Supervising minister for lands, housing and urban development, Musa Mohammed Sada, has inaugurated the National Habitat Committee on housing and urban development in Abuja.
At the event last Thursday, the minister charged the committee with the responsibility of generating Nigeria’s inputs at the UN conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development taking place in New York in 2016.
Sada said the committee, with a broad representation from the public, private and non-profit sectors, would also convene a national urban forum that would engage relevant stakeholders and partners to reflect their views in the preparatory process.
“The committee will prepare the national habitat report and subsequently develop a national plan of action,” he said, adding that the national habitat report would assess the implementation of the HABITAT II agenda held in Istanbul in 1996, while it will further access other relevant national and internationally agreed goals and targets.
According to the minister, it will highlight new challenges, emerging trends and provide a prospective vision for sustainable human settlements and urban development as basis for the formulation of a new urban agenda.
The minister said the 59-member committee, to be chaired by the minister of lands, housing and urban development, would also raise awareness on the Habitat III conference adding that it would also proffer solution to the challenges facing the human settlement in the country.
Sada urged the members of the committee to look beyond HABITAT III and set actions for the realisation of the objective of providing affordable housing delivery and sustainable urban development in the country.
He said Nigeria’s association with UN-Habitat over the years had resulted in visible transformation of its human settlement across the country.
“This is demonstrated in the increased support to the preparation of city structure plans in youth empowerment, local economy development, water and sanitation and municipal finance management,” the minister said.
He said Nigeria’s association with UN Habitat had also increased support for urban renewal, land reforms and poverty alleviation programmes in the country.
