Jonathan urges delegation of authority by governors in consent to land use
President Goodluck Jonathan has called on the 36 state governors to delegate their land consent authority to speed up land acquisition process.
Jonathan made the call at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday while launching the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC).
The NMRC, a public-private partnership arrangement initiated in 2012 to bridge the funding cost of residential mortgages and promote the availability and affordability of housing to Nigerians.
It is a component of the housing finance programme of the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Housing Ministry and the World Bank.
Jonathan also called for reduction of land registration cost as well as computerisation of land registry in the country.
Computerisation of land registry will ease land administration in the country, he said
“The housing sector is known worldwide as an avenue for job creation and economic stability. That’s why we’re focused on the sector, and the concrete action we’ve taken is alleviating the major constraints to its rapid development.
“The next major steps we’ve taken are to create the enabling environment for primary mortgage bank and other financial institutions to offer real mortgage facilities to Nigerians at affordable rates. That’s the mandate we’ve given the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company. Without taking this initiative as a nation, we can’t get to where we want to go,” he said.
Earlier, Supervising Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Sani Sada said the launching of the NMRC would engender effective implementation of the mass housing initiative aimed at rapidly increasing the national housing stock.