Naomi Gabriel —
The Delta State House of Assembly yesterday granted the state’s Governor’s request for N4 billion bank facility to fund a proposed National Social Housing Programme in the state.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa had transmitted a letter to the House seeking approval for the N4 billion loan.
The House also granted another request for a N1.2 billion loan from Globus Bank Limited to provide counterpart funding for 2022 Universal Basic Education Programme (UBEC) projects in the state.
Okowa, the running mate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said that the loan which would be taken from Globus Bank Limited or any other financial institution, would be used for the construction of affordable homes across four locations in the state.
While revealing that the approval being sought was in fulfilment of one of the conditions for Family Homes Funds Limited (FHFL) to proceed with the construction of 779 affordable homes in the state, Okowa added that the homes would be located in Kwale in Ndokwa East, Ekpan in Uvwie, Ibusa in Oshimili North and Owa-Ekei in Ika North East local government areas of the state by Family Homes Fund Limited (FHFL) under the proposed national social housing programme.
The governor said that the initiative was geared toward addressing the housing deficit as well as meeting the welfare needs of the people of the state.
“This letter is to seek the authorization of the Honourable House for Delta government to accept the loan facility from Globus Bank Limited or any other financial institution and issue an appropriate Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) in favour of the accepting (the) bank to defray the loan”, he said.
