By Chiangi Avese, Makurdi
The Benue State Government has agreed to partner with the end-user initiative of the Federal Housing Authority, FHA, in providing affordable houses for the people of the State.
Governor Hyacinth Alia made the disclosure when he hosted the FHA’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, who led a team from the Federal Housing Authority at the new Banquet Hall of the Benue State Government House, Makurdi, on Saturday.
The governor who expressed his pleasure for having the team in the state, said his administration has accepted the offer from the FHA, and will be collaborating with them to develop affordable houses for the people of the state, especially as their proposal is in sync with his administration’s desire to create a new Benue that everyone will be proud of.
Governor Alia who used the occasion to enumerate his achievements in office to include, the ongoing construction of two Underpass at High Level roundabout Makurdi and the one in Gboko, the massive road construction works within Makurdi and other towns, the installation of solar powered street lights, the injection 100 new buses at the Benue links Transport Company, provision of fertilizers to farmers at subsidized rate, the tremendous improvement in the health sector in the state amongst others, equally appreciated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for agreeing to construct a flyover at the Wurukum roundabout, amongst many other interventions from the federal government.
He said the efforts made so far by his administration is to ensure Benue is placed in the right place it should be, and as such, will not turn down efforts aimed towards that direction, and promised to provide land and any other support the Federal Housing Authority may require for the initiative to be achieved.
Earlier in his remark, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Housing Authority, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, said they were in the state as part of the new policy of the FHA to consult with all the state governors for end user initiatives in providing houses to citizens of the country.
He said as custodians of land in the states, the governors are in the best position to provide lands and collaborate with the Authority for the success of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda in Housing, being the reason they were in Benue state.
According to him, the construction of the new houses will not only provide shelter to the people of the state, but will also create job opportunities, adding that since many people will be involved in the processes, it will also arrest the rising inflation in the country.
He commended Governor Hyacinth Alia for bringing back good governance in the state through the regular payment of salaries and pensions, the registration of External examinations for indigenes of the state as well as the massive infrastructural works ongoing in the state.
Hon. Ojo, was accompanied during the visit by the Executive Director (Project Implementation), Engr. Oluremi Omowaiye, Executive Director (Estate Services), Arc. Ezekiel Nya-Etok, Executive Director (Business Development), Mr. Umar Dankane Abdullahi, Executive Director (Housing Finance & Accounts), Mr. Mathias Byuan, amongst other top management staff of the Federal Housing Authority.
