NHP Houses: Ministry Begins 1st Batch Issuance of Offer Of Provisional  Allocation    The Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development commenced the issuance of 1st batch Offer of Provisional Allocation to the Outright Subscribers of Houses under the National Housing Programme (NHP).   Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, disclosed this in his office in Abuja.    The issuance of the 1st batch offer of provisional allocation which began in April, 2024 was sequel to the review of the conditions and procedures for the sales of houses under the NHP conveyed on the 29th, December, 2023 via a circular Ref no. DPBH/645/1/43.   Dr. Ogunbiyi disclosed that, a number of Outright Payment Subscribers have completed their payments, while some have started making deposit payments, but yet to complete their payments.   Accordingly, he also reminded the subscribers under the 1st batch Offer of provisional allocation of the NHP Housing Units that the validity period for the completion of all payment was 90 days.   " By this information, the Ministry is informing all the 1st batch Outright Subscribers who are yet to complete their payments for the houses offered them, that a grace of eight (8) weeks is now given to them within which they are advised to complete all their payments " he said.   The Permanent further stated that, any subcriber who fails to complete payment within the eight (8) weeks grace period will have his Offer revoked.   ...

Housing Perm Sec, Ogunbiyi Assures Staff of Better Days Ahead    The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Marcus Ogunbiyi, has assured staff of the ministry of better days ahead.    He gave this assurance, Friday,  August 9th, 2024, during his interaction with the staff of the ministry to brief them on the ongoing transformational projects lined up for execution in the ministry.   Dr. Ogunbiyi told the staff that the challenges of office and parking space, and that of electricity and water supplies would soon be a thing of the past as the ministry was already addressing them assiduously.    " Very soon all those issues will be a thing of the past as concrete and deliberate  measures have been put in place to ensure an enhanced and conducive working environment is provided " he stated    The Permanent Secretary disclosed that the ministry will soon take possession of one of it's office building that has been occupied by another ministry to provide additional space for the staff.    He also mentioned that staff training and welfare would be a priority under his watch in order to encourage and motivate the teaming staff for high performance and productivity    While appreciating members of staff for their patience and perseverance in the discharge of their duties under the circumstances, Dr Ogunbiyi stated that "No pain No gain" as there would be a greater value rewards for hard work in the service.   ...

We Will Ensure Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Building Collapse  – Dangiwa   * Reviews Recommendations of Building Collapse Committee with Regulatory Bodies  * Charges the Commitee to develop a checklist of professionals involved in construction process to ease investigation   Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa,  has stated that the ministry would ensure prosection of persons responsible for building collapse in the country.    The Minister stated this during a review meeting of recommendations of the ministry's building collapse commitee along side regulatory bodies in the built environment.    To ensure proper investigation and prosecution of the Culprits, the minister also charged the Ministry's Committee on building collapse to develop a checklist of professionals involved in the construction process in order to ease investigation and identifying the Culprits.   Dangiwa told the committee " You must come up with a checklist of things to observe during inspection or assessment of building collapse and there must be a column to aportion blame to who is culpable"    According to the Minister, the checklist must ensure quality assurance of the design,  concrete quality, slumb and soil tests  before the construction, who designed the building, who certified the designer, who approved the design and who supervised the construction so as to identify those culpable to stop the embarrassing tie of building collapse in the country.   "Once there is building collapse, we should immediately move there with our checklist, identify it and fill in. Once that is done, you can independently sit down and identify the culprit and support it with tangible evidence that this is the person that hasn't done the correct thing, either the design had not been done or the professional not certified or development control has not given approval or supervision was not done by a professional and it was converted to different use".   The checklist when developed would be presented to  the National Council on Housing for all to understand and be carried along in the implementation.   Dangiwa requested the regulatory bodies in the built environment to forward their  submissions and inputs to the committee on building collapse set up by the ministry for consideration and inclusion in the checklist.   Earlier the Committee on building collapse had presented Twelve recommendations for consideration among which are as follows; Reconstitution of the National Building Code Advisory Committee, Review of the Acts establishing ARCON; CORBON and TOPREC to make them more effective in curbing quackery; Implementation of punitive measures and sanctions for professional negligence, regulatory bodies to collaborate in event of collapse amongst others.   Commenting on the Committee's recommendations, the Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Bldr. Samson Ameh Opaluwah fnib, comended the Honourable Minister for this initiative and his laudable achievements within one year in office.   "Before, when there was an incident of building collapse, nothing  was done to it but this initiative shows that the Federal Government and the Ministry are concerned and ready to tackle this issue to ensure safety and security of lives and properties.   Many of the regulators advocated for the implementation of punitive measures on those found wanting to curb the menace of building collapse in the country.   They called on the ministry to resuscitate the training schools for Artisans and Technicians to train more Artisans, Carpenters and Technicians to follow exactly the specifications in the drawings while doing their work to ensure a perfect job.   The regulatory bodies present at the meeting were; The Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN) Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Town Planners Registration Council (TOPREC), Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, NIESV, Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) and others.   ...