The MD/CEO, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin, has announced plans to build a Diaspora City in seven states of the country.
Prof. Al-Amin, who spoke yesterday when he received the Chief Executive Officer/Editor-In-Chief of Medial Trust Limited (MTL), Malam Mannir Dan-Ali, said the innovative model was a strategy to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and boost job creation and access to housing schemes for Nigerians in the Diaspora, adding that over the years, about $20 billion has been attracted from the Diaspora.
He said rather than allow offshore funds to go into the black-market in the country, FHA made a case for legal means of channelling the funds for local investments. He said: “We made a case to the government and it was approved so we chose seven cities for the project. They are Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Benin, Kaduna, Enugu and Kano.”
The FHA boss said 700 hectares of land was acquired at Abuja’s Maitama Extension for the project whose ground breaking ceremony will be held in two months’ time, to be completed in 20 to 30 months. The CEO/E-I-C of Media Trust Ltd, publishers of Daily Trust and other titles, Malam Dan-Ali, acknowledged the good relationship the media house maintains with FHA noting that the visit was to further strengthen the ties.
He urged the FHA to key into the CCC project as other agencies have done, to tell its strategic and national development stories as well as educate the public on its activities saying, “You spend money with us, you get value for your money.”
The FHA boss who affirmed the paper’s credibility and integrity said, “I feel very comfortable that this media house is worth its salt. We will look at the proposal you present and God willing, we will look towards its actualisation.”
