Appraising Wike’s Housing Projects

From time immemorial, one basic need of mankind is shelter. Without shelter no human being will feel complete. It is when you have a roof over your head that you are seen as a complete human being. That is why serious effort is usually made by reasonably governments the world over to provide houses for the citizenry.

Understandably, this is perhaps the reason why the action governor of  Rivers State  Chief  Nyesom Ezenwo Wike decided to prioritize Housing as a focus of government policy in his first one-hundred days in office – by embarking on construction of the fifty units two bedroom flats ‘of medium income flats’ at Iriebe Satellite Town, in Obio/ Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

In his welcome speech during commissioning of, the project, the Commissioner of the Ministry of Housing, Barr. Emma Okah recalled that one-week after his inauguration as Commissioner for Housing, on 12th June, 2015, Governor, Chief Barr. Nyesom  Wike had the vision of providing affordable houses for usage by  rivers people, a  cardinal task in the policy of his administration hence the birth of these  50 units of two-bed room flats to mark his first 100 days in office among other people’s oriented projects across the state.

Although, it is on note that successive governments made significant progress in the housing sector particularly, the then administration of former governor Dr. Peter, Odili, during when the state saw the siting of over 5,000 housing units in fulfillment of his maiden address to the people or Rivers Stat~ Dr. Peter Odili then promised to initiate a programme to transform some old public buildings into modern houses to accommodate more people in one space.

However, most of these housing projects are either abandoned or uncompleted. The attitude of apparent project abandonment in the sector allows for illegal occupation which obviously translates to loss of government scarce resources and government in ability to achieve project purposes. Interestingly, most ‘of these housing units provided by the Odili administration were duly completed and sold or allocated to the citizenry as planned.

To that fact, Dr. Odili’s administration remains green in memories of the people for pushing in the desired direction that has the welfare of the citizenry in the housing sector.

September 5, 2015 is therefore a new dawn as the people of Rivers State felicitate with Wike as we witness the commissioning of the 50 units of two bed room flats christened medium income flats to mark his first 100 days in office as Governor.

It is worthy to note that the Governor in his official commissioning speech emphasized access to decent and affordable shelter.  According to ‘Governor Wike,’ most people, including ‘civil servants cannot afford to build or buy their own homes because the cost is beyond their means.

To tackle this challenge, he said government will invest in the provision of social housing in partnership with private investors, to expand opportunities for housing development by providing more service plots in urban area~ to civil servants and low income earners.

Furthermore, Governor Wike stressed the need for government support  to establishment of new housing district I estates, also to fast-track and simplify the process of issuance of certificate of occupancy (C of O) to deserving members of the public.

The Governor in concluding his speech instructed staff of the Ministry of Housing to ensure that the flats are effectively dispensed with within two-weeks from date of commission, stressing that the project is not for profit making but ‘for affordability and usage of rivers people who are in dire need of lands for housing development. In a special quiz, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing Mr. Belema Mangibo attributed the timely success of the project to the sensitivity of the Governor’s modus at approval and disbursement of funds for execution of the projects.

In as much as we appreciate and salute the courage and determination of the people’s Governor, we the people of Rivers State will indeed be more grateful if the Governor should, with same zeal, revisit the numerous abandoned housing projects across the state with a view to evicting all illegal occupants from such project sites and starting the process for reconstruction to completion stages and handover such housing units to relevant agencies for effective administration to the benefit of rivers people who are in dire need of affordable houses to be called  their own.

Fuayefika is a public policy analyst.

Tonye Fuayefika

Culled from www.thetidenewsonline.com