Fashola Faults 22million Housing Deficit Figure

THE Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Monday, faulted the current 22million housing deficit figure.

Fashola, who showed displeasure at the statistics being widely quoted, said the source of the figure cannot be credited to any agency or organization.

He spoke at the commissioning of Woodhill Estate financed under the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) cooperative housing development loan, located in Kuje, Abuja.

According to him, the initial 17million deficit figure was credited to an undisclosed international agency, which the agency had in turn denied.

His words: “I have told myself that I am going to resist the temptation into the number of deficits but I think that it is important as a nation that if we do not have a common understanding of our problems, we will find it more difficult to develop a common solution.

” When I first heard that there was a 17million deficit, it was credited to an international organisation and every time I have asked them, they have denied ever saying so. But while we were struggling with the source of the number, which is not proven, the number has suddenly jumped and so who is behind this?”

Although he noted the presence of deficits in the housing sector, he stated that this is more prevalent in the urban centres.

However, he argued that with the deficits, are also an increasing number of empty houses.

” For me, the reason why we exist is that there are problems, without a doubt, there are housing deficits but it seems to me that the problems are more pronounced in the urban centres than in the rural areas.