FG Moves to Complete Abandoned Housing Projects Across Nigeria

The Federal Government has commenced a nationwide review of abandoned housing projects to determine their condition, level of completion and the interventions required to restore them for use.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaqa Darma, disclosed this on Wednesday during an inspection of an abandoned National Housing Programme (NHP) estate in the Kubwa-Karsana District of Abuja.

Darma expressed concern over the continued abandonment of government housing projects, stressing that public assets must be completed and made available to Nigerians.

He said the Federal Government would take decisive steps to upgrade and complete viable abandoned housing projects across the country as part of efforts to increase the supply of affordable and decent homes.

“The Federal Government would take decisive steps to upgrade and complete viable abandoned housing projects across the country, with the objective of delivering more affordable and decent homes to Nigerians,” he said.

The minister said the government could no longer allow housing projects initiated with public funds to remain abandoned for extended periods.

“We cannot continue to allow housing projects that were started with public funds to remain abandoned,” Darma said.

He described the abandoned developments as public investments that should be preserved, completed and put to productive use for the benefit of Nigerians.

“These are assets belonging to Nigerians, and our responsibility is to ensure that they are completed, functional and occupied by the people who need them,” he said.

According to Darma, the nationwide review is part of the Federal Government’s efforts to advance the Renewed Hope Housing Agenda and improve access to affordable and decent accommodation.

He explained that the assessment would help the government identify projects that remain viable and can be prioritised for completion, while existing housing infrastructure would also be rehabilitated where necessary to ensure optimal utilisation.

“Our target is clear, where projects are viable, we will upgrade them, complete them and ensure that Nigerians can benefit from them,” the minister said.

Darma said the government was determined to increase housing delivery and reduce the country’s housing deficit before the end of 2026.

He added that recovering and completing abandoned housing projects would complement the construction of new housing developments being undertaken under existing Federal Government housing programmes.

The minister noted that making use of existing investments would enable the government to deliver housing more efficiently while preventing resources already committed to abandoned projects from being wasted.

He also stressed the importance of ensuring transparency in the allocation of completed housing units.

According to him, completed units would be allocated transparently to deserving Nigerians, while the outcome of the assessment would guide the government’s decisions on the completion, rehabilitation and eventual allocation of the projects.

The inspection of the abandoned NHP estate in Kubwa-Karsana is part of the government’s broader assessment of housing developments across the country as it seeks to recover viable public housing investments and bring them back into use.

The post FG Moves to Complete Abandoned Housing Projects Across Nigeria appeared first on Housing TV Africa.

Housing Minister Muttaqha Darma says government is working to reduce rent pressure on workers and recover abandoned housing projects nationwide.

The Federal Government says it is working to reduce the proportion of workers’ income spent on rent, with Housing and Urban Development Minister Muttaqha Rabe Darma saying the government does not want Nigerian workers spending between 40 and 60 per cent of their earnings on accommodation.

Darma made the statement on Wednesday while commending the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for supporting affordable housing access for its workers. 

According to the minister, high rental costs can place additional financial pressure on workers with families. He argued that when a large share of legitimate income goes towards rent, workers may face difficulties meeting other obligations such as education and family welfare.

He linked that pressure to the broader challenge of corruption, saying the government wants to reduce one of the financial pressures that could encourage people to seek additional sources of income.

“We are going to ensure that in this country, workers do not spend 40 to 60 per cent of their income on rent,” Darma said.

He said the government’s broader objective was to make decent and affordable housing more accessible, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that Nigerians without adequate housing can have homes.

FG Reviews Abandoned Housing Projects

Darma also disclosed that the Federal Government is conducting a nationwide assessment of abandoned housing projects as part of its strategy to increase housing supply.

The minister said some of the abandoned developments date back several years, including housing schemes initiated during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“There are so many housing projects, starting from the National Housing Programme and even long way back—even during General Obasanjo’s time—so many of them have been abandoned all over Nigeria, in all states,” he said. 

The government is compiling information on the projects and visiting locations across the country to determine their condition and the steps required to bring them back into use.

Darma said the Federal Government is also engaging state governors over the possibility of taking over or acquiring some of the abandoned housing projects.

Under the proposed approach, viable estates could be renovated and converted into functional homes, including housing that could be allocated to civil servants.

The minister said the government had identified close to 250,000 abandoned housing units nationwide.

He expressed optimism that recovering the units would provide a faster way of increasing housing supply because the projects already represent investments made with public funds.

Government Wants States To Take Over Some Projects

According to Darma, discussions with state governments are intended to determine how abandoned projects can be recovered, completed and put to productive use.

The proposal would involve states taking over or buying selected abandoned developments, renovating them and making the completed properties available to workers.

The minister’s comments come as the Federal Government continues its broader review of abandoned housing assets.

On Wednesday, Darma also inspected the abandoned National Housing Programme estate at Kubwa-Karsana in the Federal Capital Territory. The ministry said the exercise is part of a nationwide assessment designed to determine the completion status of abandoned projects and identify the interventions required to make viable estates functional. 

Darma said viable projects would be upgraded, completed and allocated transparently to Nigerians.

“We cannot continue to allow housing projects that were started with public funds to remain abandoned,” he said during the inspection.

The ministry said recovering existing projects would complement the construction of new housing developments and help maximise investments already made by government.

Housing Deficit Remains A Major Challenge

Darma put the number of Nigerians currently unhoused at about 110 million and said approximately 16 million housing units would be required to address the deficit.

The figures were presented by the minister as part of the government’s assessment of the scale of Nigeria’s housing challenge. Other recent housing assessments have produced different estimates of the national deficit, underscoring the importance of reliable housing data.

The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, for instance, has continued to support homeownership through schemes such as rent-to-own housing. In August 2026, FMBN delivered 129 completed three-bedroom bungalows to beneficiaries at the Nasarawa Technology Village in Karu, Nasarawa State. 

The Federal Government has also announced plans under its National Social Housing Programme to construct 774,000 housing units across the country for low- and middle-income earners. 

These initiatives form part of the government’s wider strategy to increase housing supply while improving access to mortgage and rent-to-own arrangements.

FG Seeks Housing Delivery Within Months

Darma said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development had been engaging stakeholders across the housing sector and relevant regulators to facilitate the provision of additional housing units.

He said the government wants to move beyond policy discussions and deliver practical housing solutions.

The minister also indicated that recovering abandoned estates could help government achieve that objective more efficiently because some projects may require completion or rehabilitation rather than entirely new construction.

For workers facing high rental costs, the recovery of existing housing units could potentially create additional accommodation options if the properties are successfully completed and allocated.

Darma reiterated that the government would pursue the recovery strategy and work with state governments to bring abandoned housing assets back into use.

“We are going to do it,” he said.

The government’s approach therefore combines two tracks: increasing new housing supply and recovering abandoned projects that can still be made functional.

The success of the strategy will depend on the condition of the identified projects, funding for rehabilitation, agreements with state governments, infrastructure availability and transparent allocation of completed homes.

For now, the minister says the Federal Government is compiling the required data, inspecting abandoned estates and engaging relevant stakeholders as it works towards reducing Nigeria’s housing shortage and the financial burden of rent on workers.

Housing Minister Muttaqha Darma says government is working to reduce rent pressure on workers and recover abandoned housing projects nationwide.

The Federal Government says it is working to reduce the proportion of workers’ income spent on rent, with Housing and Urban Development Minister Muttaqha Rabe Darma saying the government does not want Nigerian workers spending between 40 and 60 per cent of their earnings on accommodation.

Darma made the statement on Wednesday while commending the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for supporting affordable housing access for its workers. 

According to the minister, high rental costs can place additional financial pressure on workers with families. He argued that when a large share of legitimate income goes towards rent, workers may face difficulties meeting other obligations such as education and family welfare.

He linked that pressure to the broader challenge of corruption, saying the government wants to reduce one of the financial pressures that could encourage people to seek additional sources of income.

“We are going to ensure that in this country, workers do not spend 40 to 60 per cent of their income on rent,” Darma said.

He said the government’s broader objective was to make decent and affordable housing more accessible, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that Nigerians without adequate housing can have homes.

FG Reviews Abandoned Housing Projects

Darma also disclosed that the Federal Government is conducting a nationwide assessment of abandoned housing projects as part of its strategy to increase housing supply.

The minister said some of the abandoned developments date back several years, including housing schemes initiated during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“There are so many housing projects, starting from the National Housing Programme and even long way back—even during General Obasanjo’s time—so many of them have been abandoned all over Nigeria, in all states,” he said. 

The government is compiling information on the projects and visiting locations across the country to determine their condition and the steps required to bring them back into use.

Darma said the Federal Government is also engaging state governors over the possibility of taking over or acquiring some of the abandoned housing projects.

Under the proposed approach, viable estates could be renovated and converted into functional homes, including housing that could be allocated to civil servants.

The minister said the government had identified close to 250,000 abandoned housing units nationwide.

He expressed optimism that recovering the units would provide a faster way of increasing housing supply because the projects already represent investments made with public funds.

Government Wants States To Take Over Some Projects

According to Darma, discussions with state governments are intended to determine how abandoned projects can be recovered, completed and put to productive use.

The proposal would involve states taking over or buying selected abandoned developments, renovating them and making the completed properties available to workers.

The minister’s comments come as the Federal Government continues its broader review of abandoned housing assets.

On Wednesday, Darma also inspected the abandoned National Housing Programme estate at Kubwa-Karsana in the Federal Capital Territory. The ministry said the exercise is part of a nationwide assessment designed to determine the completion status of abandoned projects and identify the interventions required to make viable estates functional. 

Darma said viable projects would be upgraded, completed and allocated transparently to Nigerians.

“We cannot continue to allow housing projects that were started with public funds to remain abandoned,” he said during the inspection.

The ministry said recovering existing projects would complement the construction of new housing developments and help maximise investments already made by government.

Housing Deficit Remains A Major Challenge

Darma put the number of Nigerians currently unhoused at about 110 million and said approximately 16 million housing units would be required to address the deficit.

The figures were presented by the minister as part of the government’s assessment of the scale of Nigeria’s housing challenge. Other recent housing assessments have produced different estimates of the national deficit, underscoring the importance of reliable housing data.

The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, for instance, has continued to support homeownership through schemes such as rent-to-own housing. In August 2026, FMBN delivered 129 completed three-bedroom bungalows to beneficiaries at the Nasarawa Technology Village in Karu, Nasarawa State. 

The Federal Government has also announced plans under its National Social Housing Programme to construct 774,000 housing units across the country for low- and middle-income earners. 

These initiatives form part of the government’s wider strategy to increase housing supply while improving access to mortgage and rent-to-own arrangements.

FG Seeks Housing Delivery Within Months

Darma said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development had been engaging stakeholders across the housing sector and relevant regulators to facilitate the provision of additional housing units.

He said the government wants to move beyond policy discussions and deliver practical housing solutions.

The minister also indicated that recovering abandoned estates could help government achieve that objective more efficiently because some projects may require completion or rehabilitation rather than entirely new construction.

For workers facing high rental costs, the recovery of existing housing units could potentially create additional accommodation options if the properties are successfully completed and allocated.

Darma reiterated that the government would pursue the recovery strategy and work with state governments to bring abandoned housing assets back into use.

“We are going to do it,” he said.

The government’s approach therefore combines two tracks: increasing new housing supply and recovering abandoned projects that can still be made functional.

The success of the strategy will depend on the condition of the identified projects, funding for rehabilitation, agreements with state governments, infrastructure availability and transparent allocation of completed homes.

For now, the minister says the Federal Government is compiling the required data, inspecting abandoned estates and engaging relevant stakeholders as it works towards reducing Nigeria’s housing shortage and the financial burden of rent on workers.

The post FG Targets Lower Rent Burden, Identifies 250,000 Abandoned Housing Units appeared first on Housing TV Africa.

…….Asks FG to disclose how many National Housing Programme homes are completed, occupied, vacant or abandoned nationwide

The Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN) has called for a comprehensive audit of the abandoned National Housing Programme (NHP) estate in Kubwa-Karsana, Abuja, while asking the Federal Government to disclose the current status of NHP estates across the country.

The call followed the inspection of the Kubwa-Karsana project by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Engr. Muttaqa Rabe Darma, as part of the government’s assessment of abandoned federal housing assets.

HDAN welcomed the move but said the exercise should go beyond inspecting and rehabilitating abandoned buildings to establish why publicly funded housing projects were left unfinished in the first place.

“Nigerians deserve to know what happened to these projects, how much public money has already been committed and what it will now cost to complete them,” the organisation said.

HDAN said the Kubwa-Karsana estate should become a test case for how Nigeria identifies, audits, recovers and completes abandoned public housing projects.

According to the organisation, government should disclose when the project commenced, its original scope, number of units proposed, contractors engaged, funds appropriated and released, percentage completion and reasons construction stopped.

It also recommended an independent structural and financial assessment before additional public funds are committed.

HDAN ASKS: WHERE ARE THE OTHER NHP HOUSES?

HDAN said the investigation should not stop at Kubwa-Karsana, calling for a state-by-state audit of the National Housing Programme.

“Nigerians deserve to know how many houses were proposed under the NHP, how many were started, how many were completed, how many were allocated and fully paid for, and most importantly, how many Nigerian families are actually living in them today,” HDAN said.

The organisation also wants government to disclose the number of completed houses that remain vacant, units that are illegally occupied and projects that remain abandoned, uncompleted or deteriorating.

According to HDAN, the performance of a public housing programme should not be measured merely by the number of houses announced, constructed, commissioned or allocated.

“The real test of housing delivery is how many families have actually moved into decent and affordable homes,” it said.

HDAN therefore called on the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to publish an estate-by-estate status report showing the number of units started, completed, sold, allocated, fully paid for, legitimately occupied, vacant, illegally occupied and abandoned.

It also wants the government to explain why any completed NHP houses remain unoccupied despite the country’s substantial demand for affordable housing.

Where the problems involve pricing, infrastructure, mortgage access, allocation, documentation, roads, electricity or water, HDAN said they should be identified and addressed.

“Nigeria cannot be facing a serious housing affordability challenge while publicly funded houses remain abandoned, unfinished or empty,” the organisation stated.

CREATE NATIONAL REGISTER OF ABANDONED HOUSING

HDAN also called for the establishment of a National Register of Abandoned and Uncompleted Public Housing Projects.

The proposed register would identify abandoned federal housing developments, their locations, number of units, percentage completion, amount already invested, present condition, reasons for abandonment and estimated cost of completion.

Projects could then be classified for completion, rehabilitation, restructuring, private-sector partnership or redevelopment.

HDAN said government should adopt a policy of recovering viable existing housing investments while continuing to construct new homes where necessary.

“An abandoned estate represents more than unfinished buildings. It represents land that is not producing housing, public capital that is not generating value and homes that Nigerian families cannot occupy,” it said.

DON’T JUST COMPLETE THEM — MAKE THEM AFFORDABLE

HDAN cautioned that recovering abandoned estates would achieve little if the completed houses are eventually priced beyond the reach of intended beneficiaries.

It advocated affordable mortgages, rent-to-own and other structured payment arrangements, particularly for low- and middle-income households.

Allocation should also be transparent and supported by safeguards preventing speculative acquisition of subsidised public housing.

HDAN further proposed a digital monitoring system for government housing projects, with clear construction and delivery milestones to identify delayed projects before they become abandoned.

The organisation said the Federal Government’s nationwide assessment provides an opportunity to answer a fundamental question:

“Where are the houses delivered under the National Housing Programme, what condition are they in, and how many Nigerian families are actually living in them?”

HDAN said the government should ultimately publish clear figures showing how many NHP houses were started, how many were completed, how many are occupied, how many remain vacant and how many have been abandoned or left unfinished.

It added that the Kubwa-Karsana project could be transformed from a symbol of stranded public investment into a model for recovering unfinished housing assets across Nigeria.

HDAN is a leading civil society and research-driven housing advocacy organisation promoting affordable, accessible and sustainable housing in Nigeria and across Africa. Its advocacy covers housing affordability, finance, land administration, real estate regulation, consumer protection, housing data and sustainable housing delivery.

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Some of these projects lying waste across the states of the federation, experts said, were mostly abandoned housing projects initiated by the federal government’s ministries, departments, and agencies.

According to the experts, these abandoned housing projects are evident in states like Zamfara, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe Ogun and Lagos, among others.

In Lagos, for example, the abandoned and underutilized buildings cited by the experts included the old Federal Secretariat Complex in Ikoyi, the NETCOM Building at Marina, the 25-story Independence Building located in Onikan., and many other vacant federal government properties.

The experts blamed the dearth of funds, wrong location, absence of infrastructure, poor project planning/management, and lack of enforcement of planning laws, among others, for the huge building projects’ abandonment in the country.

Decrying the situation, a built environment expert, the managing director of Fame Oyster & Co., Mr. Olufemi Oyedele, said it was found out that over N9 trillion is tied down in abandoned and ongoing construction projects in Nigeria by the Nigerian Institution of Quantity Surveyors.

He pointed out that the economic waste in money tied down in construction that could not give value for money or was was not habitable was too much.

“We must do something to change the narratives,” he said.

To change the narratives, Oyedele urged the government to make laws against abandoned properties.

He urged the government to set up housing regulators that will ensure that all prospective homeowners get the backing of a mortgage or commercial bank before starting construction and make sure there is enforcement of the planning and national building codes.

According to him, the nation must evolve a standard gestation period for construction by ensuring that construction passes an assessment test.

Executive Director of the Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN), Mr. Festus Adebayo, said that the findings of the organization on the abandonment of the federal government’s initiated housing projects in Kebbi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Gombe, and Ogun States were discouraging.

He said, “We have been going from one state to another compiling the report on abandoned housing projects across the country; we have been working very hard, and I can tell you that from our findings, the situation is very discouraging.

“We cannot believe the level of abandoned housing projects in many parts of the country, and these are projects of the federal government.

“When I say federal government, I mean projects of various agencies of government that we will not want to mention the names of until during the time of making a proper presentation of our findings.

“We have been to Kebbi State; we have seen various housing projects of different categories, the one by the federal government and the one by the state government being abandoned. We have seen the one being developed by the federal government that is cited in the wrong location—I mean, the outskirts of the city—and the project hasn’t been completed.

“The miscreants have been going there to remove the roof, remove the doors, remove the windows; the same things we find in Zamfara and in Jigawa. In Ogun state, projects have been taken over by bushes.

From Bauchi to Gombe, projects have been completed, but no infrastructure is there, and people cannot live in those houses because no infrastructure can make life better for them if they move to the place,” he said.

Adebayo and other affordable housing advocates are calling on the federal government to set up a committee that would look into how to dispose of these abandoned projects at very affordable rates to people who need the houses.

“Or alternatively. I would like to call on the government to see if there’s anything they can do to give these abandoned or incomplete houses attention, involve corporate organizations that they can collaborate with, and ensure that these projects are given befitting completion.

“A big lesson we must also learn is that the state government must stop giving land to the federal government’s housing projects in the outskirt of the city. This mistake was made for the Shagari Housing project in 1979, and I wonder why we are still repeating the same mistake today,” the expert said.

According to Adebayo, the federal government should give all those abandoned houses and incomplete houses an urgent priority.

“If we can dispose them, it will surely address the problem of affordability that will make people not able to afford the newly houses that are being built across the country,” Adebayo said.

The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) has also called for laws against the abandonment of property and for investigating owners of abandoned buildings.

However, the federal government, recently, confirmed its readiness to rehabilitate and upgrade unused and dilapidated buildings and assets in Lagos State

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, confirmed this during an official facility assessment visit in Lagos.

Dangiwa stated that the buildings, left without being rehabilitated for some time, pose challenges and security concerns for the Lagos State Government.

The minister lamented the deplorable state of various federal government buildings assessed, noting the lack of water and electricity supply, with most facilities in disrepair.

“The buildings that the federal government can put its money for upgrade will be done, while the ones we need collaboration from the private sector, would be done also.

“The private sector will bring in their money, rehabilitate and upgrade them to a befitting status and then rent them out to willing off-takers to recoup their investment before returning it back to the federal government.”

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