An appeal has gone to the House of Representatives to pass legislations that will facilitate the creation of mortgages and thus help increase the rate of housing delivery in Nigeria.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo, made the call while on a courtesy visit to the Speaker of the lower chamber of the National Assembly, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, in Abuja. He noted that six bills are currently awaiting the attention of the lawmakers, some of them since 2006.

According to a statement by Mr. Simeon Agada, Assistant General Manager, Corporate Affairs, FMBN, Ya’u Kumo was quoted as saying that the passage of the bills would ease mortgage and property transactions and streamline the registration and enforcement of liens on mortgaged property in the event of loan default.

The bills, he noted, include a bill for an Act to provide for the repeal of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria Act 1993 and to make comprehensive provisions for the re-establishment of the FMBN and its Board of Directors and matters connected therewith; a Mortgage Institutions amendment bill for the licensing and operations of mortgage institutions in Nigeria; and a bill to provide for the amendment of the Insurance Act 2003 for and other matters connected therewith;

Others are a bill to amend the Trustee Investment Act to facilitate the investment of trusts and other funds in Nigeria in locally-issued securities; a bill to enact the Residential Mortgages Act to modernise aspects of the law relating to residential mortgages in the Federal Capital Territory as a model for state governments; and a bill to enact the Residential Mortgages Tax Relief Act to grant tax relief to mortgage borrowers and, therefore, encourage Nigerians to take up mortgages.

The FMBN boss remarked that the employment generation and wealth creation potential of housing and homeownership were enormous. “If we can jumpstart the housing sector in Nigeria and attain its GDP contribution target of 15 per cent under the Nigeria’s Vision 20:2020 project, incidence of corruption, widespread poverty and mass unemployment that we are battling with today will undoubtedly reduce significantly,” he said.

The statement added that the House Speaker assured the FMBN management that the lawmakers would resume work on the bills if convinced that they would impact positively on the chances of Nigerians owning their residential houses. He decried the situation whereby majority of Nigerians do not have access to decent shelter, assuring that the House will do everything possible to get the bills passed into law.