Oyo State Government says shelter, being one of the basic needs of man, should be accessible to the people of the state and that it is making all efforts to ensure houses are available.
The Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Seyi Makinde, Mr Sulaimon Olanrewaju, said this on Tuesday to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan.
Olanrewaju, while making clarification on reasons behind the state government’s partnership with Fendini Homes and other private firms to build housing estates in some parts of the state, said the policy was good for the growth and economic development of the state.
According to him, people who do not have enough money to embark on building projects of their own can have something to serve as a stop gap for them to own a house and pay back for over a period of time.
“Now when people subscribe to these kind of arrangement and they access these facilities, the pressure for government to make houses available will be reduced.
“Also building projects by these developers will boost the economy of the state, because artisans such as bricklayers, welders, carpenters will be employed and suppliers of building materials such as sand, woods and other building materials within the state, thus help the individuals and state economy as well.
“Eventually when the houses are ready, owners will pay tenanment rate, which is revenue for the government.
“So, it is a good thing, that’s the reason government embraced the policy.”
Olanrewaju further reiterated the commitment of the Makinde led administration toward the welfare of the state workforce and the people of the state in general.
According to him, government has since 2019 increased housing loan for civil servants, having realised that housing loan before then wasn’t enough for any civil servant to get the kind of building that they wanted.
“But for other people who are not civil servants and can’t access housing loans meant for civil servants, they can access houses that are funded by the private developers, that’s why government is going into partnership with private developers.
“With these, every aspect of the society is being taken care of, both civil servants as well as those who are on their own,” he said.
Also, Prince Adelaja Adeoye, the Chief Executive Officer of a private developer, Fendini Homes, who recently entered into partnership with the government, told NAN the collaboration was to build 400 units of houses in Ibadan, the state capital.
Adeoye said the Rayfield Gardens City Estate at Alao-Akala GRA Olodo Road, Ibadan, occupied 22 hectares of land, and was a public-private partnership project with the state government via the Oyo State Investment Public and Private Agency (OYSIPPA).
He said the core mandate of the project was to develop decent housing estate for interested people in Oyo State and outside the state.
He added that its major focus was to provide quality housing development for the people of the state in line with the agreement reached with the state government.
“Our estate must be standard, first of its kind in the state, because we are having both residential and commercial property within the estate.
“At the commercial wing, there will be a three-star hotel, shopping malls, offices complex, Automated Teller Machine galleries, banking and recreation centres where economic activities will be activated while the residential wing will be mainly for the 400 housing units.
“It is going to be a smart estate, technology-driven that will prove to the world that we have what it takes to have standard estate in Oyo state,” he said.
Adelaja said the completion of the 400 units would not only reduce housing deficit in the state but boost the state economy.
He assured the government and the people of Oyo State that his firm would deliver on the mandate and make it a real estate destination of choice in the state.
