According to Mr. Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Government will begin collecting treble ground rent from owners of constructed but vacant homes.
Abuja and other cities throughout the nation were reportedly home to a number of abandoned structures and estates, according to OBASANJO NEWS24.
Visiting housing complexes built by the government and its agencies on Friday in Abuja, Dangiwa made his remarks.
Gwagwalada National Housing Programme, Guzape Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Suleja (Dikko) Prototype are among the projects that fall under the Public Private Partnerships Cooperative umbrella.
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In the FCT and several federation states, Dangiwa said, the problem of finished, unoccupied homes was widespread, and a large number of inhabitants were in desperate need of housing.
The current priority is to inventory every one of those homes, after which we will speak with the owners to learn about their preferences.
The government would begin charging them triple ground rent, as opposed to the single ground rent we currently charge, if they choose to keep the houses empty.
That means they will have to sell them or put it up for rent at any price. Because there are too many finished but unoccupied homes in our area, we cannot continue to claim that there is a housing shortage.
We have given the department of lands, urban planning, and regional planning in our ministry the task of inventorying those estates and providing the names of the owners or proprietors.
He declared, “We intend to charge them triple ground rent for any estate that remains unoccupied for more than three months.”
The minister stated that all state controllers would be given the necessary authority and resources to efficiently oversee projects around the nation.
“We aim to empower state controllers in every state of the federation by providing them with the necessary tools to oversee any project within their jurisdiction. The second concern is oversight.
The lack of even trucks to transport some of the tools for supervision and other tasks was lamented by a number of state controllers we spoke with.
“So, we’ve taken notice and will make sure to give them all the resources they require and give them the authority they need to efficiently oversee our initiatives around the nation.
“On the land issue, we make it so that we only use the federal ministry’s possible lands in certain regions rather than go to the states to look for land.
“Our state controllers of housing have been tasked with ensuring that they provide us with a list of all the land they own, along with information about its status and intended use,” stated Dangiwa.
According to the minister, he was impressed with what he saw during his visitation to each area, although he did note that each has its own unique features and problems.
“At the Gwagwalada site we visited, the contractor was prepared to begin work, but the ministry was unable to secure the necessary funding. As a result, we are compelled to reevaluate the project due to its variances.
“The one in Suleja is among the run-down or abandoned projects that we wish to sell as-is; we cannot just put money on those kinds of buildings now that so many people want to purchase them, rehabilitate them, and move in.
As an example of what public-private partnerships (PPPs) are capable of, consider Guzape, where these houses were constructed through private-public partnerships rather than using public funds.
“We want to emphasise this, to make the most of what we have, and to make sure that Nigerians have access to decent, reasonably priced housing.”
Talking about BUA Cement, which declared that the price of its product will be reduced, a survey revealed that the costs had not decreased.
BUA Company’s attempt to lessen the burden on citizens was applauded by the minister.
Although their cement prices have dropped, the majority of those who sell it for more money do so on the grounds that they purchased it for more money.
We’re attempting to get in touch with BUA right now and ask them to mark the new products they’re making under a different name so we can identify which one they made more affordably.
“BUA deserves our praise, and we urge other producers to recognise that they have made a difference in the lives of the nation’s average citizen.
We must act as a government to guarantee that Nigerians receive better prices for their purchases since it is evident that the profit they are making is enormous. If someone can even lower that amount.”
According to NAN, the 764 dwellings in the Apo-Guzape Housing Project were completed under three project models: public-private partnership, direct construction financed by FHA, and direct construction on a 100 hectacre plot of land.
Some of the others are the Federal Integrated Housing Scheme, which also has 100 housing units in Gwagwalada, the National Housing Project, which has 216 total units, and the Prototype Housing Scheme, which has 232 units altogether—185 of which have been finished.
