Housing Minister Dangiwa Reveals Nationwide Renewed Hope Cities Initiative
Housing and Urban Development Minister, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, has unveiled plans to build ‘renewed hope cities’ nationwide.
Dangiwa announced this when he received the governor of Taraba State, Dr. Agbu Kefas, at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that this is part of the federal government’s efforts to promote integrated and functional communities in Nigeria.
The phase one of the project will deliver 34,500 housing units in a mix of 1, 2, and 3-bedroom affordable bungalows in thirty states.
The will also be multi-level flats to cater to low-medium income earners and terrace and detached bungalows and duplexes for the high-income earners in select state capitals.
The state capitals include Lagos, Kano, Borno, Nasarawa, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Minister said there will be a multi-agency approach and private sector-led approach to delivering the project with an overall aim of delivering a total of 34,500 homes (Phase 1).
He stated that these will be from a mix of sponsors comprising the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s budgetary allocation, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), and through Public-Private Partnerships with reputable developers.
Additionally, he said that to ensure affordability and quick offtake of the houses by Nigerians, the Ministry has outlined the following mix of ownership options for potential beneficiaries.
This includes leveraging the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to enable beneficiaries to access single mortgage loans payable over 30 years using the FMBN NHF Mortgage loan window, Primary Mortgage Banks, and the mechanism of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) to enable beneficiaries who desire homes that are beyond the range offered by FMBN to access home loans at commercial rates.
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The Minister added that off-takers will also be encouraged to own the homes using the FMBN Rent-to-Own housing product which allows contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme to move into a home without equity payment and pay towards ownership over a maximum of 30 years depending on their age.
“This is in effort to deliver the Renewed Hope Agenda for Housing, one major area where we seek your support and collaboration is the provision of land,” Dangiwa said.
“With this project alone, we aim to create over 240,000 jobs at 7 per housing unit.”
He said that this is in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s goal to create jobs, lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, and grow the economy.
To do this, Dangiwa said the Ministry of Housing would need access to land at no cost from state governments.
“Land is a major component of housing cost, so by giving us land, we would be ticking off a huge cost that will make it possible for the Ministry to deliver the houses at a price that Nigerians can afford,” he added.
The Minister also disclosed that the Ministry, under his leadership has written letters to state governments requesting for 50 hectares of land to enable the implementation of the Housing Programmes.
“The Housing Sector has never witnessed such significant shake in history and this will further fortify and renew the hope of Nigerians. Asiwaju promised and Asiwaju is delivering,” Dangiwa said.
