The Federal Government has commenced allocation of 1,025 housing units to some beneficiary Civil Servants under the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) Programme.
Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, supported by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita handed over the keys of 30 housing units of two and three bedrooms semi-detached and fully –detached bungalows, out of the 1,025 completed housing units to the lucky Federal Civil Servants at De-Ita Emeka Nigeria Ltd Estate, Kurudu, Abuja as part of the activities marking the 2017 Civil Service Week celebrations.
The Head of Service explained that the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) Programme, was targeted at construction of 22,000 housing units of various categories to be made available to the Federal Civil Servants across the country within the recently approved Federal Executive Council approved long-term 2017-2019 Strategic Plan of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
She said that over 48,000 off-takers have registered into the programme with unprecedented passion being expressed by even those outside the Federal Public Service.
The Head of Service disclosed further that of the 48,000 registered participants, 4,025 provisional offer letters have been issued to the beneficiaries while more than 2, 846 have been processed to Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board (FGSHLB) and some Primary Mortgage Banks for onward transmission to Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).
According to her, the Federal Government was concerned about the difficulties faced by workers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in getting roof over their heads because of high cost of rent.
“The situation had become so precarious and disturbing that something had to be done urgently in order to reverse the trend by ensuring that workers have roofs over their heads within considerable distance from the FCT. As a result and in furtherance to the commitment of this administration in line with the newly launched Economic Recovery and Growth Plan Policy of the Government. My Office initiated the FISH Programme which officially kicked-off in December 2015. This was designed to solve the problems of Federal Civil Servants who faced the challenges of home ownership which forms a critical pillar and Goal four (4) of HOS 2017-2019 Strategic Plan aimed at repositioning the Federal Public Service with emphasis on addressing the welfare packages systems. One of the objectives of this goal is to galvanise the comparative advantage of some MDAs mandate and form a strategic partnership huge support-base to building a synergy through pooling of resources from various sources and providing access for financing the implementations of the programme.” She said
SIGNED
Mohammed Manga
Assistant Director (Media Relations)
For: Head of the Civil Service of the Federation
