Enugu: Tackling the Housing Need with Estates

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Enugu State Government has in the past six and a half years adopted new style in efforts to solve the problem of housing in the state,
 
reports Christopher Isiguzo
 
 
Section 16 (1) (d) of the 1999 Constitution, under the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, is categorical on the need for the state to “provide suitable and adequate shelter for all citizens.” Shelter is one of the basic necessities of life outside food and clothing. It has become a major concern for both individuals and governments in the country, with the performance of governments at different levels often assessed based on its ability to provide housing for the people.
 
 
It is estimated that Nigeria currently requires at least one million housing units per annum to effectively address the housing demands of the population put at over160 million. It has also been discovered that most Nigerians living in cities and urban areas actually live in ghettos, shanties and squalid accommodation. Rural areas have the same ugly story due basically to lack of social amenities in those areas.
The story is essentially the same across the country with regard to the issue of housing.
 
Worse Case
In the South-east zone, for instance, the story was very bad at the advent of the current democratic experience in 1999 when the basic necessitates of life were almost unavailable. From Abia, to Anambra, Ebonyi to Enugu and Imo State, the story of lack of shelter was basically the order of the day as many people, especially poor Nigerians, lived in makeshift accommodations, while those who could afford to rent houses paid exorbitantly.
Though, the first set of governors who ruled the states between 1999 and 2007 tried to confront the housing challenge, because of the enormity of the problem, their efforts achieved very little.
 
Chime to the Rescue
At the inception of his administration in 2007, Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State promised to tackle the housing problem head-on, pledging to completely change the situation before the expiration of his term.
Chime had said, “My priority is the provision of affordable mass housing on a large and unprecedented scale for the people of Enugu State, including those in the low income and no income groups. In doing this, we shall give priority attention to slum upgrading, completion of abandoned housing projects, new towns development, cooperative housing, urban regeneration and rental housing.”
 
 
About seven years after, and one year to the expiration of Chime’s statutory governorship tenure, the housing promise is being fulfilled.
The state government, through the State Housing and Development Corporation under the managing director, Hon. Ikeji Asogwa, has completed 19 housing estates with a total of 748 housing units for different categories of people. In the estates are two-bedroom bungalows, three-bed room bungalows, two-bed room flats, three-bed room flats, six-bed room houses, among others. Some of the estates are Ekulu, Greenland Estate, 1,2,3, Maryland 1 and 2, Palm Beach, Obukpa Nsukka, Liberty 1, Liberty 2, Q-Series Mini Estate, Coal City, Golf Estate 1,2,3,4, Divine, Ivory, Real estates.
 
Encomium
Speaking when he led members of the board of the corporation on the inspection of the various housing estates built in the past six and a half years, the corporation’s chairman, Prince Paul Nnaji, expressed delight that the estates were of global standard in terms of quality, cost and availability to the populace.
 
The board, later at their meeting, praised the corporation’s management led by Asogwa for the effort to address the housing needs of the people of the state through the construction of affordable housing estates for the various cadres of people.
The board noted in a press statement signed by Nnaji Chijioke, “We have passed a vote of confidence on Asogwa for his laudable achievements in the housing sector in the past six and a half years of his administration at the corporation.
 
 
“We are satisfied with the quality of jobs that have been executed in the estates visited during our tour of projects so far completed and the ongoing ones. We want to say without equivocation that you are, indeed, a seasoned administrator, a great mobiliser and a perfect finisher.”
 
 
On his part, Asogwa said, “Before now, when I came on board, I noticed we had a lot to do in the sector. First, I noticed that the quality of houses being produced was a little bit below standard. We had defects in some of them; some of them had structural defects, which I thought were avoidable. So what we have done in the last six and a half years is to improve on the quality, to maintain a standard of construction so that we reduce the risk to human lives and property posed by shabby work. That we have done and if you go around the state and you look at the difference between the houses we have built and those that were built in the past, you will see a sharp difference in the quality of work being done.
 
 
“Today, there is no real housing problem in Enugu because the state is doing a lot to provide affordable housing for all categories of individuals, the low income earners, the middle and high income earners. As we speak, we have houses available for sale and our prices are just the best nationwide. We’ve had houses for the past six and half years for sale to the masses and to make it easier, bearing in mind the economic position of the country, we’ve introduced installment payment plan which makes it easier for the buyers to pay for the houses gradually and instalmentally. So, we’ve been assisting mainly the civil servants, the public servants to assess mortgage loans, which they pay over a long period of time.”
 
 
While noting that two-bed room and three-bedroom houses now go for N4.9 million and N7 million respectively, Asogwa noted that the greatest portion of houses were the two-bed room flats built for the low income earners. “About 90 per cent of the people who have inhabited these property are just making deposits as little as 30 per cent and we hand over keys to them and they pay the balance over a period of time. A lot of efforts are being made to provide these houses and also cushion the effect of paying.”
 
Monetisation Policy
Asogwa disclosed that the state government had equally handled the issue of monetisation in a manner that civil servants in the state had benefited. According to him, “We went through a process of having to verify some of those persons through the office of the Head of Service and Secretary to the State Government. So they come to confirm the eligibility of the applicants and beneficiaries. And once it is approved, we hand over the keys. For us here, we have about 99 per cent of our staff who are house owners. Out of that, about 90 per cent are under monetisation to the staff and they pay over a period of time like beneficiaries.”
 
 
While appreciating the governing board of the corporation for passing a vote of confidence on him after the over four-hour tour of the estates, the managing director said the state government’s efforts in addressing the housing needs of the people were yet to be marched by any previous administration in the state. These efforts, he said, were behind the governor’s emergence as Nigeria’s Housing Governor of the year for 2008 and 2013.
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