SPEECH BY ARC. AHMED MUSA DANGIWA, HON MINISTER FOR HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ON ASSUMING DUTY AT THE STAKEHOLDER’S AGENDA SETTING DINNER ORGANIZED BY FRIENDS OF DANGIWA & HOUSING DEVELOPMENT ADVOCACY NETWORK

Protocols

1. First, I’ll like to sincerely thank my friends, the entire leadership, and members of the Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN) for organizing this timely and important event in my honor.
2. My special thanks to Bar. Festus Adebayo, the Executive Director of HDAN, who has over the years become a dear friend. I call him the Senior Advocate of Affordable Housing. He along with Surv. Ugochukwu Chime and other notable stakeholders gave me their unflinching support all through my time as the MD/CEO of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). I remember two years ago, when I finished my five-year term, they led the HDAN to organize a Sent forth Dinner for me and have kept in touch all through. They have been consistent in their friendship, and I appreciate and thank them deeply.
3. I believe that what we all came to share over time is the belief and conviction that all Nigerians deserve to have access to decent, quality, and affordable housing and that as housing industry stakeholders it is up to us in our various capacities to do things differently and collectively work towards breaking all the systemic barriers that are preventing that from becoming possible.
4. This is really what drives me and that is why I am very grateful to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for giving me the privilege to serve as the Minister for Housing and Urban Development. I consider this as a big opportunity to work with you all in our shared vision of affordable housing for all Nigerians.
5. Today I make bold to say that I am highly optimistic that with the support of His Excellency to do uncommon things, there is no challenge that the housing sector currently faces that collectively we cannot overcome.
6. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development carries a huge responsibility in setting the agenda and ensuring a coordinated approach to housing and urban development.
7. I believe that the responsibility of the Ministry is to create an enabling environment that encourages private sector investment and formulate policies that empower agencies under my supervision to perform their functions optimally. This will be a central focus of my leadership.
8. I have been one of you and still remain one of you. I know your passion for the housing sector, I know and understand the issues that bother you regarding the manner and pace of development and what needs to be done to fix things. I also know that you all mean well, and I am ready to work with all of you towards moving fixing these issues. I will consult, leverage the collective wealth of your expertise, knowledge of the industry and ideas and together we shall change the narrative for the good of our people.
9. Indeed, we are facing numerous challenges, but with challenges come opportunities for growth and progress. With rapid population growth, the demand for housing in our nation is ever-increasing, and it is our duty to rise to the occasion and meet these needs head-on.
10. In line with the vision of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, I promise to take bold initiatives, champion strategic housing reforms, and break systemic barriers to housing and urban development. We will think outside the box and do things differently. Our actions will be informed by sound knowledge and research of what works and what doesn’t work.
11. Amongst several plans and priorities, we would:
    a. Work closely with the National Assembly to review relevant laws to streamline land and housing administration and create a conducive environment for investment in the housing sector.
    b. We will prioritize the N500Billion recapitalization of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to give it leverage and enhance its ability to provide more affordable mortgage loans and rent to own options to Nigerians.
    c. We will reform the FMBN, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and other housing agencies so they can have the necessary capacity, and the technological edge to deliver world class services to Nigerians.
    Our goal is to ensure that these strategic agencies are more effective and efficient in delivering at massive scale, decent and quality housing to Nigerians nationwide. Doing so will also help towards unlocking the massive power of the construction industry to create jobs and contribute its quota towards achieving His Excellency’s Plan to grow the economy, boost inclusive growth and lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
    d. We will also embrace innovative housing construction financing solutions while working with relevant institutions to unlock the funding required to deliver massive affordable housing nationwide.
12. Since I resumed, I have been meeting with the Principal Staff of the Ministry and the heads of agencies under my supervision. Within the next couple next couple of days, we shall be unveiling our Strategic Housing and Urban Development Blueprint which will contain details of our priorities, initiatives, reforms, and plans.
13. As I said before, His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, is a bold, innovative, and progressive leader that is ready to fix and move Nigeria forward. He remains committed to providing us with all the support that we need to reform the housing sector and increase access to decent, quality housing for all Nigerians.
14. I therefore urge us all to embrace this historic opportunity and work with passion and dedication so that we can collectively play our part towards transforming Nigeria’s housing landscape.
15. Thank you once again for organizing this dinner and I look forward to working with you towards changing the narrative of housing and urban development in Nigeria for good.
16. THIS IS A MOMENT OF CHANGE. LET’S ALL CEASE IT AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
17. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.