Federal Government to Commission 1,600-Bed Hostel at Akwa Ibom Varsity

The Federal Government and Family Homes Funds Limited (FHFL) are set to commission 1,600 bed spaces at Akwa Ibom State University, Ikot Akpaden, in the first university-level delivery under the National Student Housing Programme (NASHP).

Abdul-Mutallab Mukhtar, managing director and chief executive of FHFL, disclosed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja. He said the hostel will be inaugurated by Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State, Minister of Finance Taiwo Oyedele and Minister of Education Tunji Alausa.

Mukhtar said NASHP is a public-private partnership involving FHFL, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Student Housing Company (SHC). Under the arrangement, FHFL provides development finance and programme management, TETFund anchors the intervention within tertiary education funding, and SHC provides private capital and long-term facilities management.

The Akwa Ibom project is the second completed site under the 24-institution programme, following a hostel at the College of Education, Warri, Delta State. The national programme is designed to deliver 38,400 bed spaces across 12 universities, six polytechnics and six colleges of education.

Each hostel comprises 1,600 bed spaces in 400 en suite rooms, with study tables, chairs, reading rooms, a common room, a cafeteria and laundry facilities. Mukhtar said the programme would also create jobs through local contractors, artisans, suppliers and permanent facility management roles across participating institutions.

FHFL is a government-promoted social housing institution that finances and supports affordable housing development, while creating jobs and helping low- and middle-income and vulnerable Nigerians achieve homeownership.