Leadership (Abuja)
Pamela Sombo
19 October 2007
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has expressed displeasure over the poor state of Nigerian mortgage system which, he said, is not developed enough to meet the housing needs of Nigerians.
The president stated this yesterday in his address at the 2nd International Seminar on Emerging Urban Africa at the Yar'Aua center in Abuja.
The president who was represented by the minister of environment, housing and urban development, Architect Halima Tayo Alao, said Nigeria's mortgage system cannot be relied on considering the country's housing deficit that is presently estimated at over 16 million.
Yar'Adua noted that "the mortgage system is underdeveloped and relatively young and considering the large proportion of the poor and low income groups, we cannot rely on the conventional housing finance mechanisms to meet the needs of the larger proportion of Nigerians".
He, however, stated that his administration is committed to ensuring that all Nigerians have access to decent and affordable housing and shall continue to pursue the implementation of the reform agenda in the housing sector focusing particularly on housing finance.
According to him, "the issues of urbanisation and housing have special significance for Nigeria which is experiencing one of the most amazing rates of urban population growth of all times. Currently, Nigeria has more than 480 urban centers". About four of the country's cities are already in the league of millionaire cities with a population of over one million people and from the report of the UN-HABITAT; Lagos is the sixth largest mega-city in the world.
The president stated that the resolve is to encourage the growth of the mortgage system in Nigeria. "This is why the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria has been repositioned and energised to play its expected role in the sector with the reforms in the banking and insurance industries aimed specifically at stimulating the entire economy and creating confidence in Nigeria's investment environment."
He thus urged stakeholders to develop people oriented resource management strategy that will help to integrate sustainable urban development into a national development agenda and also explore the challenges of an emerging urban Africa while putting into consideration the issue of urban poverty, urban governance, access to basic services, land reforms and other elements of urban life.
In the same vein the acting managing director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Moses Atagher, said the bank has been repositioned to address critical housing related issues as management, governance, poverty, security, finance, transport services, housing infrastructure, tourism, and the overall planning of the environment.
He disclosed that "both the stock of affordable houses as well as the number of mortgages financed by the bank increased by not less than 100 per cent".
In addition to this, the bank has floated its first ever mortgage backed bond for refinancing the sale of FG houses to public servants.
The National Housing Fund is being overhauled to make it more effective in the housing delivery process, as already, there is an 89 per cent rise in the number of individual contributors from 1.8 million in 2002 to 3.6 million in 2006 and a 124 per cent growth in NHF collections from less than N10.6 billion in 2002 to N23 billion in 2006.
Some housing related laws are presently before the National Assembly which are intended to facilitate operations in the mortgage sector with the FMBN also drafting laws on securitisation and foreclosure.
The bank has further put in place an enduring mortgage financing mechanism for the country and to boost the steady flow of funds into the mortgage finance sector.
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