By Yinka Kolawole
The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has set a target of providing 106,000 housing units for Nigerians within the next four years.

Managing Director, FHA, Mr Terver Gemade, who disclosed this at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum in Abuja last week, said that the target was set at the onset of the current management of the housing development agency.

Gemade asserted that the FHA plans to execute the project using internally generated revenue, noting however, that the figure could rise to as high as 240,000 units with government sponsorship. “For the past eight years, we have not been funded by government; we source for finance from the open market.

We do our capital projects with this, pay back the loans with interest and plough back the profit into building more houses. So, this is how we have been surviving for the past eight years,” he said.

The FHA boss said that though the organisation, during its 36 years of existence, has been able to provide only 37,000 housing units, considering the limited resources at its disposal, he noted that the housing agency cannot be said to have fared badly.

“When you now look at the quantum of production vis-à-vis the population of the nation that is yearning for housing, then you may say that we have not fared very well. But I can assure you that if all hands are on deck, I tell you that deficit can be bridged very, very fast; within a short period of time,” he said.

He remarked that FHA is not solely responsible for the country’s housing deficit as it was just one of the agencies of government  saddled with the provision of housing, noting that there are many other agencies that are into housing, including private companies and developers.