The House of Representatives Committee on Housing and Habitat has called for urgent recapitalization of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), to enable it to deliver on its mandate to Nigerians.
Chairman of the Committee, Dr Abdulmumin Jibrin, who made the call when he led other members of the Committee on oversight functions to the bank in Abuja, said the bank is in dire need of a bailout.
Jibrin insisted that the Federal Government must take all necessary measures with urgency to resuscitate the bank in view of its importance to housing development in the country.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the FMBN, Shehu Usman Osidi, had earlier briefed members of the Committee on the need for recapitalisation of the FMBN to the tune of a minimum of N500 billion.
Osidi, in his presentation, also revealed that FMBN has increased its loan limit from N15 million to N50 million. This, according to him, “is to meet the financing needs of higher medium income earners and address challenges of higher construction costs.”
The Committee regretted that contrary to its belief, the Federal Mortgage Bank was not a beneficiary of some of the interventions that are going on in the country. “Right now, we’ve just concluded our exercise.
We’ve scrutinised the presentation of the management and we’ve also looked at the challenges that they are faced with and as a committee, I wish to actually state that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria is in a dire need of life support. I can see they need life support.
“They are so poorly funded and everybody knows that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, it’s the most authentic organisation that can access the low-income and the medium income of takers.
“And by the time an organisation like that – that has had a lengthy history in the housing sector in Nigeria – cannot be able to advance mortgages and do not even have the liquidity to carry out its statutory function, then I will say the housing sector in Nigeria is in a mess.
“So, for us as a committee, we’ve taken a position; we will draw the attention of the Federal Government to take all necessary measures with urgency to resuscitate this organisation. “And that has to be done without further delay. Otherwise, if it collapses, then we will be in real trouble. And apart from that, there are a lot of interventions that are currently going on.
“And I’m actually surprised; one of the reasons why we came here, we actually thought that the Federal Mortgage Bank is a key beneficiary of some of the interventions that are going on. Only for us to realise that a lot of such interventions are not domiciled here.
