FG COLLABORATES WITH NASSARAWA, GOMBE, NIGER, ABIA, OSUN, ENUGU AND CROSS RIVER STATES TO ENSURE THE COMPLETION AND TAKE OVER OF ESTATES 26-02-25
By Sadiq Aminu The Federal Government is collaborating with Nasarawa, Gombe, Niger, Abia, Osun,Enugu and Cross River States to ensure the completion and take over of estates for allocation to civil servants.
The Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Shehu Osidi who stated this in Abuja while presenting achievements of the bank within the last one year said the initiative was to ensure effective off-take by beneficiaries.
He expressed optimism that the take-over of the estates by the state governments would enable the bank recover its investments to establish new projects.
Mr. Osidi maintained that the bank is to establish a non-interest mortgage for Nigerians interested in ethical products.
The Managing Director highlighted some objectives of the bank which include review of its five year strategy blueprint, facilitate extensive mobilization of the informal sector and provision of additional funding for the Renewed Hope and Cities Estate Projects.
According Mr. Osidi, the bank had concluded engagement with stakeholders to draft the bills to review the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and National Housing Fund Act to enhance its capacity to provide affordable accommodations to Nigerians.
He maintained that the bank was seeking the cooperation of stakeholders for its re-capitalisation to five hundred billion naira based on the directive of the Federal Executive Council.
Mr. Osidi said the bank’s collections under the National Housing Fund operations, grew by N3b in 2024 resulting in total collection of N103b, compared to the N100b recorded in 2023.
He said 658 employer organisations and 178,619 employees were registered in 2024 compared to 556 and 113,577 in 2023.
The Managing Director said under the bank’s refund operations, N14.4b was refunded to 44,333 beneficiaries compared to N13.2b to 40,426 beneficiaries in 2023.
He stated that Kano State civil servants had been reintroduced into the National Housing Fund since the last 24 years.
”Another significant achievement here is the resumption of Kano State civil servants back into the NHF scheme after 24 years of being out of the scheme. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to facilitate this was signed between the Bank and the State Government on Friday, January 31, 2025, this will impact positively on the NHF collections in 2025 as Kano State has a workforce of over 160,000.”
Mr. Osidi expressed gratitude to stakeholders for the support and stressed that the achievements symbolise the banks unwavering commitment to the provision affordable housing in the country.