THE Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has urged the Federal Government to look into the need to recapitalise the Bank with N500biillion.
Speaking with reporters in Calabar at the opening of the bank’s two-day zonal retreat for Southsouth region, the Executive Director, Business Development and Portfolio Management in the bank, Umar Abdullah said management has put forward to the government the need to recapitalise the bank to the tune of N500 billion.
He said if this is done, the bank can expand the mortgage market.
Umar said: “The bank was created with a per capital base of just N5 billion and it is the foremost secondary mortgage market. The reality is that the bank can no longer cope with the reality on the ground. Today, even the primary mortgage bank has a capital base of N5 billion and you can imagine the foremost secondary mortgage market in Nigeria, FMBN relying on the N5billion capital base. The situation needs review.”
He said so far, the current management of the bank within the last two years, has been able to refund N18 billion to contributors of the National Housing Scheme (NHS) who retired without getting the expected benefits.
Umar said: “We have achieved tremendously and one of the areas where Nigerians have a bad impression about the bank is in refunds as it concerns the National Housing Fund scheme; the backbone of the bank is the National Housing Fund scheme; the mandatory contribution scheme where all Nigerians are expected to contribute. Nigerians retired without getting their funds and we got that bad image. I want to assure you that today as we are talking, we have refunded N24 billion to Nigerians and out of that N24 billion, it is this incumbent management that has refunded N18 billion.
“We have reviewed the situation, improved on it and are now paying back the contributed money because the contributed money is still in the bank and has not been tampered with. The problem is with the procedure and the pressure.
“Sometimes people apply for their funds and it takes years after retirement and they cannot access it, but that is no longer the case with this management because there is a paradigm shift and Nigerians are now happy with what we are doing because you can now get your money within 30 to 60 days after applying for it.
“One of the problems of the mortgage market in Nigeria is affordability because the majority are the low-income earners and as the economy is growing, the income also has to grow. The bank is for the Nigerian workers and we must make housing affordable to the workers and that is why we are saying that the interest rate must remain at the single-digit which is six per cent. The new management is up to the task and are doing everything possible to increase the housing stock in Nigeria and are working with all stakeholders towards that.”
Umar told participants in the two-day retreat that the purpose was for cross-fertilisation of ideas between the head office and the zonal/ field offices so as to have a better understanding of serving the public better.
