ASHAFA: An Administrator Per Excellence's Two Years in FHA

By ABUBAKAR YUSUF.

Distinguish Senator Bareehu Gbenga Ashafa, a renowned technocrat, bureaucrat, politician of high repute turned administrator was appointed in August ,2020 as Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Federal Housing Authority FHA ,after spending many years in the Lagos State Civil service and rose to the top echelon to become Permanent Secretary , Land Bureau before his retirement from the service of the state.

Ashafa, a two term ranking Senator from Lagos State was appointed purely on merit based on his wealth of experience from the Cosmopolitan Lagos State as a former permanent secretary, Lands Bureau, and as one time Executive Secretary , Land use and Allocation committee, before joining politics.

His two previous positions held in Lagos along with the wealth of experience garnered over the years in land matters , made it imperative and timely his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari, so as to to bring to bare his revered wealth of experience to national outlook.

While in Lagos, the fight against land grabbers, fake and forged documents, illegally acquired lands , including indigenes laying claims to public properties, was a departure point to fighting the same scourge prevalent in FHA, deploying a modest template of mitigating the ugly development.

His determination to achieve results amid world health emergency of COVID-19, global economic recession, unemployment, hard times and high inflationary rate with land speculators taking advantage of both natural and artificial phenomenon, was unwavering two years down the line.

Without reservation , Senator Gbenga Ashafa as the Managing Director of FHA continue to prosecute the mandate of the agency through provision of 300, 000 housing to all bonafide members of the federal and state civil service, along with private entities, inconjunction and partnership with recognised estate developers inline with the requirements of the agency.

This positive development and public response including private individuals and organisations participation had led not only to the inauguration of many housing estates by the leadership of the current FHA, but commissioning of housing estates both in Lagos and Abuja, as well as across the states.

To address permanently the scourge of housing deficits and resolve the critical accommodation problems of many Nigerians across states, particularly in the cosmopolitan cities of Lagos, and Porthacourt, including the nation's capital, as a result of influx of people from rural to urban areas, the new management had stepped up awareness and consciousness of many Nigerians, on the need to carry out due diligence in other to access its facilities across the country, statutorily through the National Housing Fund NHF, contributors and Federal Mortgage Bank FMBN.

But, to ensure its policies and programs maximum success, the current campaigns and actions on the activities of illegal occupants, particularly those masquerading religious houses of Churches and Mosques as a cover to acquire government lands illegally, are being gradually tackled headlong across the country.

FHA is currently carrying out a wholistic exercise of recovery of its properties and lands illegally acquired by individuals, corporate organisations, religious houses under the guise of bogus allocations from the previous administration across the country.

The current management abhorred fraudulent land acquisition both in Lagos and Abuja, and across the zones, as this is a design to frustrate mass housing by the federal government through the FHA.

Under Ashafa, the management had carried out a thorough and modest head count of its existing facilities across the country, including plots of land , verify the status of genuine and fake occupants for necessary actions, and will on the long run adopt automated and online assessment to arrest the consistent illegal practices of the Nigeria public, affecting the activities of the organisation as well as denying qualified Nigerians access to affordable accommodation and housing across the country.

This is being done through development and control measures vested in the Federal Housing Authority FHA, with the deployment of its enforcement units across the states to either 'stop work' on any existing structure targeted at illegal developers, land grabbers among many other sharp practices with the aide of security agencies.

These among many other policy thrust of Senator Gbenga Ashafa geared towards bringing to par seamless access to acquiring houses in Nigeria, using mass orientation and reorientation , including the removal of any unforeseen administrative bottlenecks , that will millitate against the operations of FHA and patronage by elligble and qualified Nigerians.

The vigorous campaigns, reorientation along with staff trainings and retrainings geared towards adjusting towards the new management desire and mandate to deliver quality housing programs to Nigerians when sustained, will attract not only more patronage, but development in the area of housing to Nigeria.

All hands must be on deck to support Senator Gbenga Ashafa's development template in FHA, geared towards resolving housing problems in Nigeria two years down the line.

Yusuf Writes From Abuja, All inquiries to [email protected].