South African retailer Woolworths said it plans to enter into partnership with some Nigerian investors  in its bid to invest in Nigeria. It said it will open 16 new stores in other Africa countries this fiscal year as part of the group’s plan to expand further on the fast-growing continent. Woolworths, which sells high-end food and some clothing, already operates 44 stores in 10 countries that include Botswana and Kenya.

The company said it had formed a joint venture in Tanzania and Uganda and was planning to open three more stores in the two east African countries by the end of the financial year. Woolworths, whose financial year runs from the beginning of July to the end of June, also said it intends opening stores in oil-rich countries such as Nigeria and Angola. The retailer said it will focus on joint ventures with local partners in Africa, rather than its previous franchise model.

The company, which has no connection to the Australian  retailer of the same name, is the latest merchant in South Africa to jockey for a stronger position on a continent that will be home to two billion people by 2050. Both rivals Shoprite and Pick n Pay have set out expansion plans across the continent as Wal-Mart prepares to push its Massmart acquisition further into the world’s second-most populas continent. Woolworths said it regarded trading beyond South African borders as “a major opportunity” for growth.

“Consumer spending accounts for more than 60 percent of the African GDP and this will increase with the growth of the upper and middle income groups,” said Glenn Gilzean, Woolworths’ director for retail operations Shares in Woolworths, which have climbed about 40 percent so far this year, were 0.93 per cent higher at 39 rand , outpacing a 0.9 per cent decline in the JSE All-share index .

Minister urges FMBN to pursue social housing

Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Ammal Pepple, has challenged the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to explore ways of providing houses for the generality of Nigerians as a social scheme. Pepple who paid a working visit to FMBN in Abuja weekend, said many people do not think that social housing scheme (that providing mass houses at cheaper prices) is feasible; but she believes that is workable.

She urged the FMBN management to work towards providing quality houses at affordable prices for Nigeria’s teeming population. The minister said this is imperative in order to address the reported 16 million housing deficit the country is currently grappling with. She was optimistic that the deficit is reducing.

Pepple lauded the efforts of the FMBN management to increase participation in the National Housing Fund by bringing more states to contribute to the scheme. She implored the FMBN management to continue with the efforts in order to enable more Nigerians benefit from the housing scheme.

Currently, about 12 states are not contributing to the National Housing Fund, a Federal Government’s housing scheme administered by the FMBN, which provides housing loans at 6 per cent to eligible contributors to the scheme. Pepple disclosed that the ministry has created a site in Kuje, Abuja for prototype houses in the Federal Capital Territory.

She said that the ministry uses the site for experimentation whereby a real estate developer that says it can build a 3-bedroom house in 5 days for instance, would be allowed to build the house at the site. The minister said the ministry would inspect the house on completion to ascertain the quality and the cost, in order to improve the quality of residential houses for Nigerians.

Mr. Mike Nwogbo, executive director, Organisation Resourcing Department, FMBN, who represented the FMBN Managing Director, Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo, on the occasion, said the bank has been working towards improving the housing stock in Nigeria.

He said the Bank is sourcing mortgage funds through the NHF as well as through the capital market. Nwogbo said the Bank has, through the NHF, collected N73.6 billion from contributors as at July, 2011, while N72.4 billion has been disbursed for housing finance also as at July 2011.

There is a total approval of N140.3 billion housing loans since inception. The relatively low disbursement level is largely due to the inadequacy of available funds to meet the teeming housing needs of Nigerians. He said the Bank has been able to finance the building of not less than 57,794 housing units with the disbursed funds during the period.  The houses include 9,535 non-essential Federal Government residential houses which the FMBN refinanced in 2007 through a N26 billion mortgage-backed bonds floated in the capital market to enable federal civil servants to buy the houses in Abuja, during the implementation of the Federal Government’s monetisation policy.