Nigeria, Feb. 19 -- The first of the federal government's planned cooperative housing initiative to reach the informal sector in the country came on stream Monday as the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, commissioned the AKACARE Cooperative Housing Scheme, the Woodhill Estate, at Kuje, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari had, in his address at the Ministerial Retreat held in September 2019, declared that one of his administration's NEXT LEVEL commitments was "to deepen access of Nigerians to affordable housing and consumer credit".

In his keynote address at the event, Mr Fashola said the federal government's choice of cooperative associations as means to reach the informal sector in i...