The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, has commended the Nigerian Army for its efforts in providing affordable housing for its soldiers.
The minister gave the commendation during a meeting with the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Army Post Service Housing Development Limited, Major General Joseph Omale in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Nigerian Army’s housing scheme is aimed at providing affordable homes for its soldiers, particularly those who are not within the officer cadre.
The scheme is part of the Army’s efforts to improve the welfare of its personnel and their families.
According to a statement signed by the ministry’s Director of Information and Public Relations, Badamasi Haiba, the minister stated, “I am happy you are already ahead in providing that welfare to men of your service.”.
He also commended the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, for identifying with housing affordability for the soldiers, by his removal of costs of land and infrastructure that would have made the houses unaffordable to acquire.
The minister noted that the cost of land and infrastructure provision is very critical to housing development and affordability.
He advised that with the availability of encumbered land with title deeds, identification of off-takers, and design of the houses, the agency could approach the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria to access loans to build the houses.
The minister also highlighted the achievements of the ministry under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, which includes setting up reform task teams on housing agencies reform, land reform, and the establishment of building materials manufacturing hubs in six geo-political zones of the country.
“We are committed to providing affordable housing for our soldiers, and we are grateful for the support of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development,” said Major General Joseph Omali, the Managing Director of Nigerian Army Post Housing Development Limited.
The minister urged the Nigerian Army to consider getting their officers to buy from the National Housing Units, which are available in 36 states of the federation.
He noted that the sales of the housing units are already ongoing and that the ministry is waiting for the Defence Headquarters to provide the list of fallen heroes to enable the ministry to allocate houses to their families.