Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has promised to increase the state’s housing stock through pragmatic models that will incorporate private sector partnership, encourage local contents and cut costs, while also creating employment.

He spoke during the celebration of the World Habitat Day with the theme: ‘Housing for all; a better urban future’.

The governor said: “The thrust of this year’s celebration is a major policy objective of the fourth pillar of our administration’s T.H.E.M.E.S agenda, i.e. Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy. The current and projected future population of our state presents huge opportunities for investors in the housing sector and a compelling need for urban renewal.”

Sanwo-Olu, represented by his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said: “Our pact with Lagosians as contained in our T.H.E.M.E.S agenda under the fourth pillar is to ensure a significant reduction in the housing deficit through the provision of affordable and decent housing and to deepen our commitment to a greater Lagos by advancing our strides towards an enduring urban future, founded on good spatial and sectoral planning.”

To accelerate the realisation of this objective, he said his administration had returned the state to the National Housing Fund and appointed Lagos Building Investment Company (LBIC) PLC as the sole mortgage provider to facilitate a reduction in the housing deficit.

Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development Dr. Idris Salako said the government had a clear understanding and remarkable acceptance of the multidimensional and complex nature of housing and was matching up to its successful delivery in cost-efficient, pragmatic and innovative manner.

He added that the state had evolved, institutionalised and implemented specific policy reforms and initiatives that would facilitate the achievement of the making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, in line with the dictates of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11.

Salako said the state had accorded urban planning and development the deserved attention as avenues for improving the physical environment of Lagos State and the living conditions of its people, while recalling “the achievements of the Sanwo-Olu administration in this regard to include improved planning permit process and turn-around-time, preparation/updating of model city plans, effective state-wide monitoring /compliance checks and prompt removal of non-conforming structures, distressed structures and buildings likely to collapse, among others.