By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
Abuja – OVER two thousand hectares of land with titled documents have been given by 24 States for the Federal Government’s Social Housing programme, while 17 have indicated interest to participate in the Solar Power programme in the ongoing Economic Sustainability Plan.
This is as an agreement has been reached with one of the major cement manufacturers in the country to sell at significantly discounted prices as low as N2, 600 per bag of cement for the social housing projects.
The agreement was reached after a meeting Vice President Yemi Osinbajo held with three major cement manufacturers in the country, Dangote Cement, Bua Cement and Lafarge Cement manufacturers.
A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande stated that this was among some of the highlights from a review on the Economic Sustainability Plan implementation presided over by Prof Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, weekend.
Commenting on the implementation of components of ESP, the Vice President said the government will continue to focus on creating more jobs while improving access to power and affordable housing for majority of Nigerians.
Prof. Osinbajo, who highlighted the progress made so far, assured that the Federal Government will ramp up efforts to so more Nigerians have access to electricity and affordable housing.
According to the presentation made by the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Alhaji Ahmad Salihijo, the Solar Power Naija team has had engagements with the six states who have identified private sector developers.
The team has also selected Akwa Ibom, Ekiti and Kano as pilot states for the state-guaranteed transaction model for the solar power programme.
He explained that REA is currently tracking transactions worth N55 billion potentially contributing the first two million connections in Nigeria and providing thousands of jobs.
For instance, the programme is currently tracking four transactions in the commercial bank upstream channel contributing 3,500 jobs and 100,000 connections.
The MD further stated that nine participants have submitted applications for over N4 billion of the N20 billion allocated with three companies close to receiving disbursements.
He said, “Bleu Camel Energy with a loan amount of N3 billion is targeting to create 600 jobs; Sunking, another investor with a loan amount of N3 billion will create 1,500 jobs; Auxno Solar with N300 million loan amount targets 100 jobs while Emerald Industrial Co. is seeking N3 billion funding to manufacture 100,000 Solar Home Systems and smart meters.”
On the other hand but in the same vein, the Managing Director/CEO of the Family Homes Fund Limited (FHFL) – the implementing agency for the Social Housing scheme, Mr. Femi Adewole, stated that 17,584 units across 16 locations are now on the pipeline.
He said, “We are having a successful push in assembling land to feed the housing construction. So far about 2156.4ha have been assembled ready for development. This has the capacity to accommodate about 65,000 homes.”
Adewole explained that under the ESP Social Housing programme, Nigerians would be given at least a 15-year period with a monthly payment at six percent interest rate to pay for each housing unit.
While the rates are significantly low, the MD noted that this period can also be extended through refinancing.
“This will help to improve access to housing for low-income people in the informal sector who-(otherwise) will not have an opportunity to access a mortgage,” he stated.
He further said that in addition to the typical 2, 3, and 4-bedroom housing units, the FHFL was considering a “Students and Young People’s Housing – to address the needs of young people.”
An agreement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has now been finalized and signed by Family Homes Funds, he disclosed while drawdown is subject to a guarantee from the Ministry of Finance.
It would be recalled that the CBN had committed to a N200B facility with a guarantee by the FG via the Finance Ministry for the Social Housing scheme.
