Oct. 22, 2021

Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola has called on State Governments to renew their commitment to housing development in order to increase access to affordable housing to the citizenry.

Fashola made the call in his keynote address at the meeting of the States’ Commissioners responsible for housing matters during the 10th Meeting of the National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban Development Held in Lagos State.

The theme of the meeting is: “Housing Development as a Catalyst for Job
Creation, Social Inclusion and Economic Development.”

He explained that the inequality among the nations and people
can be reduced drastically if the housing need of the poor is considerably
addressed in the states.

“These are some of the reasons why I seek to persuade all of you to go
back to your States to persuade your Governors to re-commit to housing
development.

“I said re-commit, because I am aware that many states are doing something, but you will agree that there is a scope to improve and scale up.
“One reason why this will require an All of Government Action is the fact that land is a critical component of capital formation and it is controlled by the states.

“I am persuaded that appropriate, targeted and purposeful use of land, such as for the development of housing by the states and private sector, will unleash prosperity in all states that aggregates to national prosperity,”Fashola explained.

The minister gave an example of Lagos State days of Lateef Jakande and added that the present Gov. Babajide Sanwo- Olu, remained an example of what state governments could do to deepen housing supply and reap the benefits that comes with it.

Fashola stated that land and housing was a sub-national matter of jurisdictions, pointing out that what the states do to facilitate processing of land titles, documentation, Certificate of Occupancy and other Geographic Information Services (GIS) details would go a long way in facilitating easy housing delivery.

He informed the meeting that the Federal Government is undertaking a National Housing Programme in 34 states aggregating to about 5,000 housing units, and trying to complete an inherited ministerial pilot housing scheme across the states which had a little over 6,000 units.

Fashola said the decisions to recommit to housing development by state governments would facilitate the creation of variety of jobs because the services of various professionals in the built industry such as town planners, architect would be required.

”Artisans like masons, plumbers, carpenters and food vendors will not be left out of the value chain of prosperity resulting from economic development.(NAN)