The Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has called on the Kano and Oyo state government respectively to join others in embracing the National Housing policy.

Fashola stated this in his remarks during the 11th meeting of the National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban Development held in Sokoto.

He said, “The Federal Government is doing what the states are doing and what the private sector is doing, the Nigerian Housing sector is heading in the right direction even if there is more work to be done.

“It is to the work that needs to be done that I now intend to turn my attention. The first thing I wish to address is that we all must remain conscious that not everybody wants a house built by government; as there are those who wish to build by themselves and only seek access to land.

“We must therefore reform the process that governs allocation of land and issuance of title documents such as Certificates of Occupancy.

“While the Federal Government has some land mainly acquired from the states, the bulk of the work that needs to be done here lies with the state governments because of their almost total control of land by virtue of the Land Use Act.”

Fashola further added, “Some have argued that the Land Use Act is the problem about access to land. I beg to differ. If there is a problem, my view is that the problem is not with the law but with the administration of the law.

“How much have we automated our land administration processes in order to make them efficient before complaining about the law? States that have made this type of investment will report an improvement in their land administration system.

“Today, I can tell you that since 2017, when the President delegated his power under the Land Use Act to grant consent and issue Certificate of Occupancy to the Minister, we have issued over 5,000 certificates of occupancy and granted 2,738 consent to land transactions.

“These are important documents to facilitate housing delivery and housing finance that we need to pay more attention to, in addition to the process involved in granting of construction permits and approvals”

Speaking about rent being paid tenant, the Minister canvassed the reduction in the number of years being charged tenants for rent.

“The other important matter we must pay attention to is the issue of rent. Housing supply and demand must be seen beyond ownership alone and must include rental housing.

“At the Federal Government level, we have introduced Rent-to-Own into our acquisition/sale model for the disposal of the Houses in the National Housing Programme.

“I concede that majority of the houses belong to the private sector and they expect legitimate income from rent for the properties.

“However, I hold a strong view that asking for two to three years rent in advance from working class people (as distinct from corporate tenants who may prefer to pay in advance) does more harm than good to all concerned and to the economy.

“Interestingly, rent is a matter over which the Federal Government has no constitutional authority because it is a business,” he added.

Earlier, while declaring the meeting open, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, disclosed that his administration placed priority on housing.