Rep. Chinwe Nnabuife (YPP-Anambra) has pledged to influence lawmakers to promote bills that will address housing deficit in the country.
Nnabuife made the pledge on Wednesday in Abuja during the foundation laying ceremony of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) cooperative staff housing estate.
She said that the 10th House of Representatives would continue from where their predecessors (9th Assembly) stopped in the promotion of bills that would address housing challenges, especially for civil and public servants.
Nnabuife noted that housing issues had been a major challenge right from the rural areas, even to the urban areas. She added that laws had been made, bills were passed by the 9th NASS to ensure that some of those issues in the housing industry were alleviated.
“We in the 10th assembly see housing issues as a major project or major responsibility that we have to embark upon, to ensure that we come up with bills, we pass bill and come up with motions.
“Yeah, there are lots of things involved in owning a house, starting from the acquisition of the land, getting your title documents down to having the architects, come up with the design.
“And above all, the financing of that project in having a roof over your head, which we know is one of the major problems in Nigeria.
“We will come up with motion and bill that will ensure that Nigerians, irrespective of their social strata, their location whether in the rural areas or in the urban, get at least an affordable accommodation,” she stressed.
She, however, congratulated NAPTIP on the feat and in taking a laudable steps for the betterment of its staff, even after retirement. The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, noted that the agency was so much concerned about the welfare of its staff and not only to fight human traffickers.
Represented by Mr Hassan Tahir, Director of Prosecution and Legal Services of the agency, she stated that it was because of welfare of staff that she continued to encourage the cooperative on members drive.
“We performed the same ground breaking ceremony about a year ago, where we launched a housing estate for our staff. So you can see the cooperatives, that is the importance of it.
“I am at this juncture, encouraging all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to key into cooperative society.
“It is through this kind of cooperative society that you can easily get house or houses where you can have a room before and even after your retirement,” Waziri-Azi said.
Mr Ayeni Yusuf, President of the NAPTIP Cooperative Society, appreciated the partnering company to the cooperative body, Norrenberger, who had always been a major supporter to every capital project to the cooperative body.
Yusuf disclosed that the landed property which was about five hecters, had been projected to house 50 duplexes and 60 bungalows for the cooperative members. According to him, the houses are going to be built in a strategic way where the duplexes will be on one side, the bungalows will be on the other side.
He also said that the buildings in the NAPTIP staff cooperative estate had been projected to be completed before the end of 2024 August, as the work would start earnestly. Yusuf, however, guaranteed of maximum security in the estate, while appreciating other financial companies and housing developer who had supported the project like Transkredit Finance and Property Finder.