The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Housing, Abdulhafis Toriola, disclosed this while fielding questions on the allocation of the newly commissioned 270 home units (Cluster 1) of the Egan Housing Scheme.
He pointed out that the delivery of the housing estate was cumbered by various factors, ranging from administrative issues to large-scale vandalization of the estate by hoodlums.
He lauded the patience and understanding of the early subscribers of the estate who waited for the estate to be completed.
“The state government has since refunded 145 former subscribers who applied for repayment with genuine evidence of payment since the administration of former Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, till date,” a statement on Monday by the Chief Public Affairs Officer of the Ministry, Adesile Rufai, quoted the permanent s3cretary as saying.
Toriola also appealed to subscribers who had applied for refund but have not been paid, urging them to approach the Ministry of Housing with all necessary original documents, while subscribers with claims of loss of original receipt or document should provide a police report and declaration of loss of document or receipt.
Toriola said that “as of today (Monday) 145 former subscribers with genuine evidence of payment had been refunded,” saying that “those with no evidence of payments or with questionable documentation are still being investigated.”
The statement further read, “The Permanent Secretary recalled that the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, insisted on protecting the interests of the old subscribers who have paid the full sum of the purchase price.
“To this end, such subscribers were to be immediately handed their home keys, while those who paid more than 50% of the initial selling price shall be considered with the option to balance up at the current selling price or apply for a refund.
“He further said that this was also in acknowledgement of the commitment made by the subscribers and confidence exhibited over the years, while disclosing that over 70 per cent of the early subscribers did not make payments beyond the initial 10 per cent deposits made to the Lagos Building Investment Company (LBIC).”
The permanent eecretary “acknowledged that there was a change of policy from the LBIC “mortgage scheme” to the “Outright purchase” of the Ministry of Housing at the point of handover of the scheme to the Ministry in 2017 by Ex-Governor, His Excellency Akinwunmi Ambode. He said that this policy alteration was communicated to all subscribers through various platforms.
“Toriola then assured all genuine subscribers that the delivery of the Egan housing scheme is still an ongoing process, noting that there were still 576 homes of various categories to be completed before the end of the 1st quarter, 2025.
“He also pointed out that the state government had continuously called several stakeholder meetings for over five years to work out mutual plans for allocations or refunds for those who were no longer interested in the housing estate, while ensuring that more stakeholder meetings would be held to ensure that the interest of all genuine subscribers were protected.
“Toriola seized the opportunity to reiterate the utmost commitment of the state government towards the continuous provision of homes to the citizens of the state in all the administrative divisions of the state,” the statement added.
