President Bola Tinubu on Friday, April 24, formally swore in Muttaqha Darma as Minister of Housing and Urban Development at the State House in Abuja, marking his official entry into the Federal Executive Council.
Speaking shortly after taking the oath of office, Darma acknowledged the scale of expectations attached to his appointment, saying he intends to measure his performance against personal conviction, public perception, and divine accountability.
“I feel that I have been given responsibility, and I know that if you are given responsibility, there are three classes of people who will judge you,” he said.
“I want to satisfy myself that the work I’m given, I’m doing it well. Then the people around me will be satisfied, and the general public will also be satisfied. At the end of it all, God Almighty will also judge me.
“I am going to deliver to the best of my ability, and you will see changes in no time.”
He drew attention to Nigeria’s significant housing shortfall, estimating that the country faces a deficit of about 20 million housing units, a gap he described as both structural and urgent.
“We know there are so many challenges in the housing industry. Nigeria needs about 20 million housing units to accommodate over 100 million people who are unhoused,” he said.
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“That is a tremendous challenge, even if you plan to build 15 million houses in the next 10 years.”
Darma said his ministry would prioritise practical and innovative solutions, including stronger collaboration with private developers and improved policy incentives to stimulate housing supply.
He emphasised the need for a more efficient and results-driven approach to public housing delivery.
“We are strategic. We are focused. We are forward-looking… we will bring innovation and creativity to ensure that many people who are unhoused will be housed,” he said.
The new minister also questioned inefficiencies in government-led housing schemes, contrasting them with the relative success of private sector developers.
“Why are private individuals building and selling houses successfully, while government houses are being abandoned?” he asked, adding that, “There must be constraints we need to identify and address.”
Darma pledged to focus on removing structural bottlenecks in the housing sector and ensuring that policy reforms translate into tangible improvements in access to affordable housing across the country.