Kemi Adeosun |
The Minister of
Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said the Federal Government is committed to
providing affordable houses for Nigerians.
She stated this when she met with representatives from
international finance institutions at the World Bank Spring meetings holding in
the United States to take forward discussions on Nigeria’s agenda to deliver
affordable housing.
A statement on Saturday
from her Media Adviser, Mr Festus Akanbi, quoted the minister to have
said that housing delivery was one of the main economic agenda of the Federal
Government as it was key to stimulating economic activities.
She said, “Delivering affordable housing is critical to the
delivery of our reform agenda and is one of the key pillars for implementation,
which we have been discussing in Washington this week.
“Nigeria has an estimated housing deficit of 17 million
units, and with an estimated increase of 900,000 annually. Some of the reasons
for this are clear.
“Interest rates are high for both developers and home
buyers, and the tenure of debt remains too short.
“As a result, we have to find a way to accelerate the
provision of affordable homes. That is why we have established the Family Homes
Fund.”
She added, “We have
requested N100bn in the 2017 budget and for the subsequent three years as part
of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework;
this is seed funding from the government.
“But this is not solely a public sector scheme, it will be a
partnership with the private sector and we are looking to mobilise additional
resources from domestic and external sources.”
The minister said the fund would enable government to
deliver discounted mortgages for homeowners, while also enabling access to
attractive funding mechanisms for developers.
“We are piloting in six states and the results of those
pilots will guide long-term programme implementation,” she added.
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