*Pix above: FMBN
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The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has provided about N100 billion off-takers guarantee to a consortium of developers that are building about 100,000 houses across the country.
*Shehu Osidi, MD/CEO, FMBN
The Managing Director of the FMBN, Shehu Osidi who disclosed this during a courtesy visit by the Ekiti State Governor, Abiodun Abayomi Oyebanji, yesterday at the headquarters of the Bank in Abuja, also assured Nigerians that his Bank is ready to partner with indigenes and state governments by way of providing mortgage financing to those who meet basic requirements.
Osidi explained that the FMBN is a mortgage institution which provides financing for citizens, revealing that, as a Bank, they have also ventured into construction financing due to the fact that houses available are not within the threshold of affordability of the low and medium income earners.
He said the FMBN is ready to keep financing construction projects in states as long as indigenes or state governments can provide off-takers to those houses by way of affordability.
While reiterating that the FMBN is a major partner in President Tinubu’s pronouncement to turn the country into a major construction centre, by the massive construction of houses across the country that will also create employment and grow the economy, the Managing Director said all FMBN mortgage financing are affordable, explaining that his Bank is the only financial institution in the country that provides mortgage financing at a single digit.
“Affordability is a function of two variables and so it is relative. All of the houses that are financed by the FMBN are affordable. I say this because the essence of establishing the Bank is to provide mortgage financing to Nigerians at six percent which is the lowest you can find anywhere in the country. The Commercial Banks are doing between 25 and 28 per cent interest, while the FMBN is offering mortgages at six per cent. Our construction finance window is at 9.5 per cent. We are the only bank in Nigeria that finance construction at single digit as well as provide mortgages at single digit. Affordability is possible and is relative, it depends on the type of house you want to build”.
“We have different types of loans. We have a window for what we call the self-employed Nigerians, based on their income. If they agree on what they want to contribute to the national housing fund on a monthly basis and have contributed for about six months, they become eligible to apply for our mortgage loans.
They can access mortgages depending on their affordability. We also have an individual construction loan window where an individual who has a CofO approaches the Bank to take a loan to build a house by himself”, he said.
Earlier, the governor of Ekiti state who was represented by his special adviser, Bureau of Housing and Mortgage Development, Dr. Gboyega Oloniyo, had said his government holds shelter as a huge priority, emphasising that the state is partnering with the FMBN to Provide housing units to end users who have made contributions over the years to the federal housing fund.
While lamenting that Ekiti state has a lot of housing deficits, the governor promised that they are planning to provide around two thousand housing units to tackle the housing deficit in the state.{agency}/PLEASE SHARE
