In a bid to provide adequate housing in the country, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria has initiated a rehabilitation process to revive about 46 abandoned housing projects nationwide.
The bank said this would be achieved through a partnership with
Shelter Afrique Development Bank, a pan-African finance institution that
exclusively supports the development of the housing and real estate sector in
Africa.
Managing Director, FMBN, Shehu Usman Osidi, stated this while
hosting the management of Shelter Afrique Development Bank in Abuja, noting
that the bank had made reviving the housing estates a priority.
According to him, the intensified collaboration will help
provide construction and mortgage financing to developers in Nigeria.
He said Nigeria has over forty-six abandoned projects in the 36 states and the
FMBN is determined to revive them.
The
Osidi
further noted that Nigeria, the second largest shareholder in the bank with
about 15 per cent holding, will explore areas of funding to achieve its target
of delivering 100,000 housing units to Nigerians this year.
He mentioned that
the FMBN is currently reviewing previously abandoned memoranda of understanding
that were signed with the organisation, with the aim of exploring the benefits
that Nigerians could gain from this renewed partnership.
Also speaking, the
CEO of Shelter Afrique, Thierno-Habib Hann, said the organisation was in
Nigeria to promote its development financing agenda and identify Nigeria as a
destination for investments with over $25bn in Diaspora remittances each year.
Meanwhile, the bank
has said it collected about N100bn in remittances through the National Housing
Fund in 2023.
The NHF scheme was
established by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria to facilitate the
continuous flow of low-cost funds for long-term investment in housing, through
2.5 per cent monthly deductions from employees earning a basic salary.