_34 ~~~~~7. ~'~_'~""._'
' _20_tl _
_
_ __
_ _ __ __
_
_
Propert1~Env:ronment
16 million housing needs can be met -Minister StorielJ by Chukwuma Okparaocha, Lagos HE I~linister of I lousing. Ms Ama Pepple, when commenting on the current ho using shortage in tJlecountry, believed to be around IIi million, has said it is imp!rative for the to he add ressed,
T
while also indicating her optimism that the deficit gradua lly bE"ing is reduced. This was contained in a report made available by the Federal MortgagE" Bank of Nigeri a (FMBN), which also declared that
N igerian s st ill had the notion that socia l housing scheme, w h ich provides mass ho uses at cheaper prices, was not feasible; b u t added that the minister believed that the scheme was workable. The minister of Housing. il was revealed,
ha s urged FMBN to furth e r work towards providing quality houses at affordable prices for the teeming Nigerian population. Pepp lE" lauded the effo r ts of the FMBN management to increase pa rticipation in t he National Housing Fund
by bringing more states to contribute to the scheme. She implored the FMBN management to continue wi th theeliorts in order to enable more NigE"rians benefit from the housing scheme. Currently, according to the report, abou t 12 states arc not contributing to the National Housing Fund, a Federa l Government's hous in g scheme administe red by the FMON, which provides housing loans at six per cent to eligible to the
that the ExecutivE" Director, O rganisation Resourcing Department, FMBN, M r Mike Nwogbo, said the bank had been working towa rds improving the housing stock in Nigeria.. According to him, the bank was sou rcin g mortgage funds through the N HF as well as through the capital markel Nwogbo added that the bank ha d, throug h the N H F, collected N73.6 billion from contributors as at July, 201 1, while N72.4 billion Iud been disbursed (or housing finan ce also as at Jul y
N igeria n -From left. reprt"sentative of the General M1HI3ser o fChoice FA!, Mr Donatus Okpara; Deputy President of the ksodstJon of Property Investment and Commissioned Agents of Nigeria (APlCAN), Mr Jide Odelo/a. and tlle Seluor Special AssistlHlt to the Lagos State Government on Justice Sector Reform, Mr Olanrewaju AJcinsol", Et a forum on the new tenancy law in ugos, organised by APlCAN, recl!11tly. Photo: Owkwuma OkpllrltOdla
CliInate change: AIDB to launch $100bn 'Africa Green Fund'
Inst itute of Builders (N IOO) has made a n allempl to
address the challenges bei ng faced by ind igenous construction co mpanies i,n Nigeria. ('specia ll y. when compared
with
the ir
counterparts from other parts of the world.
This was con ti'li ned in F feele rs eme rging He sa id the fund W05 E con 0 m i 5 t 5, devastating impa ci of a communique issued by from the Afr ica n designe d around the environmenta l experts. climate ch ange was the Media Officer of the Develo')ment Bank clima te change issue. Hit ch' il socie t y and a lready costing Africa a institu te, M r Ali'ani (AfDB) are l'nylhinglo go is just to make sure that g 0 v e r n m e n I lot. Adegoke. which came on by. then Afl ica is about 10 this opportu ni ty a round representa tives me l in The requirements in Ihe heels of a conference! receive a h' lge moneta ry climate ch ange doesn' t Eth iop ia a t the African le rm s of fin ancia l Annua l General Meeting provision te help fight Ihe become a curse, but on ly Eco n om ic Conference requiremen t for climate (AGM) held by the scourge of c1imatechange becomes an opportu nity," 20 11 un der the th e m e cha n ge adaplation inSlitu te a t th e NECA and global wamling. he sa id . 'G reen Economy and programmes in Africa, House, Cen tral Business The Africa n He a lso revealed thai Si r u c t 1.1 r OJ I he revea led , was said to District, Agiding"i, Ike;a, DevelopmEnt Bank said the Fund wou ld be used Transformati o n ' 10 be around $20billion to Lagos, recently. there were plans in the 10 finance green projects disc u ss and p u s h for $30billion per yea r. n'e conference, which pipeline II. establish a in infrastru cture such as str u ctu ra l c h anges in " Mobilising the se had the theme; $100 biHien ' A(rica Green dam s, hyd ro-electric A fri ca n cou n tries resources is a greal Expa triates in the Fu n d' to add ress Ih e powe r generation, towards a g ree n c h allenge a n ti even if Nigerian bufJding issues of climate changE" geothe rma l, wi nd farm s, economy iU t h e th e resources are canst-ruction indus try: co n fro n l1ng the Bnd any form of clean con tinent and the whole avai lable, accessi.ng it is Merits lHId demerils,. and con tinent. energy wou ld fall under wo rld is be in g faced a problem," he said . which was well attended Professor Mthuli the umb re ll a of t lJe with the challenges o f He called on African by all the professionilis in Ncube, Ch er Economist Fund . climate change. co un tries to do two the bui lt environmen t, and Vice Pl('$ident of the H e further di sclosed Recently, Prof. thin gs; Inst itu ting was chosen to examine A fri ca n Development thattheFundwou ld a lso Emman u e l Nnadozie, po li cies 10 i'1di'1pt to themeritsa nddemeritsof Ba nk (Af[lB), sa id at a cater fo r t h e AFOB's Directo r of Economic climi'1te change and the invoh' emen l o f press cOlfe re nce in 0 c 0 Development, NEPAD adopting an econ omic expa triate in the Nigerian Addis Abat,a, du ring the econo mi c p rogramme D ivision, United transforma tion strategy buildi n g const ru ct ion Africa Econom ic such as the Sahel Nations Economic that wou ld not wo rsen industry. Commissi}ll (AEC) programme in Mali to Comm ission (or Africa the problem, "because it Eminent personalities confe renCt! on Green address the ch a ll enges told jo urn alis ts a t a pays nobody for A frica In various relevant fields Economy r nd Structu ral posed by deserlifi cation sensitisatio n, Workshop 10 contribute to dimate of s tudies also used the Transform Ilion that th e by reducing its impacts in Addis Ababa, cha nge which is a l.read y occasion to give an infund wa! sti ll bei n g 011 farme rs, a nd that it Ethiopia th at "The affecting Africa worse d epth ana lysis of the conceptualised . wou ld also be u sed to impact of climate cha nge than anyone else,w he theme, as well as ils legal He said Ihe money was pro vide ir rigation is huge on the economy sa id . implications. According to Prof. "Most of o ur we ll ex pected 10 com e fr om sch em es for fa rme rs to and the peop le," h e co untri es in the n orth reduce their dependence sa id, as cou ld be seen in N na dozie, Africa must m ean ing projects were and from Africa. H e on the rai ns. the shrin king of natural adopt a green economy being designed by the mention ed , among He was hopeful thot reso u rces such as Ihe s tra tegy w hi ch expatriates a nd equally o thers, pension funds as Ihe bank wou ld be able Lake C h a d , and sea promotes sus ta inable awarded to them to someoflh"SOUrceSfrom to cap it a li se the Fund erosio n a t Ke ta in development, use less execute. Exa mples· a re w hich th~ money wo uld and launch it as soon as G h ana. carbon and more NlObiliion cement factory be __ rn_;"' _d._______....!p~o~,~,~;~b~I,:;.________.JH[!.!''_'!.~d~d~,"d!...'~h~.~'W'~h~,'-~,~,~",~w::.:.~b~":..;;'~"~,~,g.y".'___..p.rod"".u.,.ti,o"""••
I
awarded expat ri ates by Dangole Group of Companies, the Ikoyi Link Bridge given to a Germany compa ny to design and execu ted by Lagos State government. The question is where a re the Nigerian designers and other allied pro fessionals?" the communjqu~ queried . "The expa tria tes, are they new in the country? Is it possible to insulate our constru ction indus try fr om other industries in this g loba l world as far as the invo lveme nt of th e . expatriates? What can be done to reduce the influx of these expatriatesr' These werc some of the questions pe rtinent in the rai sed communiq ue. Based on t he se ques t ions ri'1ised, the follOWin gs were therefore suggested to the government so as to reduce the influx of the expatriates a nd serve as awayoutoft heexisting method s of constructi on; . Professionals should endeavour to work logetherasa team i.e. t11ey sh ould wo rk towards establ is h ing a mega company. • We s hou ld learn to inlegratetheconstruction pro fessioni'1ls and arti sa ns . This ca n be achievedbycollaboralion a~~ . not com pei ilio n between the indigl:nous professiunol ls in the built
'.lbe""".'.'.O•••"":::.......'"""'"i""rnn"""w.,"JI....____