The Chairman, Board of Directors of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Chief Bisi Ogunjobi, has revealed that the National Housing Fund (NHF) had raked in about N22 billion from contributions by Nigerians hoping to own houses through mortgage.

Of the amount, N5 billion or 40 per cent of the total contribution since its inception 21 years was made in two years.

Ogunjobi said this at a workshop in Abuja as part of the bank‘s strategic campaigns aimed at enlightening the general public and stakeholders on the role, rules and operations of the NHF in providing affordable housing to the people.

He however expressed concern that despite the increased revenues in the last two years, the scheme had failed to achieve its set target as a window of housing provision in Nigeria.
According to him, some of the limiting factors had been failure of some states and organisations to be contributors to the scheme, lack of finance from the banks and insurance companies and poor management of the funds.

The FMBN’s chairman explained: “With the establishment of the NHF  21 years ago, like a child it should have become an adult having reached the age of puberty and be eligible to vote and be voted for and ready to take on responsibility for building his or her own family.

“Unfortunately, the high hopes enshrined in the NHF Act have not all been realised. For example, while NHF is a mandatory contributory scheme for all Nigerian workers, to date not all states and organisations are contributors while the investments expected from the banks and insurance companies are non-existent. At the same time, the management and performance of the Fund has been less than optimal.”

Source: Thisday (by Patrick Ugeh)