Seventeen months after Ahmed Dangiwa assumed office as Nigeria’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development, the landscape of the nation’s housing sector is undergoing significant transformation. Appointed by President Bola Tinubu, under the Renewed Hope Agenda, Dangiwa has brought clarity, urgency, and depth to a sector long plagued by underinvestment, institutional inertia, and systemic bottlenecks.

Supporting him in this journey is Hon. Yusuf Ata, who was appointed Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development in October 2024. Since joining the Ministry,  Ata has worked closely with Dangiwa, bringing complementary leadership and reinforcing the drive for accelerated implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda across the housing and urban development value chain.

From launching Nigeria’s most ambitious housing delivery programme in decades, to championing reforms that would lead to the unlocking of long-frozen land assets, Dangiwa is building more than houses, he’s building a new vision for Nigeria’s housing and urban development.

At the core of Dangiwa’s strides is the Renewed Hope Housing Programme, a bold initiative to provide affordable homes to Nigerians across varying income segments. The programme is anchored on three core delivery mechanisms that reflect the Ministry’s responsiveness to Nigeria’s diverse housing needs.

The first component is the Renewed Hope Cities, which involves the construction of large-scale, integrated housing developments with a minimum of 1,000 units each. These cities are to be developed in each of the six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with designs that promote holistic living. They are envisioned as self-contained urban communities complete with essential infrastructure such as roads, green spaces, schools, and healthcare facilities.

Next is the Renewed Hope Estates initiative, which focuses on mid-scale housing projects comprising 250 housing units per site. These estates are currently ongoing in 13 states (Osun, Oyo, Delta, AkwaIbom, Abia, Ebonyi, Benue, Nasarawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Gombe, Kano and Yobe) and primarily cater to low- and middle-income earners. They are especially targeted at civil servants, and workers in the informal economy, thus broadening access to affordable homeownership for traditionally underserved demographics.

The third and most ambitious component is the Renewed Hope Social Housing Programme. This scheme plans the construction of 100 housing units in each of Nigeria’s 774 local government areas, amounting to a nationwide target of 77,400 homes. It is specifically designed for Nigeria’s poorest and most vulnerable populations. Under this model, 80 percent of the houses will be sold at heavily subsidised rates, while the remaining 20 percent will be allocated free of charge to those in greatest need.

Already, the numbers are impressive. Within 17 months of taking office, the Ministry has turned Nigeria into a huge construction site with construction going on simultaneously in 14 states, accounting for 10,112 housing units, many of which are already at advanced stages of development. In contrast, the previous administration delivered just 3,388 completed homes under the National Housing Programme across eight years.

Dangiwa’s impact isn’t limited to housing construction. He has revitalised the National Urban Renewal and Slum Upgrading Programme, with over 100 infrastructure projects completed nationwide. From the North, to the South the impact is visible. These include the provision of solar-powered streetlights, clean water supply systems, internal roads, drainages, and waste management facilities in some of Nigeria’s most underserved communities.

These projects, implemented in semi-urban areas and rural settlements, are improving living conditions for tens of thousands of Nigerians and restoring a sense of dignity to neglected communities.

Perhaps, the most transformative intervention in Nigeria’s housing and urban development sector under Dangiwa’s leadership is the bold move to fix the country’s deeply entrenched land administration challenges. For decades, poor land governance has stifled housing delivery, discouraged real estate investment, and undermined the growth of mortgage finance. Without secure and verifiable land titles, millions of Nigerians remain unable to leverage land as a productive asset or collateral for credit, while the government loses billions in potential revenue from property taxation and transaction fees.

Recognising this, the Minister inaugurated a high-powered Land Reform Task Team, drawing on experts from across the public and private sectors. The Task Team submitted a comprehensive blueprint to overhaul and modernise land administration in Nigeria. The recommendations focus on streamlining land titling, digitising land records, reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks, and creating a unified national framework for land governance that respects the roles of both federal and state actors.

To bring this vision to life, the Ministry, in collaboration with the World Bank and state governments, is collaborating with States towards the rollout of the Nigeria Land Registration and Titling Programme. The programme is ambitious in scope: it aims to formalise 50 per cent of land transactions across the country within the next 10 years.

 If achieved, this could unlock over $150 billion in so-called “dead capital”—land assets that remain economically dormant due to lack of formal title or documentation. By turning these assets into bankable and tradable resources, the programme holds the potential to increase Nigeria’s GDP by up to 30 per cent, driven by renewed investor confidence, growth in the mortgage sector, and expanded real estate development.

The programme’s core features include simplifying and standardising the land ownership process, drastically reducing transaction costs and timelines, and deploying technology to build secure, transparent, and interoperable land databases across the federation. For ordinary Nigerians, this reform promises easier access to land ownership, increased tenure security, and the ability to participate more fully in the formal economy.

Recognising that legacy institutions must be retooled to meet today’s complex challenges, the Ministry is actively driving a suite of bold institutional reforms. At the forefront of these efforts is the optimisation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). Both institutions are being strengthened to improve operational efficiency, enhance financial viability, and strengthen service delivery to Nigerians, particularly those in the low- and middle-income brackets.

Under Dangiwa’s leadership, FMBN is showing measurable improvements in performance and impact. Between May 2023 and April 2025, the Bank disbursed over N73 billion in housing finance, delivering 2,542 new homes across the country, and benefiting over 30,000 Nigerians through various housing loan products. These include 1,285 beneficiaries of NHF mortgage loans worth N11.75 billion, 1,140 beneficiaries of Rent-to-Own housing valued at N15.06 billion, and 27,911 recipients of Home Renovation Loans totaling N15.35 billion.

The Bank also recorded an unprecedented operational surplus of N11.58 billion for the year ending December 2024 (unaudited), marking a turnaround in profitability. Furthermore, the successful completion of FMBN’s Core Banking Application (CBA) in Q1 2025 has significantly enhanced the Bank’s operational capacity. The platform allows NHF contributors to conduct services online—ranging from registration and loan applications to repayments and refund requests—while reducing turnaround time by over 40 per cent.

In line with its mandate to expand homeownership, the Bank registered 373,595 new NHF contributors and refunded N30.66 billion to over 92,000 past contributors. NHF collections during the period stood at an impressive N203.27 billion, indicating gFMBN is also innovating. It is finalising the launch of a Diaspora Mortgage Product in partnership with NiDCOM, and designing new offerings such as Rent Assistance and Home Improvement Loans tailored for the informal sector, including non-interest mortgage products to accommodate religious sensitivities.

Alongside this, a framework for establishing the National Social Housing Fund (NSHF) is in advanced stages, a vehicle that pools concessionary capital from multiple sources.

Beyond physical construction and funding mechanisms, Dangiwa’s leadership has placed strong emphasis on policy formulation and regulatory reform as key enablers of sustainable development.

In collaboration with UN-Habitat, the Ministry has drafted a new National Urban Development Policy (NUDP), which outlines a 10-year action plan to guide Nigeria’s urbanisation in a structured, inclusive, and sustainable manner.

At the same time, the Ministry is undertaking a comprehensive review of the National Housing Strategy Report (2023). The goal is to update the document to reflect the country’s post-2019 macroeconomic realities and ensure it is ready for practical implementation.

These policy actions are complemented by the Ministry’s full support for the proposed Real Estate Regulatory Authority Bill, which aims to establish legal safeguards for property buyers, investors, and practitioners, thereby fostering greater trust and professionalism in the housing market.

Dangiwa’s commitment to reform is not only resonating within Nigeria but is also gaining recognition across the continent. In June 2024, he was unanimously elected Chairman of the Financial Caucus of African Ministers of Housing and Urban Development.

In this role, he is leading continental efforts to strengthen cooperation on housing finance, urban policy, and sustainable development practices. His election affirms Nigeria’s re-emergence as a thought leader and driver of transformative housing solutions under the Renewed Hope Agenda.

The results of these efforts are already tangible. Over 10,112 housing units are currently under construction nationwide, while more than 100 slum upgrading projects have been completed to improve living conditions in underserved communities.

The Renewed Hope Social Housing Programme envisions the delivery of 77,400 homes across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas. Currently, 14 states plus the Federal Capital Territory are actively engaged in various stages of housing development.

The Ministry also has plans underway to establish six regional hubs for building material manufacturing, which will serve as anchors for job creation and industrial growth. Looking ahead, the target is to deliver up to 500,000 homes annually as part of the long-term plan to bridge Nigeria’s national housing deficit.

Dangiwa is under no illusion about the scale of the task ahead. With more than 43 million households and a housing deficit running into the tens of millions, the current pace of 20,000 to 50,000 units annually must be significantly scaled up. As he aptly put it, “If history were our benchmark, we are doing well. But history is not our benchmark. The housing needs of our people are.”

In that spirit, the Ministry has declared 2025 as the ‘Action Year’. The focus will be on scaling delivery through increased partnerships with the private sector, enhanced budgetary allocations, deeper subnational engagement, and fast-tracked project approvals.