Two years after taking the reins at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa is betting on sweeping reforms to tackle one of Nigeria’s most intractable problems: a housing deficit of more than 17 million units.
The Minister, appointed by President Bola Tinubu in August 2023, has overseen the most ambitious housing drive in recent memory, rolling out over 10,000 housing units across 14 states and the FCT in just 24 months, a pace that dwarfs the 3,500 delivered in the eight years prior.
A Reset Beyond Bricks and Mortar
At the heart of Dangiwa’s agenda is the Renewed Hope Housing Programme (REHHP), a three-tier model of cities, estates, and social housing. Flagship projects include a 3,112-unit “Renewed Hope City” in Abuja’s Karsana district and mega sites in Lagos and Kano.
Yet the reforms go deeper than construction. The ministry is also:
Fixing slums: More than 150 communities have been upgraded under the National Urban Renewal and Slum Upgrade Programme (NURSUP).
Unlocking dead capital: With 96% of land untitled, the new Land4Growth initiative aims to digitize land registries, potentially unlocking $300bn in dormant assets.
Reshaping housing finance: Through reforms at the Federal Mortgage Bank and Federal Housing Authority, government-backed mortgages now feature single-digit rates and rent-to-own options, while ₦70bn in private capital has been mobilized.
Driving data-driven policy: The National Housing Data Centre (NHDC) is being developed to end decades of guesswork in policy and investment decisions.
The Ambition and the Risk
For the poor and vulnerable, Dangiwa has promised 77,400 low-cost homes, 100 in each LGA, along with 2 million jobs through construction and artisan training. To cut building costs, the ministry plans local manufacturing hubs for materials in all six geopolitical zones, targeting a 25% drop in prices.
Still, the scale of ambition raises questions. Nigeria’s housing deficit grows by nearly a million units annually, and with rising inflation, high interest rates, and weak state-level land reforms, experts caution that delivery may struggle to keep pace with rhetoric.
Restoring Trust
To combat decades of fraud and abandoned estates, the Ministry has launched a Housing Fraud Reporting Platform and partnered with the police to recover encroached federal land. International financiers such as Shelter Afrique, the World Bank, and UN-Habitat are also backing the reforms, but only sustained implementation will build confidence.
“We’re Just Beginning”
Dangiwa insists the reset has only started: “We inherited a housing sector riddled with systemic challenges. We are not just building houses; we are building hope, dignity, and prosperity for millions of Nigerians. And we are only just beginning.”
Whether his reforms can outpace Nigeria’s structural hurdles and whether the momentum lasts beyond his tenure will decide if this bold reset is a historic breakthrough or another false dawn in the country’s decades-long housing crisis.
