Some Nigerians, especially those in the employment of the Federal Government have reacted unpleasantly to the purported achievements of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in the last five years.
They described the purported achievements of the board of the organization as a ruse and a method to entrap more unsuspecting enrollees into the National Housing Fund scheme.
NHF by the Act of the National Assembly has the supervisory and management mandate over the housing fund. Many of the applicants of the NHF have chided the organization and its management by saying its operations has never been transparent contrary to the claimed transparent operation and achievements.
The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) had shared to the public its five-year achievements at a town hall meeting with its staff. The meeting was held to reflect on the performance of the executive committee of FMBN, whose tenure lapsed on 8th April, 2022.
Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, the erstwhile FMBN MD/CEO, said that with the hard work and cooperation of staff, the management team posted remarkable results across on corporate performance indices since assumption of office in April 2017. He had listed some of the notable achievements to include:
- The mobilization of N294.1 Billion in additional contributions to the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme at an average of N58.8billion per annum representing over 117% increase from the N232.8 Billion the team met in April 2017.
- Disbursement of 175 Million in affordable housing loans and construction finance representing over 111% increase from the N152Billion the team met in April 2017. Results include provision of NHF Mortgage loans to 5,938 Nigerians, home renovation loans to 77,575 beneficiaries, and the delivery of 13,499 new homes.
- Speedy processing of N39.5Billion in refunds to 247,521 retired NHF contributors representing over 359% increase from the N10.8 Billion the team met in April 2017.
- The development and commencement of the N40billion FMBN Mega Cities project under the FG National Economic Sustainability Program (NESP) to deliver 5,000 housing units.
- Championing of initiatives that have made FMBN affordable housing products more affordable. This includes relaxed equity requirements of up to 30% to 10% for loans above N5m, and 0% for those below N5m while retaining single digit interest rate regime for personal loans and thereby promoting inclusiveness; creating innovative products such as the rent to own, individual construction, Diaspora mortgage loan and non-interest mortgage and revamping the cooperative housing development loan products to ensure that more Nigerians can benefit from FMBN and
- Leveraging the power of technology to enhance transparency in the management of NHF operations.
- Straightening the huge backlog of unaudited financial statements dating back to 2013 Results: FMBN audited financial statements (AFS) for the Years 2013 – 2019 have been presented and cleared by the Board; the CBN has approved all the audited Financial Statements up to 2015 while the approval for 2016 – 2019 audited financial statements remain pending. The Year 2020 AFS is almost concluded, as it is currently going through final touches.
However, Mr. Akingbola Temidayo and Steve Ikenweiwe, both applicants of NHF while reacting to the said achievements, advised that FMBN transparency would have been appreciated if the names of the successful applicants were published in the newspapers.
A Nigerian, Mr. Ekpoudo said he suspected that only selected Nigerians have been enjoying the benefits of FMBN. An applicant, Saidu Adamu, claimed he applied for a loan two years ago and his name was not included among the beneficiaries. Another applicant, who simply gave his name as Atat said he applied for the housing loan four years ago but nothing was heard from FMBN despite meeting all the requirements. An applicant, Emmanuel Okim, claimed that his loan was approved after three years following a payment of cash incentive, even then the loan has not been released to him after months of approval.
Rulers’ World also spoke with some staff of the Federal Government who said they have given up on the NHF because the government has taken away a part of their salaries to fund the scheme without any benefit to them. Mr. Rafiu Adekunle said he has been employed by the federal government for fifteen years but it has been difficult for him to access NHF.
While reacting to the experiences of the applicants of the scheme, an official of FMBN in Abuja who preferred to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak with us, admitted that it takes a long time to complete the process of accessing the loan because of bureaucratic delays. He further submitted that many of the applicants are not patient enough to complete all the requirements.
He added that some applicants have the habit of trying to jump the process which will not give them any result.
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