By Time Nigeria
As the Abuja Housing Show kicks-off in grand style, governments at the federal and state level have been called upon by to provide social amenities and necessary infrastructures in rural areas to discourage rural-urban migration.
The former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Architect Victor Obong Attah gave this advice when he spoke at the opening ceremony of the on-going 11th Edition of the Abuja International Housing Show in Abuja. The former governor noted that the urge for a better life in the cities is the cause of shortage of housing in the cities across the county.
Attah advised government to make polices that would ensure that new towns are developed to ease the pressure on the existing towns. He pointed out that apart from FESTAC town in Lagos and Abuja, the nation’s capital there are no new cities in Nigeria.
He also noted that the countries like United Kingdom has various new towns and are developing more. The former governor lamented that the construction industry lacks indigenous artisans explaining that “most of the artisans working in the construction industry in Nigeria are either from Cameroun, Niger or Benin Republic”.
He challenged the National Directorate of Employment to train experts in the industry to meet up with standard required in the constructing industry in the country, adding that by so doing employment generation would increase.
Also lending his voice at the occasion, the Chairman of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Senator Victor Ndoma Egba advised the federal government to create a real estate development fund that would operate like mutual funds.
Egba charged the federal government to also provide tax relieves for corporate organisations that contribute to the housing needs of Nigerians. The former senate leader commended the organizers for their commitment to housing need in Nigeria.
According to Ndoma- Egba, “The Abuja International Housing Show is the most authoritative voice in charting the cause of our housing in Nigeria.”