Fashola commissions 100 housing units for LAUTECH lecturers

MINISTER for Works, Power and Housing, Mr Raji Fashola, has said that the present administration in the country will not abandon projects already started by the immediate past government of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying that change needs not be dysfunctional.

Speaking at the commissioning of 100 units of ministerial pilot housing scheme for lecturers of LAUTECH, Ogbomoso, financed by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), off Ogbomoso-Ilorin expressway at the weekend, Mr Fashola said that purpose of political power was to improve human dignity.

“I want to acknowledge that this housing estate project was started during the last administration in 2014. It’s important to do so. But I know that traditionally when administrations change, especially when political ideologies also change, people are apprehensive of what happened to uncompleted projects. People may have been worried what would happen to this estate. Gladly today, President Buhari has said that change does not have to be dysfunctional. And that there’s no politics about housing. It’s human dignity that’s most important. That’s purpose of political power.

“So, for those who ask what change means. It means change does not have to be dysfunctional and it’s all about service to people. Hundreds of families would live in this neighbourhood, and that’s change.

“Another thing that has changed is this. We have heard stories of money being hidden in all sorts of funny places. And this happened at a time of great prosperity, when the country was making lots of money. Many more of this would have been completed. Buhari administration is saying that instead of hiding your money inside garages, we would make your money work for you. And that’s change. Leadership and management in FMBN have also changed. And the evidence in many housing estates in different parts of the country bears that out. For the first time in 20 years, FMBN is returning a surplus of N2.7 billion in 2016”, he said.

The ministers, who commended the developer and the almost 1,000 artisans who built the estate, said that they had helped to build their country

He also said that more housing provision would be enabled when Nigerians that were already allocated houses pay up on their allocation, adding that it was a partnership that could make more housing possible.

Also speaking, the acting managing director of the FMBN, Mr. Richard Esin, said that the construction loan of N561.2 million was advanced by the bank to the developer to deliver the 100 housing units.

Esin, who said that the housing units comprised of 48 units of 3-bedroom semi detached bungalows, 40 units of 2-bedroon semi detached bungalows, added that it included 12 units of 1-bedroom terrace bungalows.

He said that Nigerian workers, on the basis of their contribution to the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme became eligible for mortgage loans at a concessionary interest rate of 6 per cent per annum and repayable over a maximum period of 30 years.

He said that the FMBN had invested a total sum of N2.303 billion to finance construction of 624 housing units in Oyo state, adding that the bank had also funded 527 housing project units through different developers in Ibadan.