Fashola hands over 336 rent-to-own housing units

On September 15, 2011 · In News

By OLASUNKANMI AKONI & MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

LAGOS-Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, has handed over to the public, the pilot home ownership scheme at Epe. He also urged the Federal Government to embark on the repeal of Primary Mortgage Institutions, PMI, Act and replace same with a new law that will guarantee mass housing initiative in the country.

This came as Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Olusola Oworu, said that 93.7 per cent of the businesses in the state were in the informal sector.

Fashola, speaking at the commissioning of 336 units of Sir Michael Otedola Housing Estate in Odoguranshin, Epe, said his administration set up the mortgage board to give hope to Nigerians to own homes of their own and ensure that low income earners have access to own homes.

He said the Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, look into the Primary Housing Mortgage Institution, PMI Act, with a view to repealing it and replace same with a law that would guarantee the needed capital to fund mass housing initiatives in the country.

He said: ”With competing demands for other social services, we are convinced that the future for mass housing delivery should be private sector-driven with government strengthening the operational environment and legal framework for such participation.

“The result is that the public gets quality and affordable houses while the private sector gets new business opportunities.”

He noted that the problem of housing was not that of building alone but of sustainability, which manifests itself in various forms, such as the congestion of ports, which compounds the cost of imported components of building materials, the rate of foreign exchange, which adds to cost of building, the absence of long-term mortgages and funding, exacerbated by high interest rates which force citizens to desperate situations in order to raise money to pay for houses in one single payment.