A combination of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria ( FMBN) and the Family Homes Fund (FHF) is capable of providing a major route for affordable housing for most low- and middle-income earners, a Center for Affordable Housing Finance (CAHF) in Africa report has said.
Delivery of affordable housing is a major problem in Nigeria. With a projected population of 263 million by 2030, low levels of mortgage penetration and inadequate access to affordable housing finance call for an emergency response.
This explains why the 2019 CAHF report says housing affordability in Nigeria for most of the populace is almost impossible without deliberate government involvement.
The report’s conclusions have been validated by the Mass Housing Strategy that was recently approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The scheme plans to create 1.8 million jobs starting with the construction of 300,000 homes in the next 12 months.
Noteworthy are the strategic roles that the FMBN and FHF are to play in the execution of this project. While FHF is to drive the social housing part, FMBN is involved in the delivery of 10,840 houses to low, medium, and highincome units across the six geopolitical zones.
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The bank is to also participate in the construction financing for up to 2,667 housing units per year through a Cooperative Housing Development Loan Scheme and a National Affordable Workers’ Housing Scheme.
The recognition of FMBN in the execution of the federal government-led housing programme is noteworthy. It serves as a testimonial for the remarkable turnaround that the FMBN has witnessed in the past three years under the leadership of Ahmed Dangiwa.
Long perceived as a byword for sub-optimal performance, the country’s apex mortgage institution is building an impressive track record of high performance. At the heart of it all is leadership. The Dangiwa-led management of the bank has championed and sustained implementation of a reform roadmap that is delivering remarkable results.
A good example is the adoption of a Risk Management Framework and Cost Containment Framework that is designed to win back the confidence of National Housing Fund (NHF) subscribers and relevant stakeholders in the industry.
Three years ago, when they assumed office, FMBN had a five-year backlog of outstanding unaudited accounts. Today, significant progress has been made to clear it: 2013, 2014 and 2015 accounts have all been done and approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Those for 2016 and 2017 have been completed and submitted to CBN for approval while the audit fieldwork is completed for the year 2018 and work has already started on the 2019 accounts.
Next is the remarkable improvement in the service delivery process turnaround time. As a result of the streamlining of business processes, the bank has reduced turnaround time for service delivery by as much as 40-60 percent. For instance, the time it used to take a retired contributor to NHF to get a refund of his contributions has dropped from an average of 6-12 months to under 90 days.
Another important area of change is the increase in housing loan disbursements. Recent statistics from the bank show that it disbursed loans totaling over N100 billion within the past three years. This implies that, on average, FMBN successfully processed and disbursed loans worth N33 billion per year.
These results, amongst several others, show that FMBN has the right team; is tackling systemic, institutional challenges and is ready and primed to deliver results as a key player in the execution of federal government’s housing project.
