We’re committed to providing affordable housing — FHA MD

The Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority(FHA), Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, has expressed the firm resolve of the agency to provide affordable housing for Nigerians.
Ojo, who disclosed this recently when he paid Governor Alex Otti of Abia state a visit in Nvosi, Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area the statement,
described the shelter as “extremely key” in the lives of people, because after the day’s work, everyone must retire to a place for the night.
According to him, the provision of affordable housing remains the key mandate of the agency, stating that research had shown a serious deficiency in the availability of affordable housing for the citizens and the Federal Government was making efforts to address it.
Ojo said the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government provided for the operation of a housing initiative, adding that the initiative would be used to address the affordable housing deficiency in the country.
He said executing housing schemes without participatory involvement of the people would not adequately solve the problem, and added that it was essential to build houses that would adequately meet the peculiar and cultural needs of the people.
Ojo said under his watch, state governments would be actively involved in the execution of federal housing schemes in their states.
“We don’t just want to take land from you, rather we want to sit down with you and redesign together the kind of housing that will be in line with the needs and preferences of the people of Abia,” Ojo said.
He stated that the provision of infrastructure and affordable housing were effective strategies for enhancing deflation.
Ojo said the housing sector held a lot of potential in creating jobs and the President had deemed it fit to pump money into this sector to tackle inflation.
He said the housing project would be handled by local contractors in the state to ensure that the project did not fail.
Ojo also noted that the agency was focused on building something called ”a City in a City” basically meant to make affordable housing available for people in the diaspora.
“We want to synergise with the Diaspora Commission, Tourism and Abia Government to execute this project so that people outside could buy this property. We are going on digitalisation whereby Abia people abroad buy a property in their state from their phone,” Ojo said.
Governor Otti in his remarks thanked the Federal Government for the decision to ensure that Nigerians have shelter.
The governor said plans were underway to commence a housing scheme aimed at providing affordable housing for the people of Abia, especially people in the diaspora.
He also said the government had already gotten the location for a housing project tagged ‘Diaspora Village’, and commended the agency for its efforts to ensure the active involvement of the government and people of Abia.
Otti further commended the agency for opting to use local contractors for the execution of the project, because in the past it was used for political settlement.