Cement manufacturers to reduce price for FG Housing Scheme

BY Victoria Ogunrinde

The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said cement manufacturers in the country have agreed to offer discounts on the commodity for the Federal Government’s Social Housing Scheme.

Akande quoted the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as disclosing this while visiting the completed model houses in Dei-Dei at the Federal Capital Territory on Friday.

The SSA Media to the VP, in a press statement titled ‘FG, cement manufacturers agree on discount charge for ESP 30,000 social housing units’ on Sunday quoted Osinbajo as saying that the gesture would boost government’s plan to build houses for low income earners under the Economic Sustainability Plan.

“They (cement manufacturers) have agreed to give cement for this project at considerable discount which is a very helpful thing to do and we really commend and thank them for the contributions they are making.

“It is a very patriotic thing on their part. They also see the importance of this Mass Housing Programme,” Osinbajo reportedly said.

After seeing the prototypes of the one-bedroom and two-bedroom bungalows, Osinbajo was said to have expressed satisfaction with the quality of the design and the fact that the houses were affordable.

He added, “On the average, anybody who is earning N30,000 a month and is ready to spend a third of that amount will be able to afford one of these houses; that is the plan. What I have seen so far, there is a one-bedroom unit and there is a two-bedroom unit, both coming under N2m.

“I think that this is a very good thing indeed. A point has been made that it is possible to build good, decent accommodation that isn’t out of the reach of practically everyone.”

Commenting on the implementation of the scheme across the country, Osinbajo assured that the Mass Housing Programme would be provided across the country.

He said, “We are hoping that we will be able to replicate this not just in Abuja but all over the country. So far, the Family Homes Fund is in 11 states, and they have given up land for the project.

“We are hoping that this year, we will be able to very rapidly improve the scale and speed of putting these houses in place.

“Once we are able to get moving quickly, we think we can make available several thousands of houses across the country and more people can afford to live in such houses.”

The Vice President noted that the job creation component of the ESP could also be actualised through Social Housing Scheme.