The federal government says there is a need for data to guide operations in the housing sector, noting that only 5.6 million out of 80 million workers are currently contributing to the National Housing Fund (NHF).
Shehu Usman Osidi, the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), stated this in Abuja at the inauguration of a joint steering committee for National Housing Data by the Minister of Housing.
He emphasised the need for data in economic planning and growth of the housing sector, reports Daily Trust.
Osidi, who is a member of the steering committee, noted that, “Only 5.6 million out of the over 80 million working Nigerians contribute to the National Housing Fund, hence the need for a data centre to ensure proper planning and also determine the aggregate contributions of the sector to GDP.”
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa, said the ministry considered data as a national emergency for the housing sector, which is why government is taking proactive steps to establish a data centre that will provide accurate information to guide its policies and contributions of the sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Dangiwa said, “The committee has been established as a strategic partnership among key stakeholders in Nigeria’s housing market, with the mandate to develop and implement a blueprint for ensuring transparency and ease of access to housing data in Nigeria, which will be essential for policy and decision-making towards affordable housing and the well-being of Nigerians.
“The terms of reference of the committee is to develop the framework and modalities for setting up the National Housing Data Centre (NHDC), covering Technical Requirements and Specifications, and Transactional and Legal Documentation, including SLAs, create a framework for data gathering channels from public and private institutions as well as design a framework for distributing housing data to institutional and retail investors in the Nigerian financial market among others.”
Speaking further, he noted that the timelines for the deliverables for the National Housing Data Centre Framework is two months while Data Collection Framework is three months.
