*Bank seeks FG’s return of balance of N19bn wrongly deducted
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The House of Representatives Committee on Housing and Habitat has said that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) should be granted a special intervention fund by the federal government to ensure its continuous operation.
Speaking when he led the committee on an oversight visit to the FMBN headquarters in Abuja, the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, noted that as a critical institution in the housing sector, the FMBN must not be left to continue to struggle for funding.
After a presentation by the Managing Director of the FMBN, Shehu Osidi, Jibrin said that it was obvious that the bank was poorly funded and needed some form of lifeline.
“We’ve just concluded our exercise. We’ve scrutinised the presentation of the management and we’ve also looked at the challenges that they are faced with and as a committee, I wish to actually state that the FMBN is in dire need of life support. I can see they need a life support.
“They are so poorly funded and everybody knows that the FMBN is the most authentic organisation that can access the low income and the medium income offtakers.
“And by the time an organisation like that, that has had a lengthy history in the housing sector in Nigeria cannot advance mortgages and do not even have the liquidity to carry out its statutory function, then I will say the housing sector in Nigeria is in a mess,” he stated.
As for the for the committee, Jibrin stated that it has taken a position and it will draw the attention of the federal government to it , in order to take all necessary measures with a sense of urgency to resuscitate the organisation.
He added: “And that has to be done without further delay. Otherwise, if it collapses, then we will be in real trouble. And apart from that, there are a lot of interventions that are currently going on.
“And I’m actually surprised, one of the reasons why we came here, we actually thought that the FMBN was a key beneficiary of some of the interventions that are going on, only for us to realise that a lot of such interventions are not domiciled here.
“So, as a committee, we’ve taken a position to make a presentation to the federal government to ensure that any intervention that will become a special component is put aside, to be extended to the FMBN so that they can continue to carry out their function,” he added.
In a brief to the committee, the Managing Director, Osidi, stressed that the FMBN continues to provide long-term loans at single digit interest rate of between 6 per cent to 7 per cent, which is the lowest in the market, to drive affordability.
In support of the federal government’s Renewed Hope Agenda for the Housing Sector, the bank, he said, provided a N100 billion bankable off-taker guarantee to real estate developers executing the construction of affordable houses coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Housing & Urban Development.
However, he stated that the federal government had wrongfully deducted N19 billion from its accounts , following a directive that 40 per cent of revenues from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should be removed.
“During the period, in compliance with the federal government directive to deduct 40 per cent of revenues from MDAs including the FMBN, the Office of the Accountant-General deducted 40 per cent of National Housing Fund (NHF) inflows erroneously misconstruing it as revenue, which they are not.
“A total sum of N19 billion was deducted from NHF collections under this directive and domiciled with the Office of the Accountant-General for the Federation at the time we assumed office in February 2024.
“The bank has been in constructive engagement with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy on the need to stop the 40 per cent deductions form NHF and access the 19 billion in trapped funds.
“As a result of our engagements over the issue with the minister as well as the OAGF, a sum of 12 billion has been returned to the bank. We are still engaging relevant authorities on this matter and the engagement continues until the deductions are stopped and we recover the outstanding balance of the trapped NHF funds,” Osidi explained.
Last modified: November 21, 2024
