By Kate Obande-Okewu
Abuja – The Federal Government says it plans to reduce the cost of providing houses to civil servants through the Federal Integrated Staff Housing Scheme (FISH).
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Oyo-Ita said that the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) was currently partnering relevant Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to reduce cost of infrastructure and land.
She added that this partnership would further reduce the cost of the houses and make it affordable for civil servants, instead of the initial price placed on it by the developers.
She said that the major challenge FISH was encountering was that the concept of the programme was not captured by relevant MDAs in their various budgets, but has been addressed in 2018 budget.
“ Now we have to go back to the drawing board, we are now working with our infrastructure housing MDAs.
“To see how we can bring down the prices to a level that civil servants can actually take advantage of.
“The private developers will no longer have to bear the cost of the land and infrastructure because these are two things that cause high cost of houses,
“We will now take advantage of the developers input by way of skills and technical knowhow, while the government agencies provide the land and infrastructure.’’
The head of service expressed her gratitude to the FCT Minister, Minister of Power, Works and Housing for providing a district for the FISH programme.
She also thanked the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, for providing infrastructure for FISH in the 2018 budget, and the Minister of Finance for their contributions towards the programme
