FMBN, Shelter Afrique sign $2bn deal to build 100,000 homes
… 150,000 jobs to be created
In an innovative effort to reduce the housing deficit of 17 million homes in Nigeria and accelerate home ownership among Nigerians, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) last week in Abuja signed a $2 billion memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Company for Habitat in Africa (Shelter Afrique) and the Real Estate Development Association of Nigeria (REDAN) to provide 100,000 housing units across Nigeria over the next 10 years.
Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony, Richard Esin, who is the acting managing director of FMBN, said with $200 million to be injected in financing the projected home development annually, 10,000 housing units would be generated annually, which will amount to 100,000 within the 10-year period covered in the MoU signed by the three parties.
Esin also noted that, if added up to other intervention schemes, over 20,000 housing units would be delivered annually, and further noted that over 150,000 job would be created in the activity.
The Nigerian market will require nothing less than $200 million annually over the next 10 years to achieve the housing self-sufficiency feat, he said.
Available data for 2014 from the World Bank and the National Bureau of Statistics agree that Nigeria has an estimated housing deficit of over 17 million units.
On his part, James Mugerwa, managing director/CEO of Shelter Afrique, said the signing of the MoU was significant as the housing sector gains increasing prominence in the national development agenda of Nigeria.
Mugerwa said Shelter Afrique, being a pan-African development financial institution that has existed for over three decades, had acquired substantial operational experience and established itself as a credible housing finance institution.
In his remarks, Ugochukwu Chime, national president of REDAN, said it was gratifying that the FMBN was reaching out to other stakeholders in a bid to closing the housing gap.
He, however, regretted that previous efforts by the bank were made in isolation of critical stakeholders, noting that the deficit in housing was huge and required concerted effort of all critical industry players in addressing it.