FG to provide 180,000 housing units for civil servants — Buhari

 President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, said the Federal Government would provide 180,000 cost-effective and affordable housing for various categories of workers in the federal civil service by 2019. Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of State for Power, Works, and Housing, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, disclosed this at the ground breaking ceremony of the Federal Civil Servants Housing Estate in Abuja. He said the Federal Integrated Staff Housing, FISH, programme initiated by office of the Head of Service of the federation, apart from addressing welfare concerns of civil servants, would contribute in no small measure to the development of national economies through the generation generation of employment in the building and allied industries and its attendant increase in financial intermediation and economiec activities. Buhari explained that despite the allocation of over N40 billion to housing in the 2016 budget, the Federal Housing Authority, FHA, taking cognisance of the resource constraints in the economy, would implement the housing project under the Public-Private-Partnership policy of his administration. Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifered Ekanem Oyo-Ita, in her remarks,  lamented that a large proportion of civil servants lived in slums and unplanned settlements because of their inability to own a house or rent decent accomodation in a planned layout or in the city. She said it was, therefore, pertinent to implement the FISH programme to enable civil servants own homes as a means to uplift their morale, commitment, stewardship, and quality during and after service.