By Chris Ochayi

ABUJA : The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal has assured Nigerians of the intention of members of the House to speed up work on the bills on mortgage system and pass them into laws with a view to fast tracking the chances of Nigerians to own residential houses.

The Speaker who gave the assurance while receiving the management Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN, said the House of Representatives would do everything possible to get the bills passed in order to abridge the 16 million housing deficient.

Tambuwal who decried the current situation where majority of Nigerians do not have decent shelter, assured that the House of Representatives would do anything possible to get the bills passed into law.

Although he did not give a time frame for the passage of such bills into law, he promised that the House would work assiduously to ensure their speedy passage to assuage the suffering of millions of homeless Nigerians.

Managing Director, FMBN, Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo pleaded with the Speaker to enact necessary legislations to facilitate the creation of mortgages in Nigeria and consequently increase the rate of housing delivery in the country.

He said, there are six bills awaiting the attention of the lawmakers, some of them since 2006. The bills according to him 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;

Others are a Mortgage Institutions (Amendment) Bill for the licensing and operations of mortgage institutions in Nigeria, a Bill to Provide for the Amendment of the Insurance Act 2003 for and other Matters Connected Therewith, and 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 modernize aspects of the law relating to residential mortgages in the FCT as a model for state governments; and bill to Enact the Residential Mortgages (Tax Relief) Act to grant tax relief to mortgage borrowers and therefore encourage Nigerians to take up mortgages.