Stories by Yinka Kolawole

Beautiful houses in a gated estate

The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has appointed a consultant to install an e-payment platform that would enable subscribers the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme to check their contributions on-line.

Executive Director, Loans Production & Securities Issuance, FMBN, Mr. Bola Ogunshola, said that the consultant is expected to install an e-payment platform, which will interface with public sector organisations on NHF contributions and gives an alert to contributors when their payments are remitted to FMBN.

Ogunshola disclosed this recently , Lagos, at the official commissioning of an estate built by a primary mortgage institution (PMI), Intercontinental Homes Savings and Loans Plc (IHSL), a subsidiary of Intercontinental Bank Plc, where he represented the FMBN Managing Director, Mr. Gimba Kumo. “We envisage a situation where NHF contributors can check their accounts online and receive SMS alerts when their contributions are remitted to FMBN,” he stated, and confirmed that the FMBN board has approved the reinstatement of the three tranche disbursement arrangement for estate loans on 40-30-30 per cent instalment rate.

He said that the apex mortgage institution has also increased the speed of processing NHF mortgage loans to contributors desirous of building, purchasing or renovating houses. According to him, FMBN has approved a total of N2.725 billion through IHSL to 715 NHF contributors to become homeowners. “Strategies to bridge the housing finance gap of over 60 trillion to deliver the 16 million housing units deficit must involve devising the best synergies in public–private partnership,” he asserted.

Also speaking at the occasion, Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Dele Onabokun, who represented Governor Babatunde Fashola at the event, urged mortgage firms and banks to reduce interest rates on housing loans to single digits as well as support long term loans to developers. Reviewing steps taken by the state government to boost housing development, Onabokun noted that the state government has reviewed its 30-day governor’s consent and established an electronic documents management solution to fast track title and mortgage documentation processing. He also cited the establishment of the Mortgage Registry at the Lagos Land Registry and creation of Mortgage Division in the state judiciary as well as the establishment of Lagos Mortgage Scheme and the enactment of Lagos State Mortgage and Property Law 2010.

Earlier, the Chairman of the mortgage firm, Mr Samuel Adegbite, said that government alone cannot meet the housing demands of the people with the resources available to it, hence the need for private sector initiatives and involvement in increasing the housing stock.

He called for a shift from the upper end of the housing market to the lower-middle class in housing provision, noting that is where the need is now. “The challenges, which the government must seek to address have to do with access to land, transferability of land titles, and improvement in the physical planning approval process. Considerable time taken to complete the process, and eventual construction impacts on the cost of delivering houses. If the government works on the factors that are within their control, and make the sector more investment friendly, there would, no doubt, be an increase of investments in the housing sector,” he stated.