Nigeria’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, has directed the Federal Controllers of Housing across the states of the federation to provide monthly updates and statistics of projects in their respective states to the ministry.
The Minister gave this directive during his maiden meeting with the Federal Controllers of Housing from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.
“As our ambassadors, you are to effectively liaise with the state government and provide updates to the ministry. We intend to run a ministry driven by data and so you are expected to go beyond the routine inspection of projects,” Dangiwa said
The Minister also charged the Controllers to be more alive to their responsibilities as the representatives of the Ministry and the Presidency.
He explained that as ambassadors of the Ministry at the various states, the Controllers are there to protect the interest of the Ministry, liaise with state governments and officials on matters relating to housing and urban development, provide up-to-date reports on activities in the state as they affect the programmes of the Ministry, in addition to serving as Chief Implementation Officers for the various projects of the Ministry across the states, among others.
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He noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s planned changes in the housing sector has been exhibited through the demerger of the former Ministry of Works and Housing, and the creation of a full-fledged Ministry to pursue the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda for the housing and urban sector.
“Let me, at this point, remind you that our mandate as a Ministry is the provision of decent, quality, and affordable homes for all Nigerians, as well as the creation of livable cities equipped with all facilities that makes life comfortable,” he stated.
Dangiwa listed some key performance targets expected from the controllers, some of which are: the need for a land bank that would contain relevant information such as the land’s location, hectarage, status, physical state, and recommendation of what it should be used for to support effective planning, and taking responsibility in the sale of completed housing units in partnership with state governments and organised labour using creative approaches like radio jingles, fliers among others.
He also listed the mandate of leveraging on a facility management structure to maintain the integrity, livability, and quality of the estates; Involvement in the planning process and site selection of the National Housing Programme, as well as ensuring cost-effective, affordable, and organic designs.
The Minister also demanded written reports on the National Housing Projects in each state to be submitted to the headquarters monthly, with clear recommendations and evaluation of developers’ capacities.
“Pre-handover exercises should be carried out for completed estates, involving the relevant Directorates at the Ministry’s head office, so that handed-over projects can be easily identified and monitored. The Directorate will ensure that the level of completion and any outstanding works can be reported accordingly. At hand-over of completed projects, the contractor must hand over their security guards to the ministry to watch alongside officials of the NSCDC for post-construction security management of the site,” he further explained.
On the part of the Ministry, Dangiwa informed that the Ministry has set out ambitious and achievable targets which includes: the provision of 5.5 million housing units for 10 years, using existing instruments of the Ministry as well as leveraging collaborations and Public-Private Partnership arrangements; and also Renewed Hope Cities project, to begin with a first phase of 40,000 units across the federation and the FCT, to bridge the housing gap.
He further revealed plans to carry out Slum Upgrading and Urban Renewal projects in select states to improve the welfare of Nigerian citizens.
