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As campaigns for the 2027 general elections gather stem, the Executive Director, Estate Services at the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Arc. Ezekiel Nya-Etok, has said housing will be President Bola Tinubu’s greatest legacy as the first term winds down.
Speaking during a media parley, in Abuja, on the gains of the Tinubu-led administration in its first tenure and why Nigerians should re-elect the president, he ranked President Tinubu alongside former President Shehu Shagari, Chief Lateef Jakande and General Sani Abacha, as the leaders who delivered mass housing to Nigerians.
The executive director disclosed that the president had given a direct mandate to the FHA to provide housing solutions for Nigerians, assuring that the agency was working on a complete paradigm shift in housing delivery before the end of the administration.
“Housing is one of his greatest legacies that he is going to have as an achievement. Do you know that after Shagari Housing and Jakande Housing you can’t talk of any other administration? The other person that unfortunately we don’t give him enough credit is Abacha. Yes, Abacha did a lot for housing,” he stated.
Arc. Nya-Etok cautioned the opposition against using hunger and hardship as campaign slogan without providing solutions, insisting that what Nigerians needed was for the gains of macro-stabilisation to be translated to micro benefits.
“Opposition must do better if they want to be given power. Nigeria’s future deserves more than slogans, personalities, or political hostility,” Nya-Etok maintained.
He expressed optimism that the economy, under President Tinubu, will stabilise to the extent that companies that left Nigeria will return.
According to the executive director, there are internal campaigns in government for subsidy savings to be channeled to social housing, mass transportation, primary healthcare, education, security and power.
The former governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom state, who admitted the reforms of the Tinubu administration have been painful, said the reform was necessary, stating: “The president has taken very hard decisions that have affected me, affected everybody. But why did he take those decisions? Do they honestly have verifiable, justifiable long-term good effect,” he asked.
According to Nya-Etuk, “Supporting a government’s broad direction does not require agreeing with every decision or defending every implementation failure. I believe there is room for improvement in ensuring that additional public revenues translate into visible services at the grassroots.
“In particular, greater attention should be given to social housing, mass transportation, primary healthcare, education, and the payment of legitimate salary and pension obligations.
“With the privilege of being ‘inside’, we are now developing separate proposals concerning strategic federal–state collaboration, accountable project delivery, and mechanisms for ensuring that public resources
produce measurable social benefits.”
Speaking further the executive director stated: “I believe we must change the way we understand democratic accountability. In an election, the citizen is not merely a spectator watching politicians compete. The citizen is the holder of the sovereign electoral mandate.
“The incumbent must account for the mandate previously entrusted to him. The challenger must present a credible alternative. Both must submit themselves to the judgment of the electorate. That is the foundation of what I call the Office of the Citizen.
“It requires us to examine achievements without exaggeration, acknowledge failures without distortion, and evaluate competing proposals with seriousness. The quality of our democracy will depend not only on those who seek leadership, but also on the diligence with which citizens select and hold them accountable.
“While the citizens must continue demand from Mr President, they must not do so seemingly blindly in dealing with the opposition. They must equally demand specifics from them Ion their promises, scrutinise
the implementation pathways, and their specific manifestos.”
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