As disclosed at the Inaugural Board and Management Retreat of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday, the Federal Government disclosed it was working towards increasing the mortgages that contributors under the National Housing Fund (NHF) could access. It plans to raise the mortgage to the tune of N712bn for the financing of about 100,000 housing units across the country.
This was disclosed at the Inaugural Board and Management Retreat of the Federal Mortgage Bank themed ”Strategy Repositing for Optimised Performance, Organisational Culture Change, and Informal Sector Integration.’’
Ayodeji Gbeleyi, the Chairman, Board of Directors, FMBN, disclosed at the retreat that the bank’s board had approved a strategic plan that would increase the number of mortgages to be provided for Nigerians. This he said is in line with the mandate of the Federal Government to expand the housing sector in general and deepen the mortgage sub-sector in particular.
The bank aims at increasing the number of mortgages to be provided for the construction of houses for Nigerians. The five-year strategy blueprint being articulated by the bank is a demonstration of its commitment to housing financing in Nigeria.
Mr. Gbeleyi said “some of the measures being promoted towards achieving the targets of the five-year strategic plan included deepening mortgage penetration by facilitating access to homeownership, and growing and diversifying the funding mix through diversification of funding sources, among others.”
At the event, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, noted that one of the major impediments to housing is access to finance. He said “addressing the issue of access to mortgage financing is the panacea to housing delivery challenge in the country”.
While applauding the FMBN’s board and management for the effort it is making in helping people access home ownership through a variety of services rendered by the bank, Mr. Fashola stated the need for the bank to be re-positioned to better serve the people.
He said, “If we fail to remove this impediment, then we will be failing in the reason for setting up the bank.”
“There must be something done to help people pays their rents via their salaries, especially the problem of two three years rent payment demand by landlords in advance from tenants whose salaries come in arrears,’’
The minister further advised the bank to collaborate with the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation contributors’ fund like other commercial banks do. Noting that it would go a long way to finance the mortgage of contributors.
