ABUJA – The Niger Delta Housing Scheme designed to compensate displaced indigenes is 95 per cent completed, the Minister Niger Delta Affairs, Dr Steve Oru, said on Tuesday.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, Oru explained that the houses were built to compensate indigenes whose lands were taken by the Federal Government for oil exploration.
The minister also said that displaced people who gave up their lands for the peace of the country would also benefit from the housing scheme.
He said that the nine oil producing states — Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo, Imo and Abia — were the beneficiaries of the 40 housing units.
He said that the ministry had proposed modalities for the sharing the houses and urged community leaders from the nine states to be democratic in the exercise.
The minister said that various communities had been given time to go through the ministry’s proposed modalities of sharing and to dialogue among themselves before returning to the ministry for the implementation of the agreed formula.
“We have virtually concluded the housing schemes but we want to get the inputs of those on ground. [eap_ad_1] “The ministry had earlier met with chiefs and community leaders and had given its intention on how the sharing will be done, but we want their inputs first.”
Oru said that the housing units consisted of 20 three-bedroom and 20 two-bedroom apartments, adding that widows and widowers, the aged and children would be given priority during the allocation process.
He added that Physically Challenged Persons, married youths and members of neighbouring communities would not be left out in the sharing formula which the ministry had proposed to various communities.
The minister said that the houses would be completed in the next two months but that allocation process had started to facilitate the commissioning of the project.
” The ministry will ensure that there will be no conflicts when it is time to allocate these houses to the communities.
“The houses are fewer than the demand and no matter how many you build, people will still require more. The Ministry will work to sensitize people and get a system in place where the sharing is done equitably,” he said.
The Minister of State, Niger Delta Affairs, Arc. Darius Ishaku, met with some community leaders in the area in April 2014, to discuss the modalities of allocating the houses. (NAN)
[eap_ad_4]