FMBN, NLC Others to Inaugurate 1,071 Homes Under National Affordable Housing Scheme

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) plans to inaugurate 1,071 completed houses in eight project sites nationwide, a statement from the bank has indicated.

The housing units are part of the over 3,560 homes under phases 1 & 2 of the National Affordable Housing Delivery Programme, an FMBN collaboration with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), it said.

The statement signed by the Group Head, Corporate Communications, Timan Elayo (Mrs), said the programme aims to build and deliver decent, safe, and quality housing for Nigerian workers at a price that they can afford.

 The house types , the FMBN stated, are based on proven social housing models and comprise one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units, with prices ranging from N3.1 million to N8.3 million.

According to the bank, the commissioning exercise in the eight states, would take the team to Akure, Ondo State, Yola, Adamawa State, Katsina, Abakiliki, Ebonyi State, on Thursday, 19th January 2023, Damaturu, Yobe State, Sokoto State and Maiduguri, Borno State as well as Kogi State.

It stated that the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) of the programme, comprising NLC, TUC, and NECA, approved the commissioning exercise at its meeting at the bank’s headquarters in Abuja.

In his remarks, the FMBN Managing Director, Mr. Hamman Madu expressed delight with the completion of the first batch of the housing units, while applauding the labour centres for their cooperation and support.

“We are excited at the progress that we have made on the National Affordable Housing Delivery Programme. Indeed, it is a historic initiative as it marks the first time that FMBN and the organised labour and NECA are working together on the basis of a realistic and acceptable framework for delivering affordable housing to Nigerian workers,” Madu said.

He noted that stakeholders’ involvement and contributions to the project design makes the scheme a fit-for-purpose tool that will deliver houses that workers can afford as part of the overall national efforts toward redressing the huge housing deficit that experts now estimate to be over 22 million housing units.