By Yinka Kolawole

The federal government has established a National Housing Data Bank (NHDB) to provide reliable platform for collection and management of computerised human settlement data for national planning.

Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Nduese Essien, disclosed this in Abuja at the occasion marking the 2010 World Habitat Day, last week.

Essien recalled that the United Nations (UN) General Assembly had in 1985 declared the first Monday in October of every year for global reflection on providing adequate shelter as well as making human settlements’ environment more liveable for all.

“This year’s theme, ‘Better City, Better Life’ is a pertinent subject-matter designed to draw attention to the challenges of rapid urbanisation, especially its widespread impacts on the total environment. Moreso, the theme has provided an auspicious opportunity to deliberate and take decisive action to address critical issues plaguing the developing world, which include among others, housing shortage, proliferation of slums, redundancy in national economic growth and escalating urban poverty, restricted access to urban opportunities, insecurity occasioned by crime and violence, environment disaster, alienation from rights to urban land,” he stated.

The minister further said that the drive to make the cities better and more conducive for human living does not begin and end with the campaign against slums. According to him, it involves the adaptation of other key and cross-cutting issues including the matter of good urban governance.

UNDP Resident Representative and Co-ordinator of UN Agencies in Nigeria, Dr. Daouda Toure, who represented the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, at the occasion, said that creating better cities demands the combined efforts of national and local governments, civil society and private sector, supported by the best efforts of the United Nations’ system.