The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Dr Folasade Yes-man, has explained that federal government embarked on the construction of 116 two bedrooms semi-detached bungalow at Gwagwalada axis to address housing scarcity faced by the civil servants.
The initiative, under the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) programme, was designed in 2015 to provide affordable housing for civil servants.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony of the project recently, Yemi-Esan said the FISH programme was conceptualised as a vehicle to address housing scarcity faced by civil servants in the country.
“A good number of us will recall that the FISH programme was conceptualised to address housing deficits civil servants are faced with, a consequence of implementation of the monetisation policy which led to the sale of government residential quarters across the country. When these sales were being done, some civil servants had an opportunity to get houses but the majority of civil servants were left out,” she said.
According to her, the government made efforts to effectively drive the FISH initiative from its inception, in spite of a number of constraints which impeded its rapid implementation.
“Today`s event has been much awaited in accelerating the attainment of government`s agenda of ensuring the welfare of civil servants, including the provision of affordable housing,” she said.
Yemi-Esan used the medium to request for more land from the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion.
Speaking, Fashola commended the efforts of Yemi-Esan to continuously ensure the accessibility of affordable housing for civil servants working in the nation`s capital in particular.
He said Yemi-Esan’s zeal for good results had defined her good leadership position as the HOCSF, adding that the housing scheme is important because it is one of the critical components of development of every nation of the world, and assured the HOS of more allocation of lands when the current housing schemes undergoing construction are completed.
Also speaking, the Minister of FCT, Malam Muhammad Bello, said the FISH programme was a component of the welfare pillars of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP-25).
Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the FCT, Mr. Olusade Adesola, Bello said the FCSSIP-25 had sought to enhance the value proposition of the civil servants, especially as it would no doubt, promote job satisfaction and enhance staff productivity.
Earlier in his remarks, the Executive Secretary, Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board (FGSHLB), Mr Ibrahim Mairiga, said the scheme, strictly for civil servants at affordable price, would be delivered within four months.
