The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company has said more states across the country are showing interest in the new mortgage law.
The Managing Director, NMRC, Mr Kehinde Ogundimu, noted that the state governments were beginning to realise the need for localising the model mortgage foreclosure law in their respective states.
Ogundimu spoke during a webinar organised by the Housing Development Advocacy Network, with the theme ‘Family Homes Funds: Mitigating the impact of COVID-19 with new homes and jobs for low-income earners’.
According to him, the NMRC came up with the model mortgage foreclosure law as a sign of its commitment to the advancement of housing ownership and making sure that finance is always available to both investors and the mortgagors in the sector.
He said he was impressed that at least two states had passed the model mortgage foreclosure law, with more showing commitment to passing it.
Ogundimu said, “I got a letter from the Ekiti State Government that the bill is going (to be passed) as soon as they resume. We have made significant progress with Kwara State where the bill has been drafted. We have also made significant progress in Edo State and so many other states.
“I think states are beginning to realise that they need to be mortgage-friendly in order to attract the investment that is needed in this sector.”
He explained that between now and the next three to four months, depending on the COVID-19 crisis, many states would sign the foreclosure law as every state had realised that one of the ways they could empower their people and unlock the capital tied down in assets would be through the passage of the law.
“We are making very good progress and everyone will see the results soon,’’ he said.
The Family Homes Funds at the webinar, said it had developed innovative solutions for delivering affordable low-income housing despite the pandemic.
The Managing Director, FHF, Femi Adewole, said the current circumstances, especially with regard to exchange rate had a direct impact on the cost of building and inevitably posed a significant challenge to the Fund’s objective of achieving affordable housing.
He, however, gave assurances that the FHF was up to the task of overcoming the challenges and meeting demands.
Adewole said, “We are working to ensure we manage this situation and we are operating a programme called the four levers.
“The primary objective of that is essentially to localise the input into the construction sector in Nigeria, especially the projects for which the FHF is accountable and responsible for.”
According to him, the first measure is the use of locally made materials in building projects.
He said the FHF had been working with the Nigerian Institute of Architects and other partners to achieve broad but practicable goals.
He added, “We are working with the NMRC to develop innovative solutions to ensure that people are able to access finance and pay for these homes. We have the ‘Help to Own’ product and a rental housing plan to ease homeownership. We are working to pull down the cost of housing and the selling price. With regard to that, we are working with the Nigerian Institute of Architects to bring about standardised house designs and other stakeholders in the industry to bring about a standard bill of quantity.
“We are also working with state governments to provide land as their own equity to bring down the housing cost. We are doing aggressive capital mobilisation, knowing that the revenues are currently low; we are looking at other means of funding affordable housing. We want the public to know we are aware of current challenges and are working to manage the situation.’’
Adewole explained that a large proportion of the input into the housing market could be made locally if the right things were done.
He said Nigeria had the potential to make doors, roofing sheets, tiles, electric wiring, window frames but it had not been possible because the local industry had been stifled by cheap imports.
He stated that currently, the FHF had about 3,600 homes across five locations across the country and had committed to another 13,520 in six locations across the country.
