Senator (Dr) Hosea Oladapo Ehinlanwo, is a two term senator, who representated Ondo South District in the upper house of the country, senate. His achievements and outstanding records towards the service of national development forced people to re-elect  him in 2007.

In this interview with Saturday Vanguard Business, he first advised FG to ensure that lands for mass housing scheme are allocated to experts and professionals if we must give FCT a befitting housing development as it is in other parts of developed countries. And most importantly, our laws must get hold of dubious and law breakers for us to attract investors to this land. Excerpts: Housing development in FCT…

I think it is a welcome development for FCT. You know FCT, Abuja municipality is a new federal capital and where we feel that Nigeria would be able to have a show of a befitting federal capital. And you know that it took us most of our resources in this country, a capital city of a grandfill.

Ehinlanwo

In some areas, it took so many years to develop, but because of the fast development we are going through, the ever growing Nigerian populace should have put in some years to develop a beautiful city like this. And not only a beautiful city, is because we want to unite Nigeria because of the different languages we have in this country. And since nature has put us together, we felt that we must have to develop a city that is befitting and worth its name. And this is what we have done in Abuja.

However, if you look at the short time we used in developing FCT, it’s amazing in history. It marvels foreigners who came to Abuja that within these few years we have been able to develop a city that looks like a federal capital that has been existing for hundred years.

Yet that is not the end of it. It’s still developing and expanding on a daily basis. And if we now envisage that we want to get a federal capital that would accommodate all Nigerians far and near because we have been encouraging Nigerians abroad to come home and apart from that also, some people from all the states, from the rural community they want to come to Abuja either to stay permanently or to negotiate business on constant basis. Therefore, it’s incumbent on us that we have to look at the situation where we would get mass development of houses.

The mass housing development FG initiated during the planning of FCT’s landcape, how effective is that mass housing development today?

For me, in the past, I think attention had not been given to it in the right perspective as a man in government. But now we are fortunate to have people and experts who know much about mass development of houses in a place like Abuja. And we are even looking beyond Abuja, but it’s one step after another. It is necessary because you will see that after some years, our houses will be too old to look at as modern city and government by then will intend to build modern cities all over the states.

Now we have 36 states and all these states we want to build  examples of  cities of modern time. We are lucky to have some personnel within this city that have gone into several countries of the world and have seen the type of houses that are built in those places, and not only that, they are technocrats on their own. And what they have seen in all other countries they want to bring to Nigeria.

That is why  particular attention, motivation, incentive should be given to people like Faboro who has been an expert in building and has travelled a lot when he was a staff of world bank to come out at this time to develop a new face lift for Abuja and the cities around. So we have to start somewhere that is why we are starting in Abuja.

We learnt that mass housing units in FCT are still facing challenges thereby making it difficult to actualise this project for the benefit of the masses in Abuja?

I think the government of Nigeria is involving and is bent on changing things, because if you see what we achieved in the civilian era two times fast in the government of late Yar’Adua and Jonathan. And President Jonathan is in for another one now. I am very happy that this present government is giving emphasis on mass housing and that is why those who had been before, their emphasis were not on mass housing and they didn’t know what it means and that is why there had been a lot of corruption on that side of our development.

But the present administration is seeing it differently that we have to provide for the people adequate houses to live in. So it’s this time now that the idea came in and this time now God has provided FHT to come on board and to recommend to government, and again the way they have accepted it shows that our government is forward looking.

So, what was done in the past, we stand to correct them because we are not stagnant, we have to move, we have to develop. Our own joy now is that the present administration lays a lot of emphasis on mass housing and that is why FHT is into it and we encourage it.

How do we attract foreign investors into this country?

Since Nigeria is a developing country, we have to give them assurance of security that once they are here, they are free and open to invest their resources and recover resources of houses because building is not something we can do immediately, it has to take time and if investors are coming on a long term basis to work with us, we must have to give them assurance that they are secure here. And not only security, they must be sure of what they are coming to invest upon. For instance, you have to give them a land like we did in the past. It’s not after giving them land, you begin to see mushroom people imposing themselves, trespassing into the lands anyhow as if there is no law. That one must stop. So foreigners that are coming must be assured of returns on their investment. Otherwise no investor would like after investing his money dubious people will now come and spoil his investment. No investor would like that. We have to make sure that people abide by the roles that are meant for that purpose so that investors will not only be secured but their investments as well.

The insecurity in the land has been blamed as a result of high rate of unemployment especially among our youths, if you share that idea what is  the way out of it?

I’m sure that has been the hue and cry of Nigerians now that unemployment is hype. So, it is the responsibility of government to have an environment that is secure. It’s the responsibility of government to have youth employment. When people are employed, all the vices that militate the society will disappear. And that is why we have all the vices of corruption all about. When corruption is stamped out, unemployment is reduced to the bearest minimum and then the security of lives and property, this place will be a paradise for living. And that is the focus of the present administration and they are working towards that.