By PROVIDENCE OBUH

LAPO Microfinance Bank, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc and the French Agency for Development, entered into partnership on “Housing Scheme.” The scheme is designed to enable persons at the bottom of the pyramid have access to decent shelter with attention to adequate sanitation.

LAPO MfB engages potential clients, carries out loan appraisal, disburses and ensures repayment with an adequate monitoring system, Lafarge provides technical support through active participation in the management of the Project while the French Agency for Development provides an on-lending facility to LAPO. The project piloted in Ogun has been scaled up and now extends to Lagos, Oyo and Edo states; however implementation will begin in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states soon.

In this interview, Managing Director LAPO MfB, Mr. Godwin Ehigiamusoe, said that microfinance is a realistic approach to affordable housing, stating that and collaboration are imperative to tackling Nigeria’s housing deficiency.  

How would you rate the impact of the Affordable Housing Scheme on those at the bottom of the pyramid since inception?

The Project has been enthusiastically embraced by Nigerians and over 5,000 families have so far benefitted from the scheme since inception. In this regard, operations are being expanded to more states and discussions are ongoing for collaboration with other large corporate entities to expand the frontiers of affordable housing. Our focus is not just helping clients complete their buildings but also ensuring adequate sanitation.

The project has economic, social and environmental impact angle. We are also aware that houses for low-income earners are not just shelters, but are equally locations for their economic activities, to this end, we are putting in place a system that will enable impact assessment not only in terms of number of houses but with equal attention to social indicators. The success recorded so far is due to a number of factors which include commitment of the partners in the project who have all delivered on their obligations.

LAPO Microfinance Bank particularly brings its solid experience in low-income people engagement and micro-lending to bear on the implementation of the project; secondly, the project was preceded by proper preparations including an extensive survey; and adoption of ‘incremental approach’ to housing financing.

What are your plans to extend this scheme to other states in the country?

The pilot phase is coming to an end and we are in the process of scaling up the project. From LAPO MfB perspective we seek to mainstream the affordable housing loans into our regular product mix. The implication is that the product will be offered in all our branches across the country.

How would you rate government’s support to bridging the housing deficiency gap in Nigeria?

I believe there is a strong commitment to making affordable housing possible in Nigeria; a good initiative is the Mortgage refinancing company. One hopes that the advent of this initiative will begin to yield fruits. Efforts should be made to ensure that this has impact on low-income households.