Nigeria’s Housing Minister, Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, has proposed an innovative solution to make homeownership more accessible to low-income Nigerians. He suggests using 20-30% of the funding for estates to cross-subsidization. This method, called cross-subsidization, worked well in Algeria, where they built one million homes in just one year.
This method would make sure that all housing areas have the same outside look and basic services, while allowing for adjustments to internal finishes to accommodate varying affordability levels. The Minister believes this will help more Nigerians get affordable and good-quality homes.
The plan is part of a wider strategy to ease the financial burden on low-income families with their financial burdens and to make sure that affordable, good-quality houses are built. The Minister also praised the Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun, for securing the Federal Executive Council approval for the Ministry of Finance Incorporated Real Estate Investment Fund (MREIF). The Minister called it a big change for Nigeria’s housing area.
Additionally, the Minister called for the recapitalization of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to empower it to generate affordable mortgages independently of MREIF funding. He also emphasized the importance of giving more support to the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to help it improve its ability to lead housing projects and tackle the increasing shortage of homes in the country.
