The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, on Wednesday, disclosed that the Ministry was owing 6,455 contractors a whooping sum of N92 billion for work done in the 2024 fiscal year.
The Minister, who was represented by the Minister of State, Mr Yusuf Attah, made the disclosure to the Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Development, during the 2024 budget defence and 2025 budget presentation at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja.
Attach also disclosed that the Ministry recorded N6.232 billion in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2024, attributing the low IGR to “insecurity across the country and the high inflationary trend experienced throughout the year.
On the outstanding liabilities, the Minister said, “Many contractors have executed their jobs duly certified for payment but not paid, leaving the ministry with huge outstanding liabilities to the tune of N92,661,800,243.9. Many of these contractors are indebted to their banks, having borrowed the funds to execute the jobs.”
The Minister also gave insight into the N100 billion 2023 supplementary budget utilisation, he saying, “The amount released so far was utilized to pay outstanding certificates of payments owed to contractors for various projects such as the Renewed Hope Housing Cities and estates, completion of the National Housing Programme, construction and rehabilitation of federal secretariats and general improvements of infrastructure across the country.”
Attah explained that the Renewed Hope Housing Scheme and Cities Programme and National Housing Programme, was a total of “7,522 housing units spread across the 35 states of the federation and the FCT, which have been under construction, out of which 3,388 have been completed, while 4,134 units are still ongoing.”
Senators who attended the session expressed concern over the visibility of the projects he mentioned in his performance report as he could not explain the difference between the Renewed Hope Housing Scheme and Cities Programme and the National Housing Programme, claiming that he was new in the Ministry.
Agitated by the position of the Minister, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Central) sought to know where the projects were located because he had never seen any Renewed Hope Housing Unit in the whole of Bauchi State and his constituency in particular.
“This is music to our ears,” he said, adding that “these are very strange to us. I am from Bauchi State. I represent Bauchi State, I don’t know where you are doing this project, I don’t know how. Here I am representing the very good people of Bauchi Central. I have been here for up to one and a half years as Senator, and I’ve no knowledge at all of this Renewed Hope Housing.
Is this Renewed Hope only to you or to Nigerians? Even as you’re not reporting details of what you’re doing, are you reporting details to Nigerians? Do Nigerians know of some of these things?
“I asked my colleagues, members of the Senate if they are aware of the establishment of this ongoing project, if they are aware of the ongoing project, if they are aware of the size of this project.”
He also expressed concern over some exclusions in the budget, especially the recurrent component of the 2024 budget.
Ningi stated, “How I wish it wasn’t the state Minister that is in our midst today. How I wish it was the Minister. The Ministry of Housing, even though the Permanent Secretary is new, the state minister is new, the only role in this National Assembly is this yearly ritual during the budget and then nothing happens until next year, and this is exactly what the Ministry of Housing does under the present leadership.
“First, I don’t see the components. We have not seen the personnel, we have not heard about overheads. So, what you are bringing today for defence is actually the capital component and therefore, the committee must arrange for you to also bring in the overheads and the personnel, which we have found in the course of budget defence to be very abused. I am not saying it is abused here.”
He also sought clarification on the whereabouts of N22.6 billion outstanding from the N100 billion since the minister said N77 billion, or 77.3 percent, has been expended so far from the 2023 supplementary budget.
However, immediately Ningi finished his observations, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim (APC, Ondo South) countered him, saying that it was erroneous to say that the projects were not visible when the implementation timeline had not elapsed.
He said: “Building houses, Mr Chairman, you don’t acquire land in one day, do a survey one day, do planning in one day, do approval in one day. More important is the 20,000 housing units and again, in 35 states of the federation. So we know as senators, the fact that we had an extension for the capital projects in 2024. So it may not be out of place that the ministry is projecting and explaining how that intends to be done. Not that 2024 has come to an end and the capital budget has been released to them and they have not done anything. I just want to make that clarification.”
Meanwhile, Ibrahim’s comment attracted the anger of his colleagues who shouted in disapproval, cautioning him not to speak in defence of the Minister.
Reacting to the development, Senator Osita Ngwu (PDP, Enugu West), noted that that since the Committee oversights activities of the Executive, it was wrong for the lawmaker to speak for the Minister, urging that the Minister be allowed to respond to members’ questions.
