The federal government hopes to source capital market funding as well as other third party monies to enable it implement the Family Home Fund project, with which it hopes to provide some 500,000 affordable homes for Low income Nigerians and create 1.5 million jobs in the next four years.
Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, minister of Finance, Budget and Planning, on Monday in Abuja announced government commitment on adequate public funding for the project, but said enough third party monies were also being expected to enable deliver on the ambitious project.
“The Family Homes Fund will receive significant amounts of public money, in addition to other capital from development finance institutions and the capital market,” Ahmed said as she inaugurated the board of the fund, headed by a former CBN Deputy Governor, Suleiman Barau.
The Family Homes Fund which was launched since 2016 and has rarely made any significant impact, was set up against the backdrop of widening housing gap in the country.
The minister raised concerns that lack of co-operation among various agencies tasked with the provision of housing was partly responsible for the poor delivery of affordable housing over the last thirty years.
The Fund is a partnership between the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority as founding shareholders, and the largest affordable housing-focused fund in Sub-Sahara Africa, leveraging its significant capital (in excess of N1trn by 2023) to facilitate access to affordable housing for millions of Nigerians on low to medium income groups.
Authorities believe that through strategic partnerships with various players in the sector and some of the world’s main Development Finance Institutions, the Fund could facilitate and supply 500,000 homes by 2023.
Ahmed said the fund was a push to the realization of President Buhari’s goal of bridging the housing gap and promptly addressing the numerous demands for government interventions in the housing sector.
“The Poor delivery of affordable housing over the last thirty (30) years is, in part, attributable to lack of co-operation among various agencies tasked with the provision of housing,” she noted.
She assured on the present administration’s commitment to the implementation of the Housing Policy through the provision of enough funds for its sustainability in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for the next five years.
According to her, the housing programme envisaged under the Family Homes Scheme is the largest in the Nigerian history, and if successfully delivered, has the potential, not only to change lives but also to boost Nigeria’s economy.
“It will therefore serve as a catalyst to attract investors, provide land ownership to citizens at a lower rate and mobilise funds through mortgage finance,” the minister further noted.
Ahmed urged the new board to seek and build partnerships, as “it is quite unlikely that the Fund will achieve the expectations of Mr. President, without partnering the others.”
“We expect you to be creative, bold and ambitious,” she urged. “The Federal Government expects a financially sustainable Fund,” the minister noted, adding that whilst the initial capital commitment from Government will be useful, the expectation is that the company will raise significant third-party capital to finance the programme.”
Chairman of the board Suleiman Barau assured the commitment of the board and management of the Fund to provide leadership given the quality of expertise at the disposal of the team.
Responding to the minister’s directive on instituting a strong corporate governance structure considering huge amount of money expected to come into the company, Barau assured that the team will first organize a governance seminar for all staff in order to get the buy-in of everyone, including management and board into set out goals.
Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja
