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Tag: FHA

  • ICPC endorses FHA’s anti-corruption procedure

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) has endorsed the measures introduced by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to simplify its procedures meant to block leakages and eliminate corruption in its operations.

    Such measures include the establishment of a Central Land and Property Registry (CLPR), which is being upgraded to the FHA Geographic Information System (FHAGIS); creation of a project monitoring and evaluation unit, and the establishment of a one- stop shop for most of the procedures for approvals.

    The introduction of the FHAGIS appears to be well timed given that the anti-corruption commission is planning to conduct a housing audit soon. The FHAGIS, it is believed, would provide good platform to leverage on the numerous opportunities it provides.

    According to a document made available to The Nation Property, the Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, who gave the nod while receiving the FHA’s team led by its Managing Director, Prof Mohammed Al-Amin in his office, expressed delight that the FHA had become a model agency in the anti-corruption war rather than just remain like many agencies which talk about corruption but would not take steps against it. He, therefore, praised the authority for having the courage to take the necessary steps forward.

    While assuring the authority that the commission would, as soon as it receives the details of the measures, publish them on its website to demonstrate to the world that the organisation had become a leading light in the fight against corruption, Nta said he could see the total change concept playing out in the authority and praised Al-Amin for establishing the CLPR which he said would address the problems of loss or missing files and double allocations.

    The Chairman said when his commission was faced with similar problems and anomalies in the management of case files, it introduced a central registry and digitalised all files from 2001 to date.

    This process, Nta noted, may be the solution to complaints of some members of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), Germany Chapter, who had complained to the ICPC of being defrauded by Nigerians at home, particularly on housing matters.

    “Those Nigerians abroad made a passionate appeal for the assistance of the ICPC to help them curb the endemic corruption in housing matters in the country,” he explained, while assuring that with the steps already taken by FHA to clean up its system, he would link the Authority with NIDO so that its members could begin to transact all their housing business through the FHA Mortgage Bank.

    Earlier in his address, Al-Amin noted that the monetisation policy adopted by the government created challenges for new staff and those whose status improved as a result of promotion now lack befitting accommodation.

    He said the FHA had designed a housing delivery model which would encourage staff, especially those in the security and law enforcement agencies to acquire land in their preferred location while the authority would assist them in developing it.

    In doing that, the FHA boss said the authority would use its special relationship with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigerian to help those concerned secure their contributions to the National Housing Fund (s) to finance such development.

  • FHA, FMBN partner for better housing delivery

    FHA, FMBN partner for better housing delivery

    The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) are to work together to boost housing delivery.

    Following a meeting in Abuja, they agreed to explore the possibility of using the National Housing Fund (NHF) being administered by FMBN to create mortgage for subscribers to FHA houses in the country’s six geopolitical zones.

    FHA Managing Director Prof Mohammed Al-Amin and FMBN Acting Managing Director Mr Richard Esin met in Abuja last month  at the instance of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

    A statement issued at the end of the meeting, said FHA and FMBN acknowledged that as major players in the housing equation,  they have roles to play in driving the new initiative. The agencies said it was imperative for them to build sustained synergy and collaboration in playing their roles under the new national housing progamme.

    Al-Amin spoke of regulatory challenges, promising that stakeholders would make efforts to overcome them. An enabling environment is to be created to encourage foreign investors to participate in the development of new towns around the country. A joint committee of FHA and FMBN officials will drive the process.

    The committee will also consider the viability of the Northeast Intervention Housing Programme proposed by FHA and forward its recommendations to Al-Amin and Esin respectively.

    Also included in the committee’s task is the exploration of areas for further assistance by FMBN to FHA Mortgage Bank Limited- a subsidiary of FHA, to enable it participate in the integrated housing scheme.

    Both Al-Amin and Esin commended President Muhammadu Buhari for initiating the one million housing units per year programme. They expressed optimism that the programme, if diligently implemented, would facilitate the recovery of the economy, frontally tackle the nation’s housing deficit, create employment for the youths and improve the economic well-being of the people.

    For stakeholders in the industry, the collaboration of the two agencies saddled with housing provision is a welcome development. This is because for several years, the expected synergy has not existed between both organisations, which according to observers, is partly responsible for the huge gap in the nation’s housing requirement.

    The two chief executives decided that their meetings would hold regularly “in order to strengthen their collaboration towards improved housing delivery in the country”, the statement read.

    To strengthen this development, the FMBN will also collaborate with the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Corporation (NMRC) towards strengthening the secondary mortgage market of the industry. This is part of the refocusing of the apex mortgage banker’s business model aimed at addressing the lower end of the income ladder, which aims at the mass market for housing delivery.

    Esin, while welcoming the NMRC Chief Executive, Professor Charles Inyangete, to his office, said the aim would be achieved by taking advantage of the concessionary (below-market) mortgage loan terms under the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme being managed by the Bank.

    Inyangete observed that while both firms serve different market segments, the challenges faced are common to the Nigerian Housing/Mortgage sector. This, he noted, requires both institutions adopting a collaborative and complementary approach to addressing such issues. He, therefore, expressed hope of more positive interaction and the need for synergy between the institutions, which are set up to address various income segments of the Nigerian mortgage market.

    Areas for a common synergy identified by both parties include the review of land and property registry practices for time and cost-effectiveness; the enactment of a foreclosure law to mitigate mortgage lending risks; the introduction of industry-wide uniform underwriting standards and the development of a data collection system for the Nigerian mortgage market. A committee is to be set up to further explore and deepen the new relationship in line with the identified areas of collaboration.

  • FHA’s Social Housing Scheme to transform sector’s deficit

    FHA’s Social Housing Scheme to transform sector’s deficit

    • 800 Co-operative Societies embrace scheme

    As the housing shortage in the country persists, and home ownership becoming more difficult especially with the high cost of construction, more Nigerians are now keying into home ownership through the mortgage system. And to make the process easier, especially for people in the informal sector or those not captured under the National Housing Fund (NHF), Nigerians are now taking advantage of the window of opportunity now made possible by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), through its Social and Co-operative housing programme. This scheme allows the informal sector, especially artisans and traders, to form themselves into cooperative societies, through which they can apply for mortgage financing or support from the authority. Through this scheme, financially weak members of cooperative societies could latch on to the strength of the group to make real their home ownership dreams.

    As at the end of last week, about 800 Co-operative societies nationwide, with no fewer than 50,000 members, have indicated interest in the Social and Co-operative housing programme of the FHA, says the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Authority, Professor Mohammed Al-Amin. Many of the cooperative societies, he disclosed, approached the FHA on their own prompting having heard of the social and cooperative housing scheme of the authority, adding that the authority is deliberately cultivating cooperatives in various parts of the country so as to strengthen them to tap into the programme.

    Al-Amin said the authority was focusing on housing delivery for the most vulnerable groups in the society comprising the no-income, low-income and middle low-income earners. To that end, he said the authority had developed special packages for collaboration with non-governmental, faith-based and community-based organisations.The FHA is also working with research institutes for the development of local materials for the construction of houses to make building construction cheaper.

    The FHA boss also hinted that the authority was initiating a savers scheme which would enable workers in the formal and non-formal sectors of the economy own their houses. Also, he said the FHA was working with state governments towards the implementation of a rent-to-own housing scheme which would convert rents paid by tenants for the eventual ownership of such houses. Al-Amin said the preference of many Nigerians for bogus housing designs was one of the major impediments to home ownership, adding that the authority would embark on a campaign to get people to moderate such tastes. He identified lack of housing finance for off-takers, poor conceptualisation and haphazard land acquisition processes as the major causes of the collapse of the National Housing Programmes of the former President Sheu Shagari and the late General Sani Abacha administrations. The FHA, Al-Amin explained, is conscious of these problems, and mobilising all stakeholders to ensure the success of its housing programmes.

    Al-Amin, who was part of the Management Team of the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (FMLHUD) that briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of affairs in the housing sector, said the President was passionate about the delivery of affordable mass housing for Nigerians and the rehabilitation of houses destroyed in the on-going insurgency in the North East.

    The President’s interest, he explained, made him request for a viable road map for the implementation of Social Housing for the masses, adding that Buhari was emphatic that an efficient and effective social housing would, among others, make Nigerians benefit from governance.

  • FHA’s Lugbe Estate to benefit from Abuja expansion

    FHA’s Lugbe Estate to benefit from Abuja expansion

    The Assistant General Manager, Town Planning, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Hajiya Aminat Salawu, has said the Authority would benefit from the plan of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to expand the Abuja City near the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport.

    The plan, the owners said, would integrate Lugbe and its surrounding communities into the Phase Five of the Federal Capital city, near the FHA Estate, Lugbe, thereby making it a major beneficiary.

    “When the plan is implemented, Lugbe Estate will be better structured. It will have better facilities. Lugbe Estate will go through urban renewal and upgrading. It will become more viable, and as the plan unfolds, it would further translate to improved lives for residents of the FHA’s  sprawling estate laid out on over 385-hectare in the area,” Salawu explained.

    The proposed district centre for Phase Five is in the estate as well as an oriented road and a major collector road.

    But the development would not be without pains as it would lead to major physical, social and economic dislocations for residents. Salawu said her unit was super-imposing the structural plan of the new phase on FHA Estate’s layout and its satellite image. This steps, she further reiterated, were aimed at helping the authority to determine the number of its houses and plots that would fall on the right of the way of the facilities.

    According to her, 500 of such housing units and plots of land had been identified, whose owners would have to be relocated.

    While the FHA would provide a social safety net for those to be affected by the new land, the FCTA will bear the cost of relocation.

    The FCTA is conducting a census of the development in the affected area to effect the required adjustment to the structural plan for the new Phase Five.

  • Contempt: Court hears FHA Home MD’s suit tomorrow

    Contempt: Court hears FHA Home MD’s suit tomorrow

    The National Industrial Court of Nigeria will tomorrow hear a contempt application by Managing Director of FHA Homes Limited Mr Roland Igbinoba against the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin.

    The plaintiff, who is challenging his suspension, initiated contempt proceedings against Al-Amin and Haytuddeen Atiku Awwal (appointed to act in Igbinobia’s place) for their refusal to obey a June 19 court order directing his reinstatement.

    Justice Maureen Ewose had granted an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents, including FHA, FHA Homes and Prof Al-Amin, their directors or agents from implementing a June 2 letter by Al-Amin purportedly suspending Igbinoba.

    The court made an order directing the respondents to reverse all the steps taken by them based on the letter, and to restore the control and powers vested in Igbinoba as Managing Director pending the hearing and determination of his Motion on Notice.

    “Both parties in this matter are hereby ordered to maintain the status quo ante bellum until the Motion on Notice is heard and determined,” the judge held.

    The orders were made following an affidavit of urgency filed on Igbinoba’s behalf by his lawyer Mr Chukwun-weike Okafor.

    Igbinoba, in the contempt proceedings, stated that despite being served with the interim order, Al-Amin has refused to reverse the suspension, while Awwal has yet to vacate his Acting MD position.

    In the application for an order of committal dated June 30, Igbinoba is praying the court to commit both Al-Amin and Awwal to prison for disobeying the court order.

    The application is on the ground that Al-Amin had in various paid advertorials and interviews “acknowledged being aware of the court order of June 19, 2015.

    “The said Haytudeed Awal Atiku refused to vacate the position of the Managing Director wherein he said the third respondent (Al-Amin) has informed him not to vacate the said position.”

    The plaintiff is, therefore, seeking “an order of committal to prison custody of the third respondent for disobeying the order.

    In the second prayer, the applicant asked for “an order of committal to prison custody of Haytuddeen Awal Atiku (Acting Managing Director, FHA Homes Ltd)” for also disobeying the order.

    Igbinoba, in his originating processes, accused the Board of Directors headed by Al-Amin of not giving him an opportunity to defend himself against allegations against him before he was purportedly suspended.

    He was summoned to an emergency board meeting of the FHA Homes Ltd at the instance of Al-Amin where he was given the letter containing what he called unsubstantiated and frivolous allegations.

    He, therefore, asked the court to order his reinstatement and declare his suspension as illegal, null, void and of no effect.

    Igbinoba, a mortgage banking professional, had been head-hunted from his Lagos base to turn around the fortunes of the mortgage finance arm of the FHA in 2013.

    Al-Amin, who doubles as Chairman of the Board of FHA Mortgage Bank, directed Igbinoba to proceed on suspension so that allegations against him could be investigated.

    The decision to suspend him was said to have been taken on June 2 following a board consideration of an Interim Report of the Committee to reconcile the Authority’s Financial/Property Standing with FHA Mortgage Bank.

    Problems were said to have become apparent in January when Igbinoba reportedly handed over to the most senior Deputy Manager while proceeding on his annual leave. Al-amin was said to have reversed the action and replaced the Acting MD with another Deputy Manager, Awwal.

    On resumption, Igbinoba would not honour some of the transactions initiated by the acting MD and approved by Al-Amin, insisting they did not follow due process.

    Igbinoba, who was appointed on July 19, 2013, said due to the reforms he implemented, unaudited results for 2014 showed a profit before tax of N226 million, which he said was the first time in over a decade of the bank’s existence that it would make profit for two consecutive years.

    He said having brought the bank to some level of profitability and stability in the last two years, his suspension came as a surprise.

    On the in-house Committee Report by FHA, Igbinoba said he saw it for the first time during the emergency meeting. “If I had the opportunity of seeing the report before the emergency board meeting, I would have come with documentary evidence to refute the allegations levelled against me.

    “As it appeared I was already judged by the report as I did not get a chance of fair hearing or even defend myself. However, I have made efforts to provide some documentation to correct the misrepresentations in the report based on the available documentation I have at this time,” he said.

    On CBN’s Supervisory Report, Igbinoba said there were several anomalies in it, even as his management team was working on the relevant recommendations.

    “Some of the anomalies in the CBN report are that profit for 2013 is N27.09m whereas the same CBN approved audited report for the bank at N147m for the same year,” he said.

    On allegation of granting loans without board approvals, Igbinoba said: “We have not granted any loans without Board approval other than the loans that are within the approval limit of the Management Credit Committee.”

    On his alleged failure to open an Escrow account to warehouse the proceeds of sales of recapitalised assets of the bank, he said they are ongoing and are warehoused in several accounts, all of which are accounted for as shown in the audited report for 2013 and unaudited report for 2014.

    On allegation that he granted mortgage and personal loans to himself without disclosure and board approval, Igbinoba said he had never singlehandedly signed off on any loan in-spite of his approved limit.

    On employment of staff without recourse to the Board of Directors for approval, he said: “At no point have we employed new staff without the approval of the board. At present I do not have the details of the staff member(s) that falls under this category as claimed by the chairman.

    On his alleged failure to comply with the directives of the Board of Directors on the unilateral deployment of the Acting Heads of Finance and Operations, he said the redeployments were meant to address capacity issues, adding that the board committee resolved that it was justified.

    On his “failure” to comply with the directive of the supervisory ministry on the recall of former staff, he said: “Upon receipt of the letter from the Ministry, we respectfully sought for some clarifications and pleaded for their response. As at date we are awaiting the response from the ministry.”

    “I wish to state that the presentation of the FHA Interim Report of the Committee to Reconcile the Authority’s Financial /Property Standing with FHA Mortgage Bank at the last emergency meeting, and the decline to my request for time to present a written response with full documentation clearly indicates that I was not given a fair hearing before the decision to suspend me from office was taken at that meeting. Furthermore, I was confronted with the said report for the first time the day I was suspended.

    “Despite my several letters and reminder to the Permanent Secretary on these issues nothing has been done by the Ministry,” he said.

    Igbinoba accused Al-Amin of playing the role of chairman and CEO at the bank and interfering with its hierarchical structure bypassing the next most senior confirmed staff Mr. Zabura Usman and handing over to Awwal.

    The plaintiff said Awwal allegedly originated the N14.7 million Gwarimpa Branch renovation, with Al- Amin’s approval, without the Board or Board Finance and General Purpose Committee’s input.

    He added that Al-Amin reversed the redeployment of the Acting Head of Finance, which is strictly a management function, even though the Board Establishment Committee had backed the redeployment.

    Besides, Igbinoba said Al-Amin unilaterally replaced him as the representative of the Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) with Awwal.

    “Finally, it is important to state that the core reason for the victimisation and harassment from Prof Al- Amin is premised on his unilateral approval in my absence to renovate the bank’s Gwarimpa Branch with the sum of N14.7 million with a contractor.

    “The approval did not follow due process and was not considered either at the Board’s Finance & General Purpose Committee or at the Board level. I could not implement the award because of this reason.

    “He waited for the immediate past Hon. Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Akon  Eyakenyi to leave office before he perpetuated the illegal suspension.

    “On hearing of fraudulent contract approval and usurping of management functions in the bank, the Hon. Minister had clearly told Prof. Al-Amin to stop interfering with the reforms program that Mr. Igbinoba has been carrying out with huge success for the last two financial years of the bank.

    “But once the minister left on the  May 29, Prof Al-Amin called for the emergency meeting to illegally suspend me,” the plaintiff added.

  • Strengthen FHA for housing delivery, say stakeholders

    Strengthen FHA for housing delivery, say stakeholders

    The Federal Government has been urged to strengthen the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to enable it deliver on low-cost housing.

    Arising from a FHA management retreat, stakeholders urged the government to transform the authority into a regulatory agency so as to have better control of the housing sector.

    In a communique issued after the retreat held at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Conference Centre in Abuja, the participants said the envisaged transformation would enable the FHA make the desired impact as government’s foremost housing agency.

    They further advised that the proposed private sector driven Federal Housing Corporation, which the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) reform document recommended as a successor to FHA, should inherit the commercial housing component of the Authority’s mandate.

    In the communiqué, the participants drawn from the Authority’s Technical Board, Interim Management Team and other critical stakeholders, recommended that the reform document be realigned to meet with the current realities in the country.

    The three-page communiqué enjoined the government to provide adequate financial power for the FHA to enable it deliver on its responsibilities as enunciated in the social housing components of the reform package.

    The communiqué decried the 18-month tenure given to the Interim Management Team and advised that the current interim structure be upgraded to a full tenure of four years to enable the management pursue the reform process to its logical conclusion.

    Noting that the government was not mulling the FHA privatisation, the participants said the restructuring and commercialisation of the agency deserved the support of all.

    Stressing that the reform of the FHA for effective housing delivery was an imperative action, it called attention to the misalignment between population growth and the nation’s urban development and called for the prioritisation of the provision of social/affordable housing in the country.

    FHA’s Managing Director, Professor Mohammed Al-Amin, in an exclusive chat with The Nation, said the Authority’s desire to go into social housing for which a special task team comprising professionals and experts have been set up to study the partnership system and come up with a template for social housing.

    “Social housing involves houses for low income earners; houses that are very much affordable of which a lot of Nigerians belong,” he said, adding that the partnership system that  was in place before his appointment focused more on the commercial system.

    Al-Amin, however, admitted that government cannot go into social housing alone, hence, the need for partnership. But having such partnerships, he reckoned, the FHA has to  come up with new realities, which requires that other private sector social housing driven companies be invited.

    “We can partner several government organisations, unions, trade unions, trade organisations and others in this area. This will then enable us to fashion out a way of bringing down whatever the interest rate is to a single digit and  negotiate with the government at all levels to come into the provision of infrastructure in housing because most of the cost or the high percentage of the cost that translates into the final market cost of a house is being risen by the cost of infrastructure being built into it,” Al-Amin said.

    He assured that social housing would be embedded in the reform going on in the sector, saying that what the Authority is looking for is to provide shelter for Nigerians at low cost.

    Other participants at the retreat included Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr. Benjamin Dikki; members of the FHA’s Technical Board and the Interim Management Team; the National President, Senior Staff Association of Corporations, Transport, and Communications (SSACTAC) and representatives of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUCPTRE).

  • FHA set to transform FESTAC, Gwarimpa, others

    The FESTAC housing scheme in Lagos which was built in 1977, and the Gwarimpa Estate, Abuja, are to be rehabilitated under the Federal Government’s urban renewal initiative.

    Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Managing Director Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin said under the initiative, projects to  be worked on have been prioritised, based on the estate’s age. FESTAC, he said, is among the first generation of estates that deserve FHA’s attention.

    He said many issues would be resolved before the project starts, adding that for instance, there were issues of non- payment of statutory fees, allocations and multiple uses in lands restricted for extension.

    Al-Amin said a four-prong approach has been adopted for Gwarimpa Estate, pointing out that this is because there are four native settlements/villages that are still part of Gwarimpa. Hence, negotiations are on going, trying to convince the locals to accept relocation to another place temporarily, while the government tries to remove their shanties, construct high rise buildings, and then allocate a certain unit of those blocks to them.

    “This is a new system of urban regeneration, where you integrate the original inhabitants of urban communities.We are starting it for the first time in Nigeria. The so called neighbourhood centres that we have both in FESTAC and in Gwarimpa are going to be transformed to not only market type of barrack stalls and shops, but into modern mini-malls where you can get in there, buy almost all you want and then come out within a beautiful parking lot with all the security or facilities that you have that is what we are planning and that is what is coming to FESTAC,” Al-Amin explained.

    He said just as modern estate around the world have fantastic facilities, utilities and services, which he said, are absent in FESTAC estate as well as in other estates in the country, the FHA is determined to create a very large area of its estate and erect solar farm, which he reckons will take the estates off the national electricity crisis, and making electric power available for the occupants of the estates 24 hours.

    Other services to be improved on include the fire service, the landline telephones for houses and excellent security system with CCTV cameras, a dedicated line for water system. These are to start with Gwarimpa scheme, and then taken to FESTAC.

    Also, the landscaping issue, for instance, in Gwarimpa, will see the environment benefitting from a planned planting of seven million trees in the area this year alone. This, according to the FHA boss, is in line with the thinking of bringing Gwarimpa to a standard of the neighbourhood that is known as Surrey in England, where most of the rich live. “Most of the millionaires don’t stay in London really, they migrate to Surrey because of the fantastic things that are there. This is exactly what is going to happen in Gwarimpa and FESTAC and not only in these two places, but across the country,” Al-Amin added.

    But the regeneration of an estate as huge as FESTAC or Gwarimpa involves huge capital. This is a source of worry for stakeholders who said the government alone cannot muscle the financial requirement for this initiative.

    The FHA boss explained that the financing of the scheme would not be handled by an entity, and that FHA as facilitators for this urban renewal programme, has its own budgets, just as the private developers that are participating in the project also have a certain amount of money that they have injected.

    Besides, the residents will have to bear certain costs, which are normally the commitment that they are owing the authority. “If you have spent 10 years without paying, we will ask you to pay just for five years and then we will wave the rest. If you have altered the structures that we have provided, you will need to pay us planning fees. We are going to subsidise it, but ensure within certain period that fee is paid. If there are some other contraventions that attract penalties we will encourage you to pay,” he said.

    On FESTAC, Al-Amin said some issues were being sorted out; work on the FESTAC Phase II development had been okayed by the Federal Government under a new model by conceding a certain part of the area to private developers to provide services, come up with a fantastic designs and allocate the lands to people under strict supervision.

    This area will be competing with Dubai up to Geneva, or even Los Angeles in terms of structures, when completed, Al-Amin added.

  • FHA to assist FRSC on housing scheme

    The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) is to assist the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in the implementation of its “One-Man-One House” policy for its staff.

    This is the outcome of a meeting between the Acting Managing Director of the FHA, David Kpue and his FRSC counterpart, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, in Abuja.

    Kpue, while on a visit to the FRSC headquarters, said the FHA was open to exploring ways of partnering with the Corps towards providing affordable housing for its staff. He said that the FHA had developed a Public-Public Partnership housing delivery model to assist ministries, departments and agencies of government to execute their staff housing programmes.

    The FHA helmsman said the Authority had noticed with concern that many MDA’s, without the requisite skills and competence, were dissipating their time, energy and resources on the execution of housing projects which he said had become an avoidable distraction to them. According to Kpue, the FHA had over the past three decades perfected its machinery for cost effective housing delivery and was willing to make it available to other government establishments.

    Apart from housing schemes which could be designed to meet the peculiar needs of FRSC staff, he said the Authority had completed housing estates in Lagos, Calabar, Yenagoa, Kaduna, Makurdi, Awka and Gombe from which the FRSC could acquire houses for its staff.

    The Corps Marshal, Mr. Oyeyemi said the FRSC’s vision was for every member of staff to have his own house before retirement in order to keep them focused on their primary duties. He said the visit by the FHA chief executive was timely as the Corps would in 2015 embark on an aggressive property acquisition drive to reduce the heavy burden of rent on its budget. Oyeyemi said the Corps would be happy to acquire property in FHA housing estates nationwide for its personnel.

  • FHA targets 25,000 housing units in Abuja

    The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) will soon start work on the New Town project in Bwari, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to provide cheap housing for workers, its Managing Director, Mr Gerver Cremade, has said.

    Speaking in Abuja during an inspection of the site with members of his management, Gemade promised that houses in the new town would be affordable. It will least at least 25,000 units.

    Gemade said experience in the past few years underscored the urgency to relieve the city centre of pressure on its facilities and infrastructure.

    Already, enumeration of properties has started and compensation would be paid to those to be affected by the development for work to start on schedule. The project, which would consist mainly of one, two, three and four-bedroom apartments in high-rise structure, is aimed at saving cost on infrastructure and the serviced land, and would be delivered through direct construction and public-private partnership (PPP); it would be serviced on completion, by its own independent power and water treatment plants.

    The FHA boss said the authority’s new focus on the construction of housing for low and medium income earners, looks beyond the pursuit of profit, but a commitment to contributing its quota to the realisation of the housing and job creation components of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda.

    Gemade said the FHA had acquired land in 17 states for housing estates and that consultations were on with the Lagos State government on the titling of FHA’s land holdings in the state.

    According to him, the emphasis on housing for low and medium income earners is informed by the need to cater for the vulnerable segment of the population and to assist the government in combating crime, disease, unemployment and other economic problems facing the people.

    He said FHA had been a major player in the effort to deliver to the natio a modern capital city and that it had delivered no fewer than 15, 000 housing units in the FCT. He disclosed that work was progressing satisfactorily at the Authority’s new site at Apo in the Gudu District of Abuja, where about 1,300 housing units are expected to be delivered through direct construction by the FHA and in partnership with private sector operators. The FHA chief executive said the Authority had plans to open more of such new towns in Kwali, Kuje and other satellite towns of Abuja.

  • FHA woos Lagos on Festac Town

    The Managing Director, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Trever Gemade,has appealed to the Lagos State government to support the development of FESTAC Town Phase II.

    At a meeting with officials of the state government, Gemade said the yet-to-be developed 1,100 hectares of land in FESTAC Town Phase II, has been concessioned to a developer who would sand- fill it and provide infrastructure, such as roads, water and electricity, cell box culverts for linking roads, drainage and sewage as well as waste water disposal.

    He said the concessionaire would also deliver housing units through condominiums for the benefits of all Nigerians in general, and Lagosians in particular.

    He said earlier stakeholders, including the FHA, Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, the concessionaire and the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, held a meeting in Abuja on the project.

    The FHA helmsman noted that the Lagos State government had earlier issued a caveat when newspaper advertisements were placed in 2012 for the concession and that the FHA considered it necessary to liaise with the government to execute the project.

    The FHA, he said, was eager to work with Lagos as it had done with other states, urging the state government to appoint someone who would work with the stakeholders for the realisation of the project.

    The Solicitor-General/ Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Lawal Pedro, assured that the state would not object to the development as long as it complied with its laws and regional master plan, stressing that the government was determined to enforce its town and regional planning laws.

    He urged the FHA to familiarise itself with and ensure compliance with them in the development of the state.