By PERPETUA ONUEGBU

The Federal Government on Tuesday inaugurated four Reform Task Teams to fast track the realisation of the presidential deliverables for the housing sector in the country.

Inaugurating the committees, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, said the aim was to unlock the massive potential of the sector for catalysing inclusive economic growth.

Dangiwa listed the committees to include Housing Institutions Reform Task Team; Multi-Agency Project Delivery Team, Land Reform Task Team and Building Materials Manufacturing Hubs Task Team

He tasked the committeees to work diligently and deliver their recommendations within eight weeks.

“This means undertaking comprehensive housing sector reforms that will ensure that systemic and prevalent issues that have caused under development are fixed, all legal impediments are removed.

“The institutional framework of housing agencies necessary to ensure that they deliver optimally on their mandates, to deliver decent and affordable housing to Nigerians are reviewed and upgraded.

“Mr President has demonstrated a strong political will and an unmatched boldness to take steps toward breaking the jinx of underdevelopment in Nigeria in line with his Renewed Hope Agenda,” he said.

Dangiwa said that apart from other steps taken by President Bola Tinubu to revamp the housing sector by demerging it from the Ministry of Works, inaugurating the task teams was a major step toward actualising the Renewed Nope Agenda for the sector.

“First is the Housing Institutions Reform Task Team. Its aim is to develop a robust framework for ensuring that housing agencies under the supervision of the ministry are optimised to deliver effectively decent and affordable homes to Nigerians.

“The Multi-Agency Project Delivery Task Team is to ensure that all housing agencies under the supervision of the ministry work collaboratively towards optimising their strengths to deliver decent and affordable housing to Nigerians.

“The Land Reform Task Team is tasked with developing a blueprint that will aid sustainable implementation of much-needed reforms necessary for streamlining land administration and ensuring easy, cost effective and efficient access to land in Nigeria.

“The Building Materials Manufacturing Hub Task Team primary job is to conduct a thorough assessment of the current state of the building materials manufacturing sector in Nigeria, including existing facilities, capacities, and key players.

“They are to also identify challenges and opportunities within the sector,” Dangiwa said.

According to him, the federal government will provide all the resources the committees needed to ensure they deliver within the timeline stipulated in the terms of reference.

“I look forward earnestly to your recommendations in the coming eight weeks so we can begin the process of implementing them towards building a vibrant and efficient housing industry that delivers decent and affordable housing to Nigerians”.

He urged the Federal Housing Authority to scale up operations since they have all the support of government to meet up with their mandate, and charged the Federal Mortgage Bank to provide mortgage for Nigerians to own their own houses.

Also, Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, said the tax teams were necessary to address the multi-faceted challenges of effective housing delivery in the country.

He said the chairmen and members of the committees were of proven integrity and competence.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Adedeji Adesemoye will head the Housing Institutions Reform Task Team and the Land Reform Task Team has Dr Ugochukwu Chime as chairman.

While the Building Materials Manufacturing Hubs Task Team and the Multi-Agency Project Task Team would be chaired by Mr Nuhu Way and Brig.-Gen. Tunde Reis, respectively. (NAN)

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