By  YINKA KOLAWOLE

About N56 trillion is required to adequately meet the housing needs of Nigerians, said to be in deficit of about 16 million housing units.

Managing Director of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo, said the figure is based on a conservative cost of construction at N3.5million per unit.

“Fundamentally, the nation needs 16 million housing units to bridge the housing deficits in the country, and providing these houses will cost N56 trillion at a conservative cost of N3.5million per unit. This is a colossal amount which cannot be funded only through the NHF, but requires urgent injection of funds from both the government and the private sector. That is why we are as well exploring offshore funding to boost financing for mass housing which the nation urgently needs,” he said.

Kumo said the management of FMBN has been pursuing relationships with key institutions like the Nigerian Airforce, Nigerian Navy, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Nigeria Police, among others, with a view to financing the building of staff residential estates for them through the NHF scheme.

In this regard, he said the bank has offered to finance the building of 150 housing units in each state of the federation and Abuja for men and officers of the Nigeria Police totaling 5, 550 housing units, adding that the police leadership has accepted to support this initiative.

He said the apex mortgage bank will continue to work assiduously to provide shelter for Nigeria’s teeming population, despite the constraints it was facing in the enforcement of compliance with the NHF scheme, outdated mortgage legislations and inadequate funding.