The Federal Government on Wednesday said it was working to ensure Nigerian workers spent no more than 40 per cent of their income on rent.
As part of efforts to make housing more affordable and ease financial pressures, The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaqha Darma, Darma said high rental costs could push workers to seek additional sources of income to meet family obligations, including education and welfare, creating conditions that could encourage corruption.
“We are going to ensure that in this country, workers do not spend 40 to 60 per cent of their income on rent,” he said.
The minister said the government was working to reduce the share of workers’ income spent on rent and expand access to affordable and decent housing. He said the ultimate goal was to ensure that every unhoused Nigerian had a home.
Darma put the number of unhoused Nigerians at about 110 million, with an estimated 16 million housing units required to address the housing deficit.
He said the ministry had engaged stakeholders in the housing sector and relevant regulators to facilitate the provision of the required housing units in the coming months.
Darma said the government was also taking stock of abandoned housing projects nationwide as part of efforts to address the housing shortage.
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He said some of the projects dated back several years, including schemes initiated during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“There are so many housing projects, starting from the National Housing Programme and even long way back, even during General Obasanjo’s time, so many of them have been abandoned all over Nigeria, in all states,” he said.
The minister said the government was compiling data on the abandoned projects and visiting states where the properties were located.
He said the Federal Government was engaging state governors on taking over or purchasing the abandoned housing projects for renovation and conversion into homes for civil servants.
Darma said the government had identified nearly 250,000 abandoned housing units across the country.
He expressed optimism that the takeover of the units by state governments and their allocation to civil servants would help address the housing shortage.
NAN
