The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo said during the Nigerian Economic Summit that the government is creating a financial intervention fund to provide social housing in Nigeria. The fund named Family Homes Fund is expected to provide N1 trillion for the housing sector to reduce the housing deficit in the country. The government is seeking funds from local and international private investors.

Nigerians are however not moved by the federal government’s announcement. President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 had promised that he was going to create an additional middle class of at least four million new homeowners by 2019 by enacting a national mortgage single-digit interest rates for purchase of owner-occupier houses as well as reviewing the collateral qualification to make funding for home ownership easier, with 15 to 30 year mortgage terms. In July, Nigeria raised its Monetary Policy rate from 12 percent to 14 percent. The commercial banks complain that they can’t give loans at a lower rate than what the government is currently lending them. The Central Bank of Nigeria auctioned 1 year Treasury Bills at 18.25 percent in September; the government lending at this rate makes commercial banks averse to giving customers loans below this rate.

Nigeria currently has a housing deficit of between 17-20 million. Many Nigerians are living in congested apartments with several family members. Thousands have lost their jobs, commodities prices and transport costs have increased. Millions of Nigerian youths are currently unemployed. The cost of borrowing is extremely unfavourable and high and the average Nigerian can’t even afford to take loans from the banks.

Mr Osinbajo said the Federal Government’s plan is to create a social housing programme where Nigerians who can afford to contribute N30,000 a month would own their own houses. He added that the housing scheme is one of the projects of the jobs creation unit of the VP’s office which is aimed at creating employment opportunities for young Nigerians. The Vice President explained that the fund would help government intervene in mortgage financing for developers to build social houses according to the government specification for low-income earners in the country.

On Friday, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola represented by Abiodun Oki, his Special Adviser, said that the Federal Government was liaising with state governments to obtain lands from states to build affordable houses in all the states of the federation. The minister said 24 state governments have already given lands to the government.

Here’s how some Nigerians reacted on social media to these new promises made by the government:

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