FMBN disburses N2.6bn to 3, 034 housing loan beneficiaries

The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria has disbursed N2.6 billion to 3, 034 beneficiaries under its intervention housing loan through the Federal Staff Housing Loan scheme, the Managing Director, Ahmed Dangiwa, has said.

Dangiwa said this in Abuja on Wednesday when the Executive Secretary of the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board, Mrs. Hannatu Fika, paid him a courtesy visit.

“As the federal government tries to provide cost effective and affordable housing for civil servants, it is pertinent to note that a total sum of N2.6 billion has so far been disbursed by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria to 3, 034 beneficiaries through the federal staff housing loan.

“I am also indeed, very pleased with the remarkable results that we have been able to achieve in the home renovation loan,’’ he said.

According to him, the home renovation loan is one of several products of the bank aimed at ensuring contributors to the National Housing Fund benefit from the scheme.

He stated that the FMBN home renovation loan was created for the purpose of renovating existing structures at six per cent for tenure of five years maximum.

Dangiwa said the bank remains determined to provide affordable mortgages to Nigerian workers as part of its initiatives to complement President Muhammadu Buhari’s housing sector reforms.

He said that the bank had also launched what is called the Cooperative Housing Development Loan (CHDL) that would enable a cooperative society that has acquired a plot of land to develop houses for allocation to its members.

Dangiwa said that the loan is expected to give a vast majority of economically disadvantaged Nigerians who constituted the informal sector, the opportunity to have decent homes of their own.

According to him, the bank is grossly undercapitalised compared to the situation in other countries.

He said that capitalisation is key to the success of the bank and appealed to the government to hasten the process to improve the capital base of the bank.

Dangiwa said that an increased capital base would place the bank in a better position to refinance mortgages, as it could not meet the bulk of the demands for mortgage loans from its various stakeholders at the moment.

Earlier, Mrs. Fika said that for the past four years, the Federal Staff Housing Loan board had had a good partnership with the bank, adding that the bank has done well on the renovation loan which has helped civil servants to renovate many of their homes.

Fike said houses for civil servants would enable them to improve their productivity and that the board has been working hard to ensure that public servants own their own homes.