In a bid to demonstrate the institutional independence of the Lagos State Mortgage Board (LMB) and also accord it the ultimate responsibility of deciding who owns government houses, the state government recently signed into law a bill amending the state’s Mortgage and Property Law of 2010.
The new law, according to the state governor, Babatunde Fashola, is aimed at strengthening the independence of the board in the discharge of its activities and, by extension, making it the sole custodian of the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHOMS).
Fashola explained further that the amended law enables the board gain supervisory powers to regulate the powers which heads of ministries, departments and agencies should have over parastatals and agencies that report to them, hoping that the new law would give institutional support and independence to the board.
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The governor said that the scope of operations of the board necessitated the restructuring of existing board members, to ensure the new board takes full responsibilities attached to its scope of work for efficient and maximum service delivery to the public.
He disclosed that the Executive Secretary of the board would be officially addressed as a GM/ceo while the Executive Directors would be addressed as Deputy General Manager (Mortgage and Operations) and Deputy General Manager (Shared Services) respectively.
“We hope that the law will assist to give institutional support to the board to be able to continue not only to build houses but also to provide mortgage finance and to do all of the things that it should do”, he said, adding that it is one of the things that has been taken care of in the new law.
Other adjustments the law made, Fashola said, included lowering the representation of the Ministry of Housing in the board to the level of Assistant Director.
He disclosed that the adjustments the law sought to make was to create proper governmental and institutional control, adding, “one interesting thing in all of these, to me, is that it shows clearly the fallibility of man in every undertaking that he pursues and it also shows how dynamic human thinking can be.”
LMB was inaugurated by the Fashola administration in March 2014 to provide affordable homes to diligent tax-paying residents of Lagos State through the LagosHOMS. Over 500 new homeowners have emerged from the last 10 public draws conducted for mortgage applicants by the LMB.
ODINAKA MBONU
