Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
The Executive Director, Estate Services at the Federal Housing Authority, FHA, Arc. Ezekiel Nya-Etok, has said housing will be President Bola Tinubu’s greatest legacy, ranking him alongside former President Shehu Shagari, late Chief Lateef Jakande and late General Sani Abacha as the leaders who truly delivered mass housing in Nigeria.
Nya-Etok spoke on Thursday during a media parley in Abuja on the gains of the Tinubu administration in its first tenure and why Nigerians should vote for President Tinubu again.
According to him, after the well-known mass housing programmes of Shagari and Jakande, no other administration made a significant impact on housing except Abacha who built Gwarimpa, until now.
He disclosed that President Tinubu has given a direct mandate to the FHA to provide housing solutions for Nigerians and that the Authority has already held no less than ten strategic meetings on new models and possibilities.
Nya-Etok, who said his agency is working on a new nationwide initiative called Enterprise Estate, promised a complete paradigm shift in housing delivery before the end of the administration.
“Housing is one of his greatest legacies that he is going to have as an achievement. Do you know that after Shagari Housing and Jakande Housing you can’t talk of any other administration? The other person that unfortunately we don’t give him enough credit is Abacha. Yes, Abacha did a lot for housing.”
The FHA Director linked the housing push to the stabilisation of the macro economy which he said is the foundation for all other growth.
“There is something called Enterprise Estate and it’s going to be all over and Nigerians will see a complete paradigm shift on housing delivery. I think that housing is going to be one of the biggest achievements of this administration,” he said.
“You can calculate today, between a thousand three hundred and a thousand eight hundred there about. The World Bank, all the global indices have said Nigeria’s macroeconomics have stabilised. It is the macroeconomics that is the foundation” he stated.
He argued that accommodation is the biggest burden on Nigerian workers, taking a minimum of 60 per cent of salaries, far more than fuel subsidy, and proposed that 30 per cent of allocations to states should be dedicated to social housing.
The FHA boss cautioned the opposition against using hunger and hardship as a campaign slogan without solutions, insisting that what Nigerians need now is for the gains of macro-stabilisation to be translated to micro benefits.
He argued that companies that left Nigeria will return as the macro economy is now stable, and said ongoing internal campaigns in government are pushing for subsidy savings to be channeled to social housing, mass transportation, primary healthcare, education, security and power.
Nya-Etok who disclosed he openly supported Mr. Peter Obi in the last election, said President Tinubu’s appointment of him despite his political history shows the president’s large heart and focus on excellence.
He admitted the reforms of the Tinubu administration have been painful but necessary, comparing them to the painful Novalgin injection his late mother forced him to take as a child.
“The president has taken very hard decisions that have affected me, affected everybody. But why did he take those decisions? Do they honestly have verifiable, justifiable long-term good effect?” he asked.
He vowed to deliver results, saying he would rather resign than fail to show a scorecard.
“One of my areas is housing delivery. That is why no matter what, I would rather resign than not show a scorecard on housing,” Nya-Etok added.