Ground breaking of five new housing projects were inaugurated yesterday in different locations in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Speaking at the official commissioning of Kwara State headquarters of T Pumpy Concept, the chief executive of the land and housing agency, Mr Adaralegbe Akintayo, said that the housing project is targeted at creating a new modern city in Ilorin.

Adaralegbe said that the housing projects located at Oko Olowo, Oke Oyi and Elemere communities, all in Ilorin Emirate are to ensure that the civil servants and low income earners in the state own their own houses without stress. He said the programme became imperative given the fact that Nigeria still has millions of housing deficits.

“Statistics from current study shows that the country still has millions of housing deficits. Within six years of our existence, we've done 15,000 housing projects. We aim to get to 100,000 in the next one year and Kwara State would not be left out.

“If you look at the average salary of a Level 8 public officer in the state, it is not up to N70,000. So, how do you expect such a person to buy land worth N1 million? How many years would it take him to achieve that when he has to pay school fees, house rents and provide for the family?

“So, now every civil servant that can contribute N20,000 a month is part of our programme. An Okada man that can contribute N500 a day can also be part of our project. We're not only for the bourgeoisie, we're also for common people,” he said.