The House Committee on Housing and Habitat has called for urgent intervention and support for the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) to deliver on its mandate of providing affordable housing to Nigerians.

The chairman of the committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, said this after an oversight visit to FMBN on Monday in Abuja.

After examining the management’s presentation, Mr Jibrin said the committee has decided to call for more support so the bank can work effectively to serve the nation.

Mr Jibrin said that the committee had taken a position to draw the federal government’s attention to take all necessary measures with urgency to resuscitate the organisation.

“This has to be done without further delay. Otherwise, if the bank collapses, the nation will be in real trouble.

“So, as a committee, we have taken a position to make a presentation to the federal government to ensure that any intervention that will come, a special component is put aside to be extended to FMBN so that they can continue to carry out their function,” Mr Jibrin explained.

FMBN boss Shehu Osidi said the bank’s main focus is collecting, managing, and administering the national housing fund scheme, which is mandatory contributory savings.

He said that in support of the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ for the housing sector, FMBN provided a N100 billion bankable off-takers guarantee to real estate developers executing the construction of affordable houses.

He added that the ongoing process automation in the bank and adoption of the enterprise Core Banking Application is currently at 94 per cent and expected to be concluded before the year runs out.

Mr Osidi said the bank introduced new products to drive the integration of the informal sector into the national housing fund to expand access to more Nigerians.

He listed the products as home improvement loans, rent assistance,non-interest rent-to-own, and NHF diaspora mortgage loans. He added that  the bank increased its loan limit from N15 million to N50 million to meet the financing needs of higher medium-income earners and address challenges of higher construction costs.

He said there was a need for the recapitalisation of FMBN to a minimum of N500 billion.

Mr Osidi, however, lamented that the resolution of the CBN prudential guidelines on single obligor was limiting FMBN’s lending capacity to 50 per cent of its shareholders funds unimpaired by losses.

(NAN)