TheCable

Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, says more than 12,000 applicants expressed interest in the national housing programme.

Fashola said this on Wednesday at the official handing over of keys to beneficiaries of the housing programme in Osogbo.

Represented by Nuru Adeoye, the Osun controller of the ministry of works, the minister said out of a total of 12,387 applications received, 694 had been approved.

Fashola said all applications were approved without any form of discrimination or favouritism, adding that four beneficiaries in Osun had paid in full for houses within the estate.

He said the estate comprises 76 units of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments.

“We have offered all these housing units to members of the public in a non-discriminatory way,” he said.

The minister said allocations would be made on first-come-first-served basis, adding that the four beneficiaries were among the first set of Nigerians to be receive keys to the houses.

In his remarks, Bashir Alkali, permanent secretary in the ministry, said the housing scheme engaged more than 1,500 building contractors under phases one, two and three of the programme since it began in 2016.

Alkali, who was represented by Danbaba Yahaya, chief town planning officer in the ministry, said more than 15,000 direct jobs and 55,000 indirect jobs were created through the programme.

He said since the construction of more than 6,000 housing units started in 45 sites, 2,665 units had been completed in 35 states and the FCT.

On his part, Munirudeen Lawal, the Timi of Ede, commended the federal government for the housing scheme, adding that it would go a long way to solving the housing deficit in the country.

The federal government had, in November 2021, launched a portal for the housing programme.