AuGF: Affordable houses being built by FG not affordable to low income earners

• Published date: 22 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

The office of the Auditor General for the Federation has said that low Income earners in the country cannot afford the affordable houses being built for them by the Federal Government under the Affordable Housing programme.

According to an audit report of the programme which began in 2016 with the incorporation of the Family Homes Funds Limited, over 1,400 houses which has been completed under the programme have not been sold

The audit which cover the period 2016 to 2018 was submitted to the Clerk to the National Assembly via a letter dated 3rd August 2022 and signed by the immediate past Auditor General, Adolphus Aghughu who retired from service in September 2022.

The report cited by The Nation said many of the houses have been left unsold because the costs of such houses are above the reach of the low-income earners in the country.

FHFL is a Company established in 2016 by the Federal Government to provide Affordable/Social Homes for low-income earners in Nigeria with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budgets and National Planning (FMOFB and NP) and Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) as founding Shareholders.

The company is responsible for providing homes for low-income earners at the lowest possible price they can afford.

The report said that the total capital funding of FHFL in the three years period covered in this audit (2018 to 2020) amounted to N65,000,000,000 00 (Sixty five billion naira) which represents 13% of the N500,000.000.000.00 (Five hundred billion naira) seed capital promised by the Federal Government for provision of affordable homes for low-income earners in the country.

Read Also: AuGF, Nigeria minting company disagree over N162 billion infractions

Quoting Shelter Afrique, a Pan-African Real Estate Finance Institution, the report said the housing deficit in Nigeria is estimated to be 22 million as at January 2020 with a yearly growth rate of 20 percent.

It said further that...