The Minister of State for Works and Housing, Muazu Sambo, has said that the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) could not deliver houses for low-income earners due to encumbrances associated with acquisition of land from the state governments.

Sambo, who stated this during a visit to FHA in Abuja, also explained that under the Land Use Act, lands are under the administration of the respective state governments, saying, this makes it difficult, especially, processing and getting titles.

He said: “The federal agency wants to launch social housing programmes and it does not have land. It means that we are at the mercy of the various state governments to get land. We cannot build on water; houses are built on lands and we must have titles.

“It is imperative that the National Assembly take a second look at the Act so that we can have reforms. This has been tried in other jurisdictions, and it has been proved successfully. Easy access to land will lead to easy access to houses in the country.”

On the removal of FHA from budgetary appropriation in 2004, Sambo said: “We are looking at it again to advise the management and prepare a position paper that they can use to canvas for funds during appropriation because FHA was established to cater for a particular segment of the society.

“Mr. President nine point agenda priority, includes social inclusion, this means empowering the poor among us. The first thing to look at is shelter, the provision of houses, and provision of infrastructure to drive housing programmes, using FHA that has history dated back to 1973,” he added.

Earlier, the Managing Director, Senator Gbenga Ashafa told the minister that the agency was established by Act with the responsibility of providing housing solutions to the federal government and the people of Nigeria.

Ashafa recalled that when the current management team took over in 2020, the authority was in a state of limbo with its capacity to deliver on its mandate at the lowest ebb, adding, “we have changed the narrative for the better by reviewing its mandate.

“The management has within one year, established a staff welfare scheme to ensure productivity, developed new partnerships with the key players in the industry for financing our projects,” he remarked.

According to him, they are currently implementing the new corporate structure that will make the agency compete in the economic environment of the new world, praising the FHA Board of Directors for providing leadership and support to develop a new agenda.

He explained further that they are making gradual progress despite key challenges that seem to be of serious encumbrance towards reaching the ultimate objective of taking them to peak performance, adding “with your support we will surmount them.

“In the past, FHA enjoyed the Federal Government’s funding through budget appropriation to finance social/affordable housing projects. But subsequently, they were removed from the budget 18 years ago. Now, we are operating through internally generated revenue.”