Nigerians.
The designs according to the Minister must be within the reach of the low and medium income earners.
He noted that the high cost of houses remains one of the reasons for the increasing housing deficit.
The Minister, therefore, reiterated that the provision of houses to Nigerians remains a top priority of President Bola Tinubu, urging all the professionals in the Ministry to take their jobs seriously and contribute towards actualizing it.
Arc Dangiwa further explained that an affordable house means a house where the owner can pay with at least one-third (1/3) of his/her monthly income throughout his/her active age (60 years) from when s(he) starts repayment.
The Minister also tasked the Urban and Regional Planning Directorate to liaise with the National Assembly and produce an actionable framework that will help the Ministry to kick-start the process of reviewing the Land Use Act 1978, which is vital to affordable housing delivery.
He noted that the Land Use Act contains obsolete provisions and due to the evolution of time is no longer achieving its full objective.
Dangiwa, however, directed the Lands Department to solve all pending issues between the Ministry and its agencies with respect to title documents and other constitutional documents required for effective and timely allocation of houses to Nigerians.
He also charged the Urban and Regional Development Department to Develop a comprehensive Urban and Regional Development and Sustainability Plan targeting mostly informal settlements across the Six (6) Geopolitical Zones taking into cognizance the climate change factors.
