FG approves 600 housing units for military, adopts revised biotechnology policy
August 19, 2026 9:48 pm
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Rabe Darma.
The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the direct purchase of 600 units of four-bedroom terrace duplexes at Bristol City Development in Life Camp, Abuja, for members of the Armed Forces.
The new purchase brings the cumulative number of housing units delivered for military personnel to 2,656 out of a targeted 10,000 units under a five-year federal housing programme.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Rabe Darma, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Darma said, “The Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development presented a memo for the council to consider and approve direct purchase of 600 units of four-bedroom terrace duplexes at Bristol City Development, Life Camp, Abuja, for the Armed Forces. Mr President is committed to seeing to the improvement of the welfare of the armed forces, and housing is an important welfare consideration.
“This memo is a follow-up to a memo we presented earlier last year, where 1,556 units of housing were also approved for the armed forces in the Kaduna area of the Federal Capital, Abuja. This has now brought the housing for armed forces to about 2,656 housing units out of what was to be 10,000 housing units for the armed forces.”
Responding to questions on the high cost of federal housing, Darma attributed the pricing primarily to the escalating cost of construction materials, insisting that government housing remained heavily subsidised despite appearing costly on paper.
“Certainly we know houses are expensive because construction materials are now very, very expensive. If you take the example of a two-bedroom house, even to put up the DPC, the foundation structure, you require at least 1,000 nine-inch blocks.
“If you are in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt or Kano, each block costs about N1,000. So just at that level, you can understand why the cost of those houses is high,” he said.
Explaining further, he said, “If it costs the federal government N18m to build a house to completion, we provide a subsidy on that house. If you were building it individually, it might cost about N17m.
“If the federal government is building it, it may cost about N18m or N18.5m because of contract pricing and tax. But at the end of the day, the federal government will still sell those houses at N12m.
“In some places, we sell those houses at N8m or N9m, depending on the location. So government is providing a lot of subsidy to ensure Nigerians get their own homes.”
He also addressed questions about military housing estates functioning as barracks across the country, explaining that the transformation occurs organically once such estates are handed over to the armed forces.
He added, “If they are built by the military, you will see that they have their military offices, they have guard rooms at those places, so obviously they are transformed into barracks.
“But the Federal Government has a policy that over a five-year period, it will build 10,000 units of housing, and that responsibility is given to the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. What we presented today is part of that responsibility.”
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Kingsley Uche, said council approved a revised National Biotechnology Policy, replacing the original policy that had guided the sector since 2001.
Uche revealed, “Nigeria, in 2001, by FEC approval, published its first national biotechnology policy, and that has served Nigeria for the last 25 years. Under that regime, Nigeria has made significant progress in biomanufacturing, gene editing and other areas of biotechnology relating to health, agriculture and manufacturing.
“But considering where biotechnology is globally today, and our ambition to be one of the leaders in biotechnology, we found that the 2001 policy can no longer serve current realities. Stakeholders met, drafted and validated the revised policy, and today council approved the 2026 revised National Biotechnology Policy.”
He said the new policy would establish a robust strategic roadmap for research, development, commercialisation and application of biotechnology, particularly targeting climate-smart technology, precision agriculture, manufacturing, gene editing and genomics in medicine.
Council also approved Nigeria’s participation in the Global Biotechnology Partnership alongside a concomitant National Bioenergy Strategic Plan.
“Nigeria by this formalises its membership and participation in the Global Biotechnology Partnership. This strengthens our access as a country to international collaboration and investment in biotechnology. Nigeria is actually very rich in biomass and bioresources that could be converted to energy, and this framework would be leveraged to optimise the opportunities Nigeria has towards production and utilisation of bioenergy,” Uche said.
He said the Energy Commission of Nigeria, an agency under the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, would serve as the lead implementing agency for the bioenergy strategic plan, operating through an inter-ministerial structure designed to coordinate all national efforts relating to bioenergy in line with the administration’s focus on addressing energy insufficiency.
Uche disclosed that council also used the session to celebrate the peaceful conduct of the previous Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State.
“Council also celebrated the democracy that was on display in last Saturday’s election in Osun State. Mr President actually celebrated with members of council the demonstration of democracy in last Saturday’s election in Osun State,” he said.
With three years of experience, Stephen, The PUNCH correspondent, has been covering Nigeria’s presidency, politics, security, immigration and trafficking in persons
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