FG inaugurates presidential committees on housing, gives dateline

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

Federal government has inaugurated presidential committee reforms task teams towards the realization of the presidential deliverable for housing sector under the renewed hope agenda .
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa made this disclosure yesterday in Abuja during the inauguration of the four (4) reform task teams, while giving them a timeframe of eight ( 8) weeks to summit their recommendations.
He said the dateline is important, in order to begin the process of implementing them towards building a vibrant and efficient housing industry that delivers decent and affordable housing to Nigerians.
The four reform task team are housing institutions reforms , multi-agency project delivery team, land reform task team and building materials manufacturing hubs task team.
Dangiwa said “Mr. President has demonstrated a strong political will and an unmatched boldness to take steps towards breaking the jinx of underdevelopment in Nigeria in line with his Renewed Hope Agenda.
According to the Minister despite those challenges over the years, the good news now is that “our President, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has recognizes that to achieve the Renewed Hope Vision Target of building a 1Trillion-Dollar Economy, housing must be prioritized. “This means undertaking comprehensive housing sector reforms that will ensure the systemic and prevalent issues that have caused under development are fixed, all legal impediments are removed.
Adding that, the institutional frameworks of housing agencies are necessary to ensure that they deliver optimally on their mandates to deliver decent and affordable housing to Nigerians are reviewed and upgraded” he said .
He maintained that “We have the support of the National Assembly, Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Housing and Urban Development, and stakeholders, we now have a historic alignment of critical stakeholders who believe that we are serious about doing things right and are ready to assist us to change the narrative for good”, he stated .
Speaking on the duties of each team,he said the housing institutions reform task team is to develop a robust framework for ensuring that housing agencies under the supervision of the Ministry are optimized to deliver effectively on the Renewed Hope Vision for the provision of quality, decent and affordable homes to Nigerians.
“This includes a thorough review and facilitation of necessary legislative amendments of relevant housing industry laws including the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act,1992, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) Establishment Act, 1993, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Act,1973, and PenCom Act (to allow for increased investment in housing).
“The Team will also map out strategies for driving the nationwide adoption and passage of the model mortgage foreclosure law in States”.
Secondly he said is the multi-agency project delivery task team, is aim to ensure that all housing agencies under the supervision of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development work collaboratively towards optimizing their strengths to deliver decent and affordable housing to Nigerians.
“ They will outline frameworks for synergy between the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (FMHUD), Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and Family Homes Funds Limited (FHFL) and propose processes to eliminate bottlenecks in housing development to increase the national housing stock, amongst others”.
He further said that land reforms task team, is mainly tasked with developing a blueprint that will aid sustainable implementation of much-needed reforms necessary for streamlining land administration and ensuring easy, cost effective and efficient access to land in Nigeria.
He said the task team comprises state governments, traditional rulers, relevant agencies, professional bodies, academia, stakeholders/sector experts to ensure buy-in and inclusivity.
“ The team is to draw from the extensive work of the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reforms (PTCLR) which has been working for the past 14 years towards comprehensive reforms including the establishment of a National Land Commission”.
He said the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is setting up the Building Materials Manufacturing Hubs Task Team in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda to boost building materials manufacturing in the country .
“Towards ensuring economic growth, creating jobs, reducing dependency on imports, and lowering the cost of construction materials and housing delivery”, he stated .
He said “We have engaged a consultant to provide a framework for the establishment of the National Social Housing Fund.
“This is effectively deliver the government desire to provide houses for the low income earners and vulnerable in the society.”
The minister encouraged all members of the committees to see the work that they have been called up to do as part of making history.
So, I want to charge you all to give it your best for the good of Nigerians and for posterity.