The new Ministry for Housing and Urban Development and the National Population Commission (NPC), have expressed their readiness to collaborate towards establishing accurate and verifiable housing data in Nigeria.
Receiving the Chairman and the commissioners of NPC on a visit to his office, the Minister of housing and urban development, Arch Ahmed Dangiwa stated that the objective of collaborating with the NPC was to be able to accurately determine the extent of housing deficit in Nigeria.
” Our collaboration with the National Population Commission, particularly in the context of the next national census is a critical step in this journey.The census is a timely exercise, one that provides us with an invaluable opportunity to gather precise and comprehensive data on our population housing needs,” he said
Expressing concern over the conflicting and unsubstantiated figures on Nigeria housing deficit peddled over the years with the range of estimate varying from 17 to 28 millions, Arc Dangiwa said that both organisations must work together to establish accurate, credible, verifiable and scientifically sound data on the country’s housing deficit as well as the living conditions of homes lived in by Nigerians nationwide.
The Minister also explained that housing deficit, ” signifies the gap between the demand for housing and the available housing stock that is safe, affordable, and adequately meets the needs of the citizens.”
He further expressed his commitment to driving the focus on data collection in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, explaining that formulation of policies and implementation of projects that are guided by data are more effective and accountable to the citizens.
Accordingly, the Minister also revealed that the Federal Government has mulled the creation of National Social Housing Fund to cater for the low income earners in the country, noting that having accurate data would enhance effective policy making and strategic planning for such project.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman, National Population Commission and leader of the delegation, Hon. Nasir Isa Kwarra, said that the Commission has established a data collation system where special data can be accessed. He said that the data would be beneficial to the housing ministry, Federal Government Establishments and private sectors.
Hon Kwarra disclosed that the Commission was working with the National Assembly to ensure that Census would be conducted every ten years as adopted by the United Nations no matter the situation in the country, mentioning the last census was conducted in 2006 but could not be conducted ten years later due to transition to a new of government.
While assuring Nigerians of the readiness of the Commission to conduct the next digital census, Hon. Kwarra mentioned that the entire country has been enumerated ànd local government areas that could not be accessed because of insecurity were enumerated using hybrid technology.
On the issue of the devices to be used for conducting the forthcoming census, he explained that, though the devices were tested during the mock census and were found to be efficient they would still be tested during another mock census as this would erase any doubt on the Commission’s readiness for effective head count.
The Chairman further assured Nigerians that everyone would be counted irrespective of their status.
For effective collaboration, Hon. Kwarra has requested both organisations to constitute a team that would work together to provide the required support for the benefit of Nigeria.