Stakeholders in the housing sector have advised federal, state and local governments to critically look into millions of abandoned or completed housing units in different locations in Abuja as well as other state capitals. Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, expressed concerns about the trend, stating that the most pressing data challenge will be addressed to accurately determine the extent of housing deficit the country has been grappling with. Dangiwa noted that this has been a source of embarrassment as well as a hindrance to effective policy-making and strategic planning, stressing that it is time to change the narrative and take coordinated action to bring clarity and credibility to the deficit and state of housing in Nigeria.
He said, “We must work to establish accurate, credible, verifiable, and scientifically accurate data on housing stock and the living conditions of the homes that citizens live in countrywide. Policies and projects shaped by data are not only effective but also accountable to the people.” The housing minister said that the federal government plans to construct 50,000 housing units across six geopolitical zones and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with cities having 1,000 units per site in one location, while estates projects will have 250 homes per site in the remaining thirty states.
He said, “These are designed as integrated living communities targeting all income brackets comprising one-bedroom blocks of flats,two-bedro.