 Stakeholders at the 10th annual meeting of the National Council on Lines, Housing and Urban Development have continued on issues concerning development in the sector. The third day of the meeting brought permanent secretaries from the 36 states of the country and the FCT to seek ways to bridge the gap in housing sector for job creation and economic development. Jacinta Obuco now reports. The permanent secretaries gathered to profess solution to housing development in their respective states. Lagos is the host of the CS Council and the Commissioner for Physical, Planning and Urban Development, Idris Saloko, said the state is setting the pace in housing in Nigeria. The federal government revealed some recent development in the sector. It is important to mention that the Lagos State government has relaxed some policies to encourage investment in the real estate sector for housing provision and this is not limited to the lifting of embargoes from areas that were either to under various bands. I am proud to announce to you that the Lagos State Urban Development Policy 2022-2050 has commenced. The Federal Minister of Work and Housing has acidiously worked and supported the Federal Mugget Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Housing Authority to provide decent and affordable houses to Nigeria in line with the Ministry's mandate. Lack of maintainers and policy implementation, they said, are part of the challenges in housing sector. The concept is good for the implementation of the problem of housing issues in the country. I believe if the implementation is alright, then another day is the issue of maintenance. They also spoke on the expectation from the council meeting while explaining job opportunities that are bound in the sector. The rate people construct these days, there are opportunities for various professionals to be engaged. If properly done, there are opportunities for artisans of various scale to be employed. So it's something government needs to look at critically. It is a fact that the more you build, the more people are taking into job ladder and it is important that we continually sit like this to look out for ways so that we look at those challenges and concerns and try to meet them. Just imagine, like the 3,000 house units been erected in each of the state of the Federation, you remember how many artisans, apart from engineers, professional scale laborers that are going to be employed, ordinary laborers that are going to be involved in the construction. The annual meeting will end on 1st October 2021 and stakeholders are expected to arrive at decisions that will trigger policy implementation and development to housing in Nigeria. Jacinta Ubuku for PLOS TV Africa.