FCTA Set To Provide Land For Low Income Houses

The Minister of FCT, Malam Muhammad Bello, on Thursday said the administration would partner with Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to develop houses for low-income workers in the territory.

Bello stated this while receiving a delegation of the bank led by its Acting Managing Director, Mr Richard Esien in in Abuja.

The minister, however, made case for the consideration FCT Administration workers first; observing that the administration had the highest number of employees in the territory.

He said there were so many big houses built in Abuja that were unoccupied because of the exorbitant rent charged by the landlords.

“What we need today in Abuja are low income houses which low income earners can afford and that is what my administration would further encourage to take care of the less-privileged people”, he said.

He added that his administration was prepared to enhance the relationship between the FCT and the bank for the mutual benefit of the two organisations.

“We have too many highbrow houses in Abuja which have remained vacant despite the housing deficit the workers are experiencing in the city”, he said.

He also decried the situation where estates were built in the past without provision for recreational facilities.
He said developers who converted children’s play ground as well as green areas to estates should desist from doing so.

He directed that henceforth, all new estates must make provision for such essential facilities.

The minister directed that green area be made available for the bank to develop into a befitting public park for usage at weekends by the residents free of charge.

He said that such gesture should be the bank’s corporate social responsibility to the immediate society it was operating in.

Earlier, Esien sought for plots of land to deliver houses to Nigerians in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s mandate of 5,000 houses yearly.

He said only Bwari Area Council out of the six area councils in the FCT that had complied with the FMBN Act of contributing two and half percent of all workers earning.

He, therefore, appealed to the minister to prevail on the remaining five area councils to make their contributions according to the law.

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