18th January, 2018
The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Housing to conduct an investigative public hearing on alleged fraudulent practices and activities in the housing sector.
The committee is expected to report back within eight weeks to enable the House take further legislative action.
The House urged the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to put in place appropriate mechanism to ensure registration of all estate developers.
This, it said, was to ensure strict monitoring and regulation of the sector.
TheBay House’s decision was sequel to a unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Joseph Edionwele (Edo- APC) at plenary.
Moving the motion earlier, Edionwele said shelter remained a basic necessity of life and that it topped the list of a man’s needs.
He said in a bid to address the housing need, the Federal Government set up a Public-Private Partnership arrangement where government provided land for private firms to develop affordable real estate for public.
The lawmaker said in spite of the attractive and motivational incentives by successive governments, there was still a huge housing deficit for low-income earners.
He said the public-private partnership had become a veritable tool in the hands of people who masquerade as estate developers to dupe unsuspecting Nigerians.
Edionwele said fraudulent activities in the sector had resulted in the loss of billions of naira by innocent Nigerians and had hampered the housing development policy of the government.
He stressed the need to put a stop to the practice by putting in place strict measures in the sector for effective monitoring and regulation.
Also speaking, Rep. Sergious Ogun (Edo-PDP) said if food, shelter and clothes were taken care of, corruption would be reduced to the minimum in the country.
While supporting the motion, Ogun charged security agencies to monitor and make examples of those perpetrating fraud in the sector.
Contributing, Rep. Mohammed Abdu (APC-Bauchi) said the committee was already working on the issues.
He said the committee was already addressing the issue of sharp practices in the sector.