by Yinka Kolawole
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has described the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme as a fraudulent scheme, in which the greatest beneficiaries are those not contributing to it.

National President of the association, Mr Olakunle Olaitan, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). “If there are poor civil servants that are contributing to the fund and they are not benefiting from it and it is rather those who are not contributing that are benefitting from it, then it is a fraud.

“Nobody who is a civil servant is benefitting from it apart from the private developers, who incidentally are not contributors. This is because it has become something you can liken to a shady deal over the years since its inception. It has been like that and it has continued to remain like that. This is why the Federal Government should ensure that the fund is made voluntary,” he said.

Olaitan therefore posited that the scheme be made voluntary for civil servants because, according to him, they have not really been benefitting from it. “The National Housing Fund contribution should be made voluntary. If any person believes he or she can benefit from it and wants to contribute, he or she is free to do so. Government should not make it to apply to everybody,” he said.

Comparing the NHF with the Federal Government Housing Loan Scheme for Civil Servants, he said the latter is better as civil servants had been accessing the loan. The Federal Government had on May 29, 2010 announced the approval of a N10 billion loan to strengthen the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board (FGSHLB).

“I can authoritatively say that civil servants have been accessing the loan and of course, at a reasonable interest rate of just three per cent and this is a welcome development,” Olaitan said. On Federal Government”s plan to provide three million houses across the country within the next four years for public servants, Olaitan said it would afford civil servants the opportunity of owning their houses.

He, however, said that the government should critically look at the area of making the houses affordable. “We are all aware of the market fundamentals that affect goods and services in this country and then, the initiative should also consider affordability.

The government initiative is a welcome development. It is the right step in the right direction. But then the other aspect of it is the affordability considering the income of the would-be beneficiaries,” Olaitan said.