The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, says the Federal Government’s Land Reforms would empower Nigerians to have easy access to Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).
Dangiwa made this known in Abuja on Friday, at the Ministerial Sectoral briefing on the performance of President Bola Tinubu’s administration in the last one year.
According to him, the Federal Government is working to implement the much-needed reforms that will ensure quick, easy, and efficient access to land.
“We have inaugurated a land reforms Task Team comprising state governments, traditional rulers, relevant agencies, professional bodies, academia, stakeholders to ensure buy-in and inclusivity.
“With their recommendations ,we will draft an Executive Bill and proceed to the National Assembly for the amendment of the obsolete Land Use Act 1978 that has hindered the development of the housing sector.
“Part of this will also be the establishment of the National Land Commission to spell out the guidelines and regulations for operationalizing the Land Use Act, 1978.
“These Task Teams have already sent in preliminary reports and will conclude their assignments soon.”
Dangiwa said that the ministry inaugurated a Housing Reform Task Team of experts and stakeholders to ensure that housing agencies under the Ministry were optimised to deliver on the target of providing affordable homes to Nigerians.
He said the stakeholders including professional bodies, academia and representatives of agencies were to develop a robust framework for reform of the housing sector.
He added that this included a thorough review of relevant laws and facilitation of necessary legislative amendments.
“This includes the following: The Land Use Act, 1978, National Housing Fund (NHF) Act,1992, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN),Establishment Act, 1993, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Act,1973 and The PenCom Act.
“This is to allow for increased investment in housing, drive nationwide adoption and passage of the foreclosure law in states and to lower the cost of building materials.
“We are also working to boost building materials manufacturing in the country.
“This will ensure economic growth, create jobs, and reduce dependency on imports,” he said
Dangiwa said that to this end, the Federal Government inaugurated a Building Materials Manufacturing Task Team comprising of experts and representatives from relevant government agencies, academia, professional bodies, and industry associations.
He said they would conduct a thorough assessment of the current state of the building materials manufacturing sector and produce a strategic plan for reforming the sector for implementation.
He added that to increase the stock of housing supply, a Multi-Agency Project Delivery Team was also inaugurated.
He said that the team would ensure that all housing agencies work together towards optimising their strengths to deliver decent and affordable housing to Nigerians.
Dangiwa said that the Federal Government is committed to implementing these stated reforms and initiatives to change the landscape of the housing sector for good and deliver the renewed hope agenda for housing and urban development.
