FG takes over idle buildings in Abuja, Lagos, others across Nigeria

The Federal Government is taking over idle properties belonging to the government and private owners across the nation.

Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola disclosed this to the Senate Committee on Housing led by its Chairman Sam Egwu.

According to the minister, his office, in conjunction with some techy youth, has started collating the stats of such buildings, and will lease them out to collect rents on a monthly basis.

The ministry’s  Director, Public Private Partnership, Eucharia Alozie, stated that the young Nigerians deployed technology to determine the number of empty houses in many parts of Nigeria and were expanding their reach.

She stated that what the ministry had done was to collate all empty houses built by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Federal Housing Authority and those built by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

“They gave us a scenario that a lot of people built big houses in Abuja and in other big cities in Nigeria and nobody has taken these houses,” said Alozie.

“So we want to use this as a pilot to go round the country, collate the houses and possibly rent them out, especially to young people.”

According to her, it is so easy to pay your house rent monthly because a lot of people do not have the money to pay for two years and that is a major problem in the country.

“So they pay monthly and the team will work with agencies of government to deduct the monthly rent payments.

“That is the innovation and we have gone very far with it. Right now, we are at the procurement stage where they will be given the opportunity to show what they have done. They have succeeded in Abuja, Lagos and Cross River states.”

“So, these young people are working with some financial institutions that have collected houses from defaulting customers and the houses are seen as dead capital, as they are not bringing in income and nobody wants to buy them,” Fashola added.

The minister explained that some of the houses, for example, were three-bedroom homes.

“Now, young people need houses but they don’t have funds for three-bedrooms. So, we will bring them together and rent each of the rooms and the rents are collected monthly,” he said.

But, the minister added,  the initiative is not compulsory.