Senate Finance C’ttee interacts with MOFI overr asset holding coy repositioning
BY PATRICK WEMAMBU
The Senate Finance Committee Wednesday met with the representatives of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) in Committee Room 117 at the National Assembly Abuja towards repositioning the asset holding company.
Led by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Armstrong Takang, the visitors articulated the state of the housing market in Nigeria. The Committee was told; “Nigeria suffers from a shortage of housing in terms of both quality and quantity. It is estimated that the 53% of Nigeria’s estimated population of c. 220 million people live in urban areas. With its fast-growing population, Nigeria is expected to be the world’s third-most populous country by 2050, with close to 400 million people.”
With real GDP growth rate of the real sector put at 1.90% as at Q3 2023, about three-quarters (75%) of the Nigerian urban dwellers living in substandard conditions and around N60trn needed to bridge the housing deficit, members were informed that the share of mortgage to GDP ratio was 0.5%.
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Why is the creation of a MOFI Real Estate Investment Fund (MREIF) important? The CEO replied in his brief; “The creation of a MOFI Real Estate Investment Fund (MREIF)… will take investment from various investors including MOFI and PFAs to implement interventions. The MREIF will catalyse the housing system to eventually deliver the target of 1 million new homes annually. It will continuously take in capital from investors and replenish its capital markets, becoming a living fund.”
Questions posed to the MOFI team centred on the review of the Act establishing the asset holding company, its portfolio management status for the Federal Government of Nigeria – not a mortgage bank, why they are not building houses but providing capital for it. The Committee through Senator Ned Nwoko further interrogated the possibility of including states and local governments in the proposal while considerations for inclusion of abandoned estates in Abuja and Lagos in the MOFI proposal were proposed.
Briefing the press after the meeting, Senator Sani Musa who chaired proceedings said; “The initiative that the institution is bringing (is) in order to change the dynamics of the economy generally. Knowing that MOFI is the custodian of the assets and portfolios of the federal government of Nigeria… we are fully convinced that they are doing very well and there are areas that we felt they should improve. We have highlighted those areas and he (the CEO) has promised to do (the needful) and the engagement will continue.”
He informed that; “Monday we’re starting the public hearing on Monday the 24th of February and the second day will be the 25th and we intend to take on two of the bills of each day of this session and for the press to fully be abreast with what we intend to do the senate committee on finance is going to invite the general public”
