Not fewer than 17,886 workers have benefitted from the National Housing Fund (NHF) in 2022, says the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).
Investors King understands that the NHF Scheme was established by the Federal Government to enable Nigerian workers with low or medium income access loans to build or buy houses for residential purposes.
FMBN stated that funds were given to assist active workers who are contributors in the NHF Scheme to build or renovate their existing houses.
Investors King reports that complaints over the years on the scheme showed that the FMBN has not not been fulfilling its core purpose of furnishing workers with modern and affordable houses.
The Group Head of Corporate Communications, Timan Elayo averred that several workers have benefitted from the housing loans with a low-interest rate and long repayment period of up to 30 years.
Elayo gave the breakdown of the various programmes beneficiaries; “948 subscribers got access to the NHF mortgage loan which allows the contributor to purchase a house through a licensed mortgage loan originator at the maximum loan amount of N15 million, at an interest rate of six per cent and the repayment period of up to 30 years.
“1,034 contributors under the rent-to-own arrangement got an FMBN-funded house as a tenant until rental he/she pays qualifies for ownership of the house with a maximum purchase price of N15 million and interest rate is seven per cent of the price of the property on an annuity basis for 30 years.
“Also, 15,836 contributors got home renovation loans, a product that affords Nigerians an opportunity to access mortgage loans for the renovation or improvement of existing homes. While only 68 subscribers got access to the NHF individual construction loan.”
The FMBN Boss noted that the mortgage bank is making plans to diversify its income to get more funds to satisfy more workers.
He mentioned that the bank is planning to implement a five-year strategic blueprint to improve its funds, get long-term capital to fund its programmes and boost the recapitalisation agenda of the bank.