allAfrica.com: Nigeria: When Niger Builds for Civil Servants (Page 1 of 1)

The high cost of building materials in the country has no doubt deprived many people including civil servants, the chances of building their own house.

Consequently, this has resulted in the acute shortage of affordable accommodation and the high rate of renting houses in urban and rural areas of the country.

Perhaps those worst hit by this ugly trend are the Nigerian workers and the masses whose take home pay per month is hardly enough to provide the necessary basic amenities for the family. Suffice it therefore, to say that in the face of biting hardship and poverty, the low income civil servants could not dream of building houses where they will live after retirement.

This was the same situation in Niger state when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led administration of Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, assumed office in May last year. The state's civil servants who were the least paid among the Nigerian workers, could hardly survive the harsh economic conditions in the country and very few of them could in that circumstance, venture into the development of a personal property. There was therefore a high demand for accommodation for rent or lease far above the construction of new houses.

It was therefore a booming business for shylock landlords in Minna, the capital, Suleja which sits on the edge Abuja and other major cities of the state, who have been exploiting tenants in the face of such lack of accommodation in these cities. For instance, the cost of hiring a two bedroom flat in Minna for one year which used to be between N50,000 and N70,000 before the advent of the civilian administration in 1999, had now increased to between N120,000.00 and N150,000,00. A one bedroom flat or self contain room and living room with bathroom and toilet facilities goes for as high as N70,000 and N100,000 depending on the standard of the houses Also, any tenant seeking to rent a three bedroom flat in Minna must be ready to part with a rent amounting to N180,000 or N200, 000 again depending on the standard of the house.

This astronomical increase in rents in these cities, experts say, was as a result of lack of concerted efforts by government and private individuals to develop the real estate sector in the past few years. Mr. Philips Benjamin, an estate developer, told the Daily Trust that the rate of construction of new buildings in Minna is very low compared with the high demand for accommodation by residents. He opined that to check the excesses of shylock landlords in the state, efforts must be geared towards mass construction of new houses.

It is in this line that the policy of Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu's administration to build affordable houses across the state could be described as a step in the right direction to solve the accommodation problems in the state. Perhaps more important is the pronouncement of the governor that most of the houses to be built would be allocated to the state's civil servants at a highly subsidized rate. In other words, government is building affordable houses for its workers to cushion the effect of acute accommodation shortage and also to enable them own their houses when they retire.

In actualising this objective, the state government has begun the construction of 500 housing units in Minna. Although many people prefer to call the housing units as "Talban Estate", government actually named it after former Chief of Army Staff, General Muhammed Wushishi. The state's Ccommissioner for Land and Housing, Mrs. Salome Ndakotsu, told the Daily Trust that work on the estate has attained 90 percent completion. She explained that the construction of similar housing units have started in Kontagora, Bida and other towns in the state. According to the commissioner, the construction of houses have commenced in some places, adding that "the M I Wushishi housing estate in Minna which started last October, has reached 90% completion. At least right now, 400 units out of the 500 have been completed while the remaining 100 are nearing completion".

Mrs Ndakotsu said that the construction of the houses was being carried out under the Private Public Partnership Initiative (PPP), adding that government was only going to provide the land and other facilities without financial commitment.

She disclosed that government has decided to build 5,000 houses in Minna, adding that preliminary survey of the demarcation of plots has reached advanced stage in other locations where the housing estate would be established within the Minna environment.

"At Gidan Mangoro area of Minna, we have laid out the design for a 500 housing unit estate while another estate of the same capacity has been planned for Maikukele in Bosso area of Minna. We have started the payment of compensation to the natives with a view to properly acquire the land. When all these houses are completed, I am sure most of our civil servants would have gotten their homes as government has directed that 70 percent of the houses must be allocated to its workers", she explained.

The commissioner, however explained that civil servants who are to benefit from the housing scheme must be contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF), which will enable them obtain loans from the Federal Mortgage Bank through the Aso Savings now located in Minna.

She therefore, appealed to civil servants to take advantage of the facilities at the Federal Mortgage Bank to get houses at the various housing estates promoted by the present administration, adding that these houses are affordable.

The commissioner said that her ministry was already collating application forms from the 25 local government areas of the state with a view to extend a similar gesture to local government workers. She said that government intends to scrutinise the applications to ascertain the number of houses to be built for the council workers considering their level of income.

In Suleja area of the state, the Dr. Aliyu's administration is also striving hard to build a modern village in collaboration with foreign investors around the tourist attractive Zuma rock. It was learnt that all plots around the rock have been revoked to pave way for the commencement of the mega city. Governor Aliyu had recently while on top of the Zuma rock, signed the MOU for the maga city with a consortium of firms based in Canada. When completed, the city is expected to accommodate over 20,000 people and further boost the tourism industry in the area.

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