Housing minister gives committee six weeks for reforms

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaqa Darma, has given a 14-member committee six weeks to develop an implementation strategy for sweeping reforms in Nigeria’s built environment.

The committee, inaugurated on Thursday in Abuja, is expected to translate recommendations submitted by stakeholders into a framework capable of improving housing delivery, regulating the sector and increasing its contribution to the Nigerian economy.

Darma said the government must not only provide housing for Nigerians but also create conditions that would enable citizens to build or access homes themselves.

“First of all, we have the task of housing Nigerians. If we can’t house them, we have the task of providing the enabling environment for them to house themselves. We must do it. It is our responsibility, and we are very responsible people,” he said.

The minister also called for stronger regulation of the built environment, arguing that the sector has significant untapped economic potential.

He said data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics showed that the sector contributed more than 70 per cent to the national economy in 2025, a figure he contrasted with the 22 to 27 per cent contribution recorded in countries such as South Africa and Kenya.

Darma said the reform process should position the built environment as a major driver of economic growth.

“We shall be able to steer this industry to contribute significantly to the development of the economy of this country,” he said.

He urged members of the committee to approach the assignment with urgency, saying the ministry would not allow obstacles to derail the reform agenda.

“We don’t know the word impossible. All we see is possibility,” the minister said, adding that the committee must work “day and night” to produce an implementation strategy.

The committee is chaired by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Shuaib Belgore.

Darma challenged Belgore and other members to deliver a framework capable of transforming the sector and accommodating the interests of its various stakeholders.

“You have been given the task of ensuring that we have a built environment that will be the greatest contributor to the economy of this country, that will accommodate every individual who is a stakeholder in the industry,” he said.

Formally inaugurating the committee, the minister reiterated that it had six weeks to complete its assignment.

Responding on behalf of the members, Belgore described the task as an opportunity to improve housing outcomes, standardise practices and unlock the economic potential of the built environment.

He said the committee had already received a working document from the ministry, which would be reviewed to identify gaps and develop a workable reform framework.

Belgore assured the minister of the committee’s cooperation and pledged to deliver within the stipulated six-week period.

He added that additional consultations would be held with stakeholders as the framework develops to secure wider support for the proposed reforms.

The Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Shehu Osidi, also backed the initiative, saying some of the proposals were consistent with reforms already being considered by the bank.

Osidi, however, stressed the importance of stakeholder engagement, recalling that previous attempts to amend the National Housing Fund and FMBN Acts, as well as a proposed N500 billion recapitalisation of the bank, encountered resistance and failed to progress.

A representative of the Federal Housing Authority also pledged the agency’s support for the committee and its reform agenda.

The representative said the FHA would work with the ministry and other stakeholders to ensure that the initiative produces tangible improvements in Nigeria’s housing sector.