Photograph — www.thesheet.ng

The Nigerian Government on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of 100,000 housing units across the country. The MoU was signed with Shelter Afrique and the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN).

Nigeria has a housing deficit- between 17 to 20 million units, therefore this latest scheme is a significant step towards providing affordable housing for Nigerians.

The Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria in Abuja, Mr Richard Esin, who represented the government at the MoU signing ceremony stated that the Nigerian housing market did not require anything less than $200m annually over the next 10 years to build a considerable number of houses.

About 10,000 housing units are set to be constructed yearly for the next ten years at a cost of $200 billion annually, amounting to a total of $2 billion (610 billion naira). Mr Esin added that the housing scheme is expected to create 100,000 jobs across the country.

Shelter Afrique is a pan-African finance institution established exclusively to support the development of the African real estate and housing sector. The institution has spent over N22.51bn on housing initiatives in Nigeria.

Speaking on the quality of the houses, the Managing Director of Shelter Afrique, Mr James Mugerwa said, “we (Shelter Afrique) will commit and dedicate all the expertise to ensure that good quality houses are delivered, and these will be houses that are energy efficient, environmentally friendly and comfortable. Nigeria is our biggest sovereign shareholder and this collaboration is the beginning of many other opportunities.”

The President, REDAN, Mr Ugochukwu Chime said the signing of the MoU was a milestone in housing delivery and praised the Minister of Power, Works and Housing for the success of the agreement.

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