As part of efforts to reduce the housing deficit in the country, the President Goodluck Jonathan has flagged off about 10,000 Units of various types of houses under the Nationwide Workers’ Housing Scheme in Apo Tapyi District, Abuja.
President Jonathan who flagged off the scheme on Thursday said that it is the target of his Administration to deliver about 100,000 housing units under the Nationwide Workers’ Housing Scheme in the Federal Capital Territory and the 36 States of the Federation.
The President reiterated that the initiative is part of the Transformation Agenda of his Administration to provide adequate and affordable houses to Nigerians particularly, the workers.
His words: “The Federal Government will continue to partner with the private developers to provide affordable houses to bring down the cost houses in the country”.
Dr. Jonathan lauded the efforts and the seriousness to the scheme by the developer, Good Homes Development Company Limited and urged other developers to emulate the entrepreneurial skills of Good Homes.
While appreciating the kind gesture of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress to partner with the Federal Government on this very important project of providing shelter to the workers, he urged all Nigerian workers to key into the scheme to enable the government make this houses available at the scheduled time.
The President also used the occasion to call on the Labour Unions in the country to always exploit avenues of discussion and negotiations first before embarking on any strike; stressing that strikes cause hardship to the ordinary people.
Welcoming guests to the occasion, the FCT Minister, Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed remarked that the right to shelter is an economic, social and cultural right as recognized in many national constitutions and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; noting that it is in recognition of this right that President Goodluck Jonathan Administration placed high premium on provision of housing for all in the Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government.
Mohammed stated that over the period of time, FCT has been dynamic in providing initiatives such as Accelerated Development, Affordable Housing and District Development to address prevailing housing deficit.
According to him, “the Land Swap initiative represents our strategy for leveraging private capital in the provision of infrastructure and housing with the expectation of development of 15 districts to provide houses for more than one million residents and creating 500,000 new jobs with capital inflow of about one trillion Naira in the next five years”.
On the Nationwide Workers’ Housing Scheme, the Minister revealed that the FCT Administration gave a waiver of about N28 billion on the land premium and about N550 million waiver on building plan approval.
He emphasized that his Administration gave these waivers to make the houses even more affordable to the workers who are the end beneficiaries.
Speaking at the occasion, the NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar thanked the Federal Government for this wonderful partnership, which he restated, would go a long way in alleviating the sufferings of the workers.
He appreciated the waivers by the FCT Minister and urged the developers to reflect the waivers in the prices of the houses to be delivered to the workers.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi at the occasion expressed the loyalty of the Civil Servants to the Federal Government.
The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and Supervising Minister of Labour and productivity, Mrs. Akon Etim Eyakenyi and Kabiru Tanimu Turaki SAN, respectively also spoke at the occasion.
