FMBN inches closer to N500bn recapitalisation, recovers N3bn debt
The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) seems to have made significant progress in its loan recovery drive, as the bank has reported 25 percent increase in the loans retrieved so far in 2018.
The nation’s mortgage bank reported the recovery of N3billion so far this year, compared to the N2.4 billion it recovered in 2017, the Managing Director of FMBN, Ahmed Dangiwa stated this at the recently held 2018 Annual Management Retreat with the theme; Improved Transaction Turnaround Time: Getting it Done.
Also, to strengthen the work done so far, the Bank is working in partnership with the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Pubic Property in a move that is likely to recoup N43billion from the Bank’s debtors within the next 18 months.
“The current Executive Management of FMBN has notched significant milestones in its strategic plan to reform and reposition the Institution as a more effective provider of safe, decent and affordable housing for Nigerians despite many challenges,” Zubaida Umar, Group Head, Corporate Communications, FMBN said.
Specifically, the MD of FMBN, Dangiwa revealed that after twelve years of failed attempts at institutional restructuring, Management’s proactive stakeholder engagement drive has resulted in the successful passage of key amendments to the Laws establishing the Institution and the National Housing Fund (NHF) by both chambers of the National Assembly.
The amended laws, when assented to by the President, would birth a new, more independent and financially stronger FMBN with a robust capital base of N500 billion.
Meanwhile, Nigeria government had disclosed plans to inject N500 billion ($1.4 billion) into its low-cost mortgage lender over the next five years in an effort to spur home ownership that has failed to take off in Africa’s most populous nation.
To this effect the government obtained a N9.1 billion ($25 million) loan from the World Bank to run the Nigerian Mortgage Guarantee Company (NMGC), pending equity investments by the owners.
“The additional liquidity and operational flexibility will greatly enhance FMBN’s capacity to more effectively deliver on its mandate to provide access to affordable mortgage finance for home ownership by Nigerian workers,” Dangiwa said in a statement.
He reported that the Bank was strengthening its collaboration with its key stakeholders, especially the labour unions, whose members constitute the bulk of contributors to the National Housing Fund Scheme.
This has culminated in the commencement of a need-targeted housing delivery program across the country – the National Affordable Housing Delivery Programme (NAHDEP) for Nigerian workers, in collaboration with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA).
The MD said the groundbreaking ceremonies have been done and construction work has commenced in earnest in five states, spread across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
“Others are in the pipeline as we intend to cover every State across the country. Part of the central focus is to establish a template for affordable housing delivery in Nigeria,” he said.
Accordingly, the implementation concept is said to be unique with the housing designs and bill of quantities (BoQ) directly commissioned by the Bank to ensure the profit motive is greatly minimized.
“This template has given us the leverage to guarantee that the selling prices for the housing units range between N3.1m and N8.3m for 1, 2 and 3 bedroom dwellings,” Dangiwa explained.
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