No unoccupied estates in Benue – Official
The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Benue chapter says there are currently no unoccupied housing estates in the state.
The Chairman, Mr Ukeyima Manger, disclosed this to the news men on Sunday in Makurdi.
Supreme news reports that housing remains one of the major challenges facing Benue citizens, especially the urban dwellers.
Manger said that the only estate unoccupied in the state was the recently completed Federal Government Estate, located after Welfare Quarters, Makurdi.
He explained that, furthermore, the units in the estate were yet to be allocated to the civil servants.
He, however, said both the state and some private individuals owned buildings that had not been completed and had been abandoned for many years.
He listed the reasons for the abandonment to include breach of contract, lack/delay in payment, and disagreement, among others.
Manger cited the State Government-owned Sheraton Hotel, which construction began in 1980, was yet to be completed because of one of such disagreements.
“The Sheraton Hotel was designed by an architect in Benue who was also the project consultant.
“When they started the project, along the line, there was a disagreement and the government wanted to change the consultant.
However, it first needed to pay the first one off, and paying him off was expensive.
“He was not ready to leave the project because the design was his concept.
So eventually, when the government refused to go back on its decision, he went with all the designs, and the government could not continue the project because nobody could construct a building without a design,” Manger explained.
He expressed concern that most of the ongoing constructions in the state, especially buildings, were not being carried out by professionals.
According to him, every building construction site needs to have an architect, structural, electrical, and technical engineer.
Speaking to news men NAN, Mr James Terwase, a landlord in High Level, Makurdi, said there was a serious housing deficit in the city.
Terwase told news men that most landlords had taken advantage of the deficit to hike rent prices.
He said as at 2023, there were still single rooms with public toilets that went for N24,000, but that the situation had changed completely as such rooms were now going for N50,000 to N60,000 per annum
He stated that a one-bedroom apartment that was N150,000 was now going for N250,000 to N500,000.
According to him, a two-bedroom flat now goes for between N400,000 to N1 million and above.
Supreme news reports that in spite of the skyrocketing rent prices and housing deficit, there is no official body saddled with the responsibility of regulating this sector in Benue.
