The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaqa Darma, has inaugurated a 14-member committee to implement stakeholder recommendations on housing sector reforms, giving it six weeks to develop a strategy for transforming Nigeria’s built environment.
Darma said the committee was expected to ensure that the housing sector contributed significantly to the country’s economic development, while also creating an enabling environment for Nigerians to provide housing for themselves.
Speaking at the inauguration of the committee, which was held on Thursday in Abuja, the minister said the government had a responsibility to house Nigerians and regulate the built environment to maximise its contribution to the national economy.
He said, “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.”
Darma also stressed the need for stronger regulation of the built environment, noting that the sector had significant potential to contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product. He said, “We also have the task of ensuring that the built environment is very much regulated so that it will contribute to the national economy. The 2025 data released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics indicated that this sector provided more than 70% of the contribution to the national economy.
“In other countries, some of them developing countries like ours, for example, South Africa, even in smaller countries like Kenya, this same sector that contributed more than 70% contributed between 22 to 27% of the GDPs of countries similar to ours.”
The minister expressed optimism that the reforms would enable the industry to play a greater role in the development of the Nigerian economy. He said, “We shall be able to steer this industry to contribute significantly to the development of the economy of this country.
“It is therefore important for members of this committee, who have been carefully selected to drive the transformation process of this industry, to work to ensure that at the end of each hour our dream comes to pass. We have a dream of making this industry the greatest industry to the contributor of the economy in this country.”
Darma urged members of the committee to remain committed to the assignment, assuring them that the ministry would pursue the reforms despite the challenges.
He said, “And we are going to do it. We will not relent in doing it. We don’t know the word impossible. All we see is possibility. And I am sure members of the implementation committee, who will be given just a month and a half to submit reports, will work day and night to please come up with an implementation strategy to make sure that we transform the entire built environment industry.”
He disclosed that the committee comprised 14 members and would be chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry. He said, “And the chairman of this committee is none other than the Permanent Secretary of this ministry. We call you Transformative Permanent Secretary. So the assignment to transform this entire built environment is on your head. We will see how committed you are at the end of this assignment.”
The minister said the committee was expected to develop a built environment capable of accommodating all stakeholders while becoming a major contributor to the national economy. He said, “Gentlemen and ladies, 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.”
Darma formally inaugurated the committee, giving it six weeks to complete its assignment. He said, “I wish to tell you that from this point on, you have been inaugurated as the implementation committee of the stakeholders’ submission to the ministry, and you have been given six weeks to complete your work.”
Responding on behalf of the committee, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Shuaib Belgore, described the assignment as a privilege aimed at improving housing outcomes for Nigerians, standardising practices across the sector and unlocking its potential contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.
Belgore assured the minister that the committee shared his urgency to deliver results. The permanent secretary said the committee had already received a working document which would be thoroughly reviewed to identify gaps and refine it into an effective framework.
He pledged the committee’s full cooperation and loyalty to deliver its mandate within the six-week timeframe. Belgore added that further consultations with stakeholders would be held as the implementation framework takes shape to ensure broad support for the reforms.
He thanked the minister on behalf of the committee for the opportunity to contribute to efforts to ensure that Nigerian families were properly housed. Also speaking through the statement, the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Shehu Osidi, commended Darma for initiating the reform process, noting that some of the proposals were already aligned with steps being taken by the bank.
Osidi, drawing from the FMBN’s previous experience, said attempts to advance the National Housing Fund and FMBN Acts, as well as a later N500bn recapitalisation proposal, had stalled due to resistance from stakeholders. He stressed that effective stakeholder consultation would therefore be critical to the success of the latest reform initiative.
A representative of the Federal Housing Authority, whose Managing Director was absent, also expressed the agency’s commitment to the reform process. The representative said it was FHA’s vision to see the ministry, under Darma’s leadership, emerge as the leading ministry in the country.
He assured that the agency would work closely with the committee to deliver results that would make Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu, and the minister proud.
