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The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has stated that 8,925 expressions of interest for the reallocation of the houses built under the National Housing Programme have been received.
The Housing Minister, Ahmed Dangiwa, disclosed this at the sectoral ministerial press briefing to mark the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu in office in Abuja recently.
The NHP initiated under the Buhari administration’s goal in 2021 is to provide adequate and affordable housing through homeownership and rental schemes for all Nigerians in urban and rural areas.
Last year, the ministry revoked provisional letters of allocation offered to subscribers of the NHP.
According to the ministry, the earlier provisional letters of allocation were revoked because of the need to review the conditions and procedures of the sale of the houses.
It noted that the affected subscribers included beneficiaries of the programme from the first batch to the 14th batch.
However, after reviewing the conditions, the ministry called for re-application for the houses located in 34 states.
Giving an update on the issue at the press briefing, the minister said expression of Interest forms were readvertised with four windows of subscription to give room for all income segments of Nigerians.
He added that 1,294 persons expressed interest in the outright purchase, 2,408 for mortgage, 2,184 for rent-to-own and 3,039 decided on financial payment.
Dangiwa said, “Since the inception of the administration of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and the Renewed Hope Housing programme, we have taken pragmatic steps to fast-track the sale and occupation of the housing units across the country.
“We advertised expression of interest forms with four windows of subscription to give room for all income segments of Nigerians as follows: outright payment, mortgage, rent–to–own and instalment payment.
“We received a total of 8,925 expressions of interest. This comprises 1,294 for outright purchase, 2,408 for mortgage, 2,184 for rent-to-own and 3,039 for instalment payment.”
He added that the first batch of successful applicants received their provisional allocation letter in May.
“Last month, we released the first batch of offers of new provisional allocation letters for outright payment for successful applicants.”
According to the minister, the government aims to increase the availability of affordable housing units across different income segments by an additional 50,000 per year.
He added that the government initiated urban & slum upgrading programmes aimed at improving living conditions, infrastructure, and basic services in informal settlements and implemented policies that promoted inclusivity and addressed the needs of vulnerable and marginalised groups, including persons with disabilities, women, and the elderly.
“Government approved the total sum of N126.5bn from the 2023 supplementary and 2024 budget for these projects, including slum upgrade and urban renewal.
“We are committed to implementing these stated reforms and initiatives to change the landscape of the housing sector for good and deliver the renewed hope agenda for housing and urban development,”
