Deborah Ocheni 
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is committed to providing shelter for the poor, internally displaced persons, and refugees in Nigeria.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu made this known during the impaction tour of the just completed and sample houses in Abuja.
“We have to immediately carry out samples of what these shelters will look like so we have 2 of them, one bedroom and two bedrooms respectively but they are both samples and these samples are built by the local people in the community for themselves and at the same time is very cost-effective and the building was built was built in 10 days”.
The minister stated that the solar system will be introduced so that these shelters for the poor, vulnerable, refugees, for internally displaced persons are not dependent on the national grid but can at least use the solar system to take care of the basic electrical needs such as lights, charging of phones and basic ironing.
“We are dealing with multi-dimensional poverty and part of the dimensions is the fact that the people do not have a proper shelter over their heads.
“We went to Benue and we saw millions of people who had been displaced and were staying in a shelter that is very tight this is a family of six or five living in that little waterproof house and when it rains, it rains on them, when the sun comes down it shun on them and the little children which is totally unacceptable and that’s why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that we should help this community and build dignified homes that are built by themselves, this is not going to be built by a contractor, it’s the community that is going to build by themselves, and by way, they’ll be empowered”.
Edu noted that this will give the community ownership of the project, and by so doing they’ll not vandalize it or destroy it. At the same time, it gives them economic power.
“They are being paid like those who brought water, cement, sand from the sea, those who cut the wood from the bush were all paid so that locality or village gets the support needed to build themselves up economically so it’s both economic empowerment, skills empowerment and most importantly provide shelter for those without shelter.
“They have already done the groundbreaking in Benue state, and as we speak, they have completed the clearing of about 10 hectares given for the building of the 40 houses.
The borehole that will supply water to the building is ongoing, thereafter the setting and laying of the foundation for the building. It’s easy to build, this was built basically in 10 days.
“And we want to see how we can put more speed because lots of Internally Displaced Persons exist in different parts of Nigeria and they need shelter as soon as possible”.
The government intends to build a million shelter across Nigeria for poor, internally displaced persons and refugees which invariably translate to providing shelter to about 5 million Nigerians.
The Federal Government had just approved the Humanitarian Trust Fund which has 30 percent donation from the government and the remaining 70 percent are from the private sector and donor agencies, development partners, and philanthropic individuals amongst others.
” Benue, Borno, Zamfara, Adamawa, Yobe, and other areas where we have internally displaced persons and where we have communities that are extremely poor”.
