Mr Sonny Ayere, the Chairman, Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company(NMRC), has advised state governments to support the Federal Government housing initiative to provide affordable houses to Nigerians.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Ayere gave the advice at the Stakeholders Housing Summit on Monday in Abuja.
He said that collaboration by the states and Federal Government would ensure effective implementation of the initiative.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Federal Government has proposed to use 14 states and the FCT for the initiative.
The states are Abia, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Delta Edo, Enugu, Ekiti, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo and FCT.
He said that land was essential for the housing scheme, adding that it would be made possible through the collaboration of the state governments.
“Without land, this housing cannot come through; therefore, it is important that we have the states on board in collaboration with other stakeholders.
“ We are hoping that the state government will make lands available for construction of this houses,’’ Ayere said.
He said the programme would focus on three main areas of land and legal frame work, access to affordable housing and housing development and construction.
He called on Nigerians to ensure that they registered their property as NMRC would not refinance property without titles.
Mr Peter Adeniyi, the Chairman, Presidential Tactical Commission on Land Reform (PTCLR), said only three per cent of land in Nigeria had registered titles.
According to him, the World Bank’s assessment in 2014 rated Nigeria last out of 185 countries in terms of registration of property.
He said the PTCLR had introduced Systematic Land Titling and Registration (SLTR) to help overcome the challenge.
Adeniyi said that the housing initiative would help create jobs in the country, ensure increase in the security of titles and also resolve disputes.
He also said that SLTR would help to boost housing financing and delivery in the country.
The PTCLR boss said that with focused attention by both the states and Federal Government, every piece of land in Nigeria could be systematically registered before year 2020.
Also present at the summit were representatives from Enugu, Kogi, Abia and Ondo, among others.