The House of Representatives Committee on Housing and Habitat has said that it would work assiduously toward fashioning out a radical housing agenda and legislation for Nigeria so that the citizens could have affordable housing.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Aminu Balele Kurfi, stated this in Abuja on Monday during the committee’s inaugural meeting.
Hon. Aminu Balele noted that Nigerians, in every geopolitical zone and cutting across all social classes, are looking forward to the legislature to set up renewed vision, missions, strategies and legislations for modern housing policies, which would provide reasonable accessible, affordable and habitable houses to a great majority of Nigerians on approved conditions.
He reminded his colleagues of the need to show commitment and dedication to the work ahead, noting that active participation remains key to achieving the committee’s oversight mandate.
“In our endeavor to achieve these noble expectations, let me humbly notify my Honourable colleagues on the necessity to imbibe the culture of effective legislation, active partnership, efficient collaboration, relevant responsive capacity building, mutual collective responsibility, open door policy and critical oversight functions.
“I call on us to deeply reflect on each of these managerial ethos and entrench them in our deep-seated minds so as to serve as our guiding principles in all our actions. We should strive to work as a team, and engage our oversight partners not as administrative or political adversaries, rather as professional colleagues and partners in progress.
“The common bonds which unite us with our partners in the oversight domains are denominated in our shared basic responsibility to serve our homeless citizens. Therefore, what unites us far outweighs the gimmicks of administrative or legislative differences.
“For these reasons and many others known to you, we must foster virile spirit of unity of purpose between us and our partners, and we shall do so with a great sense of relative independence as unique legislators,” he said.
The chairman assured his colleagues of inclusive leadership through open door policy, just as he called for support in the provision of useful ideas that could aid the committee in achieving its goals, adding that he will be decentralising responsibilities by creating subcommittees to handle various issues and report back to the main Clcommittee as and when due.
“In our determination to ensure that our country succeeds in achieving efficient and effective service delivery, I hereby wish to assure you of my decision to adopt a liberal, open-door policy wherein all of you as Committee members, and indeed all other Honourable colleagues of the entire House shall feel free to consult with me on the Great Housing Agenda.
“In connection with this, it is my decision to decentralize the enormous functions of the committee by appointing 6
additional Assistant Committee Chairmen to represent the 6 existing geopolitical zones in the country.
“These assistants will facilitate the jobs of the Deputy Chairmen, and shall be coopted from fellow Honourable Colleagues of the House. In the days to come, sub-committees will be formed in order to carry out specific responsibilities under the various segments of our legislative, oversight and policy making jurisdictions,” he added.
He also called for teamwork and collaboration with all stakeholders and mutual respect for other colleagues who may not necessarily be members of the Housing Committee.
Hon. Balele also called on ranking members within the Committee to offer their wealth of experience and institutional memories with useful advice that will help the Committee in achieving its set goals.
Members in their interactions commended the Chairman for his liberal approach to the leadership of the Committee, noting that decentralizing responsibilities by creating subcommittees is one important decision the chairman has made.
While pledging their support for the chairman in his quest to pilot the affairs of the Committee, members also scored the chairman very high for his openness to suggestions and ideas on how to move the Committee forward.
