Mr Gimba Kumo, the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos said that they had refinanced more than N32 billion mortgages for workers to buy houses in Abuja.

According to him, the amount was invested to assist workers to buy the non-essential residential Federal Government houses in Abuja and that the houses were financed by Mortgage-Backed Bonds (MBB).

He further hinted that the FMBN has arranged the MBB as part of its capital market operations, with the support of the Federal Ministry of Finance, saying this amount helped about 13,750 workers in the FCT to buy and own their homes.

“The first series of the MBB was floated in 2006. Then, the second and third series were done in 2012,” he said.

Mr. Kumo also said the bank had embarked on a Ministerial Housing Pilot Project, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to deliver affordable houses for Nigerian workers.

He said that the allocation of the houses, when completed, would be targeted at Nigerian workers.

The managing director said that so far, 28 states and the FCT were contributing to the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme; added that it was necessary for more workers, both in the formal and informal sectors, to join the scheme.

The NHF was established in 1992 and started the first loan disbursement to beneficiaries in 1997.

The contributor is entitled to a loan of up to N15 million at six per cent interest rate, with about 30 years repayment period.

He said that the success of the ministerial housing pilot projects would help the apex mortgage bank to go for another series of MBBs in the capital market.

According to him, the NHF scheme works and is accountable in its operations.

 

2014-02-17