The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), on Wednesday, disclosed that it has so far disbursed a total of N75.5billion housing loans in the last two tears.
This according to the bank included 3541 mortgages and 25, 242 home renovations loans.
The bank’s Managing Director Mr Ahmed Dangiwa in a statement issued and signed by the Group Head, Corporate Communications, Ahmed Abubakar in Abuja, said he will continue to prioritise the 100 per cent clearing of all qualified housing loan applications that have gone through the various stages.
“From 2017 when we came on board to date, we have been able to successfully process and disburse loans totalling N75.5billion. This includes 3,541 mortgages and 25,242 home renovation loans. We have also financed the construction of over 7,286 housing units within this period.
“These figures represent a marked improvement in the performance of the scheme since it was established 27 years ago,” it said.
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He noted that although significant progress has been made in reducing the backlog and disbursing loans to beneficiaries, efforts would be made to sustain this.
Also, he reiterated commitment to the speedy processing of qualified housing loan applications in line with its mandate to boost the provision of affordable housing to Nigerian workers that are registered contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme.
“From day one, improving the turnaround time of housing loan applications has been the priority of our management because we understood quite early that it has been a big issue over the years, which has led to the accumulation of huge backlog. When we came on board, we set out clear strategies to reduce it. And we have made decent progress,” he said.
To this end, he appealed to its Partner Primary Mortgage Banks to key into the efforts of the FMBN to improve turnaround time for NHF mortgage loans by ensuring speedy treatment of applications and prompt forwarding to FMBN for approval and disbursement.
He, however, added that the bank’s weak financial capitalization remains a major handicap to its ability to deliver on its social housing mandate of affordable housing.
Dangiwa in view of this urged the Federal Government to increase the Capitalization of the bank from the meagre N5billion – with only N2.56billion fully paid up – to N500billion as a necessary first step to strengthening the capacity of the bank to meet the housing demands of Nigerian workers.
He argued that a stronger capital base for the bank will put the institution in a better place to leverage more finance from the private sector, capital market and international development agencies for deployment towards the provision of affordable housing to Nigerian workers.
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