Housing Demands Go Up In Enugu Due To Insecurity–Official

The rising insecurity in the country is increasing housing demands in Enugu metropolis, Hon Chukwuemelie Agu, general manager, Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, said weekend.

Hon Agu told our correspondent that the housing agency has been overwhelmed by housing demands from people of all walks of life who want to live in Enugu because of the peace in the state.

He said, “Most of our off-takers are even outside the country. Many people want to build at home. The security in the country is forcing many people to relocate to Enugu to invest because of the peace. The surge is an advantage to us.”

He also said the corporation had launched a scheme that gives low-income earners the opportunity to become instant landlords, and settle the bills within thirty years.

In his words, “We are not saying that we are going to build; we have already started building. Through a federal mortgage bank, civil servants and low-income earners generally can conveniently become landlords in the state. We have one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom arrangements. The factors that we consider are the age, length of time remaining in one’s service career for workers and the applicant’s monthly incomes. For non-civil servants, we simply ascertain the applicants’ monthly incomes to know how convenient the arrangement will be.

“We encourage our people to come for profiling. Is it not better to acquire the houses, and use the same rents they pay overtime to buy them by instalments? They should take the money they are paying to landlords as their contributions to the National Housing Fund, which is the scheme.

“Secondly, the interest rate is fixed at six percent, and it can never change until the expiration of the payment. In another three years, the house being paid for will triple its values. Our regulation is that we don’t deduct more than 33 percent of the applicant’s monthly incomes to avoid advert effects on their lifestyles.”