The umbrella body of estate developers – Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) has expressed its desire in partnering with the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in prosecuting the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) initiative.

REDAN  disclosed this when the President of the Association, Rev. Ugochukwu Chime led a delegate of the group to pay a courtesy visit to the Permanent Secretary Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Yemi Adelakun in Abuja.

Other members in the delegation are, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, the Deputy President, Mr. David Garnvwa, a member of the Board of Trustees and a host of others.

Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH)  is  said to be a mass housing initiative, designed to provide 87,000 affordable housing to civil servants, unveiled by the Head of the civil service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita during the recently held National Summit on Affordable Housing.

Making the expression of interest, the President of REDAN, Rev. Ugochukwu Chime, said that members of his association are people with track records in the development of affordable housing in Nigeria, and therefore have the capacity to deliver on the project.

Chime also assured the Permanent Secretary that members of his association shall live up to the expectation as agents of change in reducing the housing deficit in the country, while empowering all citizenry to up- scale housing’s contribution to Gross Domestic  product of the country.

In his remark, the Permanent Secretary of OHCSF, Mr. Yemi Adelakun reiterated the commitment of government in providing affordable housing to civil servants across the length and breadth of the country, and also  assured the association that the government was prepared to welcome any proposal on the initiative from any credible developer.

“ Developers could either sell their already built houses, design and build new homes in accordance with the expectations of office or build on the land to be allocated to the OHCSF on terms as agreed”, he said.

To perfect the partnership, Adelakun requested REDAN to formally present a partnership proposal that will be processed in order to actualize the proposed housing initiative.