—As FEC approves 600 housing units for Armed Forces
By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA — PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has established a drafting committee with a 90 day mandate to produce a five-year strategic defence cooperation plan designed to strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture, improve coordination among defence and intelligence institutions and enhance the country’s response to emerging threats.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, at the presidential Villa, Abuja.
Idris explained that the initiative will focus on national threat assessments and creating framework for military cooperation.
The move he said followed recent military successes against bandits and terrorists
The committee the minister explained comprised key security officials including the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), the two Ministers of Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff and all the Service Chiefs.
Also to serve on the committee are the Directors-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), as well as the Special Adviser to the President on Homeland Security.
According to the minister, the Special Adviser on Homeland Security will provide the secretariat for the committee, which is expected to submit its report to the President within 90 days.
Idris said the strategic plan was part of the administration’s broader efforts to safeguard lives and property and consolidate recent gains recorded by the military and other security agencies in the fight against terrorism, banditry and other forms of criminality.
He said the initiative was also coming against the backdrop of several measures already approved by Tinubu to improve the operational capacity and welfare of members of the Armed Forces.
These measures, he said, included the recent increase in the remuneration of military personnel, expansion of the military’s divisions from eight to 12, as well as the provision of additional housing for servicemen.
“If we put all this together, you see the direction that Mr President and the Federal Government are going, ensuring that our security agencies and our military personnel who are fighting so that Nigeria can remain safe for all of us are given the right atmosphere and the support that all of them require and need for them to continue to defend our country,” Idris said.
He stressed that the protection of lives and property remained the primary responsibility of government, adding that the Tinubu administration was determined to deepen its efforts to eliminate insecurity.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is determined to further deepen that, so that once and for all we can take out this issue of insecurity from our land,” he said.
Also briefing journalists, The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaqha Rabe said the Federal Executive Council approved the direct purchase of 600 four-bedroom terrace duplexes at Bristow City Development, Life Camp, Abuja, for members of the Armed Forces.
The Minister said the approval was part of the President’s commitment to improving the welfare and living conditions of military personnel.
He described accommodation as a critical component of the welfare of servicemen, noting that the latest approval followed an earlier FEC decision to provide 2,056 housing units for the Armed Forces.
The latest approval, he said, brings the total number of housing units approved for the Armed Forces to 2,656, out of the 10,000 units targeted by the Federal Government.
Rabe said the initiative reflected the administration’s determination to meet its housing obligations to Nigerians across different strata, while paying particular attention to the welfare needs of members of the Armed Forces.
The minister also explained that some housing estates constructed for the military had effectively been converted into barracks because of the facilities incorporated into them.
“Some of these housing estates are converted into barracks,” he said, explaining that military-built estates in places such as Sokoto and elsewhere often had military offices and guard rooms, making them functionally similar to barracks.
Rabe further disclosed that the Federal Government had an existing policy to construct 10,000 housing units over a five-year period, with the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development saddled with the responsibility of delivering the programme.
He said the housing approvals presented to FEC formed part of the ministry’s efforts to fulfil that mandate.
“Before now, there was a policy of the Federal Government … that Federal Government over a five-year time will build 10,000 units of housing, and it is a responsibility given to the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development,” he said.
“So, we are meeting up to that responsibility, and that’s what we present to you today as part of that responsibility that we are given to.”
The minister said the government was also providing substantial subsidies on its housing projects to cushion the impact of rising construction costs and make homeownership more affordable for Nigerians.
He explained that the rising cost of building materials had significantly increased the cost of delivering houses, citing the price of nine-inch blocks as an example.
According to him, a two-bedroom house could require at least 1,000 blocks, with the cost of a single block in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano reaching about N1,000.
He said while the Federal Government could spend about N18 million to construct a house, it could sell the property for as low as N12 million, depending on its location, as a result of the subsidy provided by government.
In some locations, he added, government houses were being sold for between N8 million and N9 million.
“We are providing cheap and affordable houses to Nigerians, and it is all over Nigeria. In some places, we sell those houses at N9 million or N8 million, depending on the location,” he said.
Rabe said the objective was to ensure that Nigerians had access to decent, affordable and quality housing across the country.
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