The House of Representatives has alleged that the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing has built about 4,000 housing units, but left them unsold and unoccupied.

The allegation is contained in a motion unanimously adopted at the plenary on Tuesday.

The motion moved by a member, Mansur Soro, is titled, ‘Call on the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to Dispose of Houses Constructed under the National Housing Programme.’

Adopting the motion, the House called on the ministry, which is headed by Babatunde Fashola (SAN), to “earnestly begin the process of disposing the completed houses to most deserving Nigerians,” while mandating the Committee on Housing and Habitat to interface with the Ministry of Works and Housing to ensure compliance with the resolution.

Moving the motion, Soro said, “The House notes that since 2015, Nigeria has been contending with over 15 million housing deficit, which requires about 150,000 houses to be built yearly to bridge the gap.

“The National Housing Programme (Phase I) was launched in January 2016, with the construction of 2,500 units of houses in the 36 states and the Phase II of the programme was launched in 2018.

“The House is aware that nearly 4,000 houses have been completed and have remained unoccupied and if not disposed of to interested and deserving Nigerians, they may begin to wear out, a development that will not address the Housing deficits in Nigeria.”

Credit: PUNCH