Fred Itua, Abuja
Local and foreign experts in the housing sector, at the weekend, concluded a housing show, where they brainstormed on how to bridge the deficit in the country, as well as in the continent.
The programme which is the 13th edition of Abuja International Housing Show, had participants from drawn from various countries within the continent, Europe, Asia and America.
Hannatu Fika, executive secretary of the Housing Loans Board, during the event, said the Federal Government cannot solve the housing problem in the country alone.
“At the public sector level, the government of the day has done a lot to enable public servant, own their own homes to serve as motivation so that they can perform better.
“Government alone cannot provide all the housing need of public servants. So, what we have tried to do in the last ten years is to partner with private developers who have the funds.
“They go into construction at low-cost level and the civil servant will come to us by identifying these private developers and then we lend money to the public servant that is the loan entitlement of the public servant to the private developer so that they can build this homes for them ranging from N3 million to N15 million,” he said.
The housing show, which was convened by Mr. Festus Adebayo, sought to proffer solutions to the housing challenges faced by citizens.
In his remarks, Adebayo urged the Federal Government to invest in the housing sector, saying citizens would be productive if they had good accommodation.
He said it is not right that the government is spending so much on health, while many of its citizens are living in slums.
“I have been hearing that the people who voted for President Buhari are not the elites, those who cannot afford houses are the ones who voted for him.
“So by creating interest in housing, you help them to own the house, that will help in a very good way. The idea of spending so much money on health where the people are living in slums is not the right way to solve the problem of housing.
“If people are provided with a decent home, level of health hazards will go down, so why spending money on health? Put decent money in housing, I can assure you that the number of going to the hospital will reduce,” he added.
