The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, says there is no housing crisis in Nigeria. Fashola while refuting claims that Nigeria has a 17 million housing deficit, pointed out that a country with many empty houses cannot be classified as such.
Speaking at the weekly ministerial briefing organized by Presidential Communication Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday, he said the pressure on housing in the country was caused by rural-urban migration, which he said create a supply problem.
Fashola pointed out that even though people leave their houses in the rural areas to squat in the cities, it does not amount to the housing deficit in the country.
He stated: “It’s illogical to say we have that housing deficit when you have empty houses. No such deficit exists anywhere in the world.”
Fashola said he had consulted with some International organizations including the African Development Bank (AfDP) and confirmed that the Nigerian housing deficit reports are not correct.
He, therefore, noted that they should be disregarded.
However, the Minister affirmed that the actual housing deficit in Nigeria cannot be ascertained until another census is conducted in the country.
On infrastructural development, he said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has taken bold steps to attack projects that seemed impossible for previous governments, siting the second Niger Bridge, Lagos Oworinshoki road, third mainland bridge repairs, Kano-Abuja road among others.
He lamented that despite these achievements in infrastructures, budget deficits pose some challenges.
According to the Minister, most times when budgets are prepared the full money doesn’t get released to the ministry to meet its contractual obligations.
Stressing his position, he said in 2014 he inherited a budget of N18billion but as of today, it has risen to over N200billion.