The number of Banks managing the proceeds from the sale of Federal Government Property are to be scaled down from fourteen to six.

According to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Chief Nduese Essien, this would enable the Ministry manage the account effectively.

He gave this indication during an inspection of various departments under the Ministry.

It must be recalled that on July 13, the House of Representatives Committee on Housing and Habitat announced that it has successfully facilitated the recovery of 1,086,656,270.15 Naira interest on the proceeds from the sale of Federal Government landed properties held in six commercial banks.

The Comittee had in August 2009, raised the alarm over certain anomalies discovered in the accounts where the proceeds of the sale of Federal Government houses were lodged; particularly the refusal of some of the banks to pay into the public treasury what was due to government. In a motion he sponsored on the floor of the House, Matazu argued that the banks by their actions demonstrated poor commitment to the nation in their handling of public funds kept in their custody.

The House Committee said will soon embark on the second phase of its mandate which is to recover all Federal Government properties wherever located either seized or sold without the funds being remitted into government treasury.

He also said government would consider reducing the cost of building materials especially cement to assist contractors in mass production of houses.
 
Chief Nduese Essien also said that construction of more than fifty four thousand houses would soon commence in parts of the country as soon as land was made available for the project. Essien said contracts would soon be awarded as applications were being received from local and foreign contractors.
 
The Minister told a Radio Nigeria Correspondent that plans were on to install effective solar street lights that would function from six o’clock in the evening to seven in the morning in some urban centres across the country.