NIQS to Partner Family Homes on Capacity Building
- As FHFL Disburses N68bn For Projects
The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, (NIQS) and Family Homes Funds Limited, (FHFL) are to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, (MoU) on capacity building for the staff of FHFL on costing and cost management of construction projects.
The agreement was reached by both organisations when the leadership of the NIQS, led by its President, Olayemi Shonubi, paid a courtesy visit to FHFL in Abuja.
The Managing Director, Family Homes Funds, Femi Adewole, welcomed the offer from NIQS to train the staff of his organisation, adding that the gesture would ensure that its projects adhered to all regulations in a manner that guaranteed the structural integrity of buildings.
Adewole disclosed that FHFL had so far disbursed N68bn to fund three of its housing products, including the Affordable Housing Fund, Help to Own and Rental Housing Fund.
He explained the aim of the projects was to support the development of up to 500,000 homes targeted at people on low income over the next five years.
A statement issued by NIQS in Abuja also quoted Adewole as saying “Towards achievement of this goal, we will work in partnership with public and private sector developers by providing competitively priced direct financing, both debt or equity to finance projects that meet our strategic objectives.”
According to him, the FHFL Limited was excited by the hand of fellowship extended to it by the NIQS and assured Nigerians of his organisation’s readiness to work with critical stakeholders in the built environment to catalyse the provision of at least 500,000 homes and the creation of 1.5 million jobs in the process.
The NIQS President, Olayemi Shonubi called on the managing director of FMFL to adopt stamped Bills of Quantities from registered quantity surveyors as requirement for funding housing development.
Shonubi advised that only Bills of Quantities signed and sealed by a registered quantity surveyor should be accepted from developers seeking finance from FHF Limited under the Affordable Housing Funds.
“Doing so will ensure that only realistic and workable estimates are provided by these developers and thus reduce time and resources wasted in evaluating such schemes that are later found to be unrealistic,” he added.
The NIQS president also requested Family Homes Funds Limited to assist members of the institute own their own houses particularly in in Abuja, Niger, Lagos, Rivers, Kano, and Kaduna, where sizeable members of the institute reside and where costs of owning a home could be a challenge.
