Borno State Government has inaugurated a committee to build 500 housing units in Maiduguri.

After completion of houses, they will be sold on an Owner Occupier Housing Scheme (OOHS) to address problems of shelter in the state capital.

Inaugurating the committee in Maiduguri, Governor Babagana Zulum said that the housing project would be completed next year.

He also approved the sales of 2,787 houses in five government estates, to persons who were allocated by previous administrations.

According to him, the five housing estates; comprise 1,000, 777, 505, 303, and 202 and to be sold under OOHS.

The committee, headed by Deputy Governor, Umar Kadafur has engineers and others professionals as members.

The houses belong to the state government; while the tenants pay annual rents to the government under the scheme.

On new housing projects, he said: “This administration has entered legal agreement with Family Homes Nigeria Limited, a private housing developer, for the construction of 1,700 urban housing and 3,200 rural housing in the state.

“The completion of housing projects, are to be executed through a public-private partnership,” he said, pledging that government will ensure a sustainable rural and urban development programme.

He said the programme would also regulate the construction industry guarantee public safety and maintenance culture.

(The Guardian)