5,000-Housing-Unit Portal: Of 7315 applications, none from from 20 states; Fashola worried

A week after its launch, the National Housing Programme Portal for the sale of the 5,000 housing unit just completed has received 7,315 applications.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed this on Thursday while briefing members of the Senate Committee on Housing on the programme.

Fashola said out of the over 7,315 applications received from Nigerians as of noon on Thursday, 7,216 were pending, while 99 had been submitted successfully.

He, however, disclosed that while 24 applications had been submitted from the FCT, no single one has been submitted from 20 states.

The Minister said the current National Housing Programme is a pilot or demonstration scheme meant, among others, to galvanize private sector participation.

On Housing Housing deficit, the minister told the Commitee chaired by Senator Sam Egwu that solution to it is not just on building of houses but marketing the empty ones.

He added that the National Housing Programme failed in the past, and some of the houses built then still remain empty due to cultural or financial factors.