A total of 19 states have complied with the request by the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing for states to provide land to enable the ministry build houses that would reduce the deficits in the sector.
Anambra, Enugu and Abia states from the south-east and Akwa Ibom from the south-south and the four states in south-west made up the eight states from the Southern part of Nigeria that provided the land.
The report revealed that 11 states from the north also responded to the request on land allocation for the federal government’s mass housing project.
Presenting details of the housing programme to the National Assembly, the chairman, Technical Committee on Housing in the ministry, Architect Sani Gidado, said the ministry was “technically” ready for the implementation of the programme in the 36 states and the FCT in line with the Appropriation Act.
He noted that under the 2016 appropriation, the ministry allocated N35.6 billion for the National Housing Programme, adding that extensive planning and widespread consultations had been concluded.
Gidado disclosed that the 11 northern states that responded to the request from the ministry include Jigawa, Kwara, Kogi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Adamawa, Yobe, Benue, Bauchi and Plateau.
Meanwhile, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said that the present budgetary allocation will not solve the housing deficiency.
Recently the Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano told the press that the state government flagged off the Umueri Airport City Project using a vast area of land. According to the governor, the land has a model that will accommodate an airport with two runways, an aviation fuel dump, an airport hotel, an industrial business park, an international convention centre as well as a facility for aircraft maintenance.
“The project is estimated to cost over $2 billion. It is a partnership between the Government of Anambra State, Orient Petroleum Resources Limited and Elite International Investments Limited (Sinoking Enterprises Limited)-Chinese investors.
Under the contractual agreement, Elite International Investments Limited will provide all the funds needed for the project under the Build-Operate-Manage-and-Transfer arrangement.However under the same SPV arrangement, the Anambra Airport City Infrastructure Limited has allocated 75 per cent equity stake to Elite International Investments Limited, 20 per cent to Orient Petroleum Resources Limited and 5 per cent to the Government of Anambra State. The host communities are entitled to 3 per cent of the profit from this project in perpetuity as a part of the standard corporate social responsibility.