FG Commences Sale of Houses From N7.2 Million, Unveils Online Housing Portal

The Federal Government has concluded plans to commence the sale of houses under the National Housing Programme from N7.2 million. This is as the government has unveiled the portal for the housing scheme and urged Nigerians to apply for affordable homes through the website.

The Publisher Nigeria learnt that this disclosure was made by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who during the inauguration of the portal in Abuja, pointed out that access to affordable houses had remained a challenge for the average Nigerian.

Fashola said the housing construction programme was being carried out in phases with over 5,000 houses being completed in the first and second phases across 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

What the Minister for Works and Housing is saying

Fashola said Lagos State had yet to provide the Federal Government with land, while Rivers State would join in the third phase of the project.

The Minister revealed that the houses under this programme would be sold from N7 million to N16.19 million with the payments either through mortgage or any financial system of preference.

He said, “We currently have over 5,000 units at different stages of completion. The houses range from one, two and three semi-detached bungalows and one to three-bedroom flats.

“The least selling price for each of these houses will be N7.2m and the highest will be N16.19m. The highest is a three-bedroom bungalow, it is not just the house but it also has land along with it. The bungalows are a little more expensive than the blocks of flats which do not have additional land.

“There are some slight price differences in the blocks of flats built in the riverine and swampy areas, for example, houses in Edo, Bayelsa.

t. The bungalows are a little more expensive than the blocks of flats which do not have additional land.

“There are some slight price differences in the blocks of flats built in the riverine and swampy areas, for example, houses in Edo, Bayelsa.

“This is the first time we have a platform that every Nigerian has access to. This provides an opportunity for all Nigerians to apply and ensure a fair process of allocation. We will soon start the official handover and tape cutting as the subscribers come in. We have maintenance and facilities managers in all the estates.”

The minister said that the newly introduced online portal for the housing programme is open to members of the public adding that the online forms allowed for more openness, limited human interventions, and would hold the government more accountable.

Fashola urged Nigerians to register and apply for the houses online via the ministry’s website.

What you should know

The Federal Government had in December 2020, moved to construct 300,000 housing units for low-income earners under its National Social Housing Programme (NSHP)

The NSHP is the housing component of the President Muhammadu Buhari Economic Sustainability Plan to deliver affordable housing and create millions of jobs for Nigerians in all the states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Also, the federal government had about a week ago, announced plans to launch a dedicated web portal for the sale of buildings to Nigerians in the next few weeks to help contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) access mortgage loans on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Bottomline

Nigeria has been bedevilled by a housing crisis that has left Africa’s most populous nation ill-equipped to properly provide accommodation for its citizens and inhabitants.

Some of the housing problems in the country include unresolved rent tenure arrangements, high cost of building materials, access to infrastructure, deficiency of housing finance arrangements, stringent loan conditions from mortgage banks, time to process legal documents and inadequate government housing policies.