By Daniel Tyokua
The federal government has called on the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to do more in providing houses for Nigerians at all levels.
Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa made the call during the FHA’s golden jubilee celebration in Abuja, Thursday.
He lamented that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) that the agency entered into over the years delivered little results.
Dangiwa urged the agency to see its 50th anniversary as a moment of soul-searching.
He said: “Pursuant to the re-defined roles, the National Council on Privatization in May 2013, approved FHA’s commercialization. The aim was to reduce the magnitude and scope of financial support of the federal government and allow the Authority to adapt to changing business requirements. At this time FHA had only managed to deliver 37,000 houses in its 40 years of existence.
“Now, ten years after commercialization, records show that FHA has only delivered a cumulative of just over 50,000 housing units. That shows an average of 1,000 houses per year in 50 years. This is not acceptable, especially from Nigeria’s foremost housing agency that has so many institutional advantages that it can leverage to deliver more results.
“Last month, during the Shelter Afrique EGM in Algeria, I discovered from my engagements with the Algerian Government that an Agency like the FHA delivers between 400,000 and 1m houses annually. In fact, in a particular year, that Agency delivered 1,060,000 houses. This underscores the need for FHA to aggressively upscale its delivery capacity.
“I am also pained to say that analysis of all the PPPs that the FHA has entered into over the years had delivered little or no value to the country. This is also not acceptable. FHA needs to wake up to its responsibilities.
“I want to see the FHA go to the capital market, issue bonds, and raise funding to deliver mass housing projects across the country, market them, pay back the loans, and declare profit.
In his address, the former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, under whose regime the FHA was established in 1973, remarked that the agency was established as part of the socio-political development plan and fulfillment of the post-civil war.
Gowon also expressed his appreciation that his administration had the foresight to establish the FHA to lay the foundation for a more secure and prosperous future.
On his part, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FHA, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, who said the agency’s journey in the last 50 years was full of turns and twists, noted that it had recorded many achievements.
