29 November 2009
editorial
Lagos — The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has announced a rebranding campaign tailored to the pursuit of its mandate of assisting every Nigerian to own a house of his or her choice. The bank believes that the exercise would create a new corporate identity for the bank.
Following on the heels of efforts of the Federal Ministry of Information to rebrand Nigeria, some public institutions have opted to have another look at themselves and spruce up their corporate image.
Nevertheless, to rebrand or have a new identity, the FMBN is also trying to reposition itself. This is because the FMBN brand, once a popular one, is today largely unknown by many Nigerians. In fact, but for the recent publication of the names of its debtors, not many people with housing needs considered it as a possible option. Worse, the names were those of highly placed Nigerians.
The FMBN was established by a military decree No 7 of 20th January 1977 when it was capitalized with the sum of N20 million as the apex mortgage institution in the country. It took over the assets and liabilities of the Nigerian Building Society which had since 1956 been in charge of administration of the mortgage industry in the country.
The bank which has a mandate to finance the implementation of government housing programmes, is expected to source for funds, administer and raise revenue from the national housing fund contributions from workers and participants in the fund. Deposit accounts of customers, loans from institutional lenders, grants and soft loans, and capital injections from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are other sources of revenue of the FMBN.
Also at creation 32 years ago the FMBN was expected to mobilize savings from the general public, and to provide loans on government approval for commercial development of property at competitive rate of interest. The bank was expected to encourage and pursue the establishment of mortgage institutions nationwide and provide long-term credit facilities directly to individuals for building owner- occupier houses. It was also expected to provide financial advice as well as technical and administrative services to other mortgage institutions.
To reposition, the bank needs to let the public know how far in its 32 years of existence it has achieved its mandate at birth. One needs to know the brand virtues, values and achievements of the existing FMBN first to appreciate its rebranding efforts.
For now most Nigerians don't know much about the FMBN as it has been overshadowed by the mortgage institutions it is supposed to lead and control. This is in spite of the fact that the country has acute housing needs, with the cost of property flying out of the reach of many people.
High rents and spiralling costs of houses are some of the reverberating cost of living that fuel inflation and cripple the purchasing power of the average Nigerian. Obviously, this was what the decree No7 of 1977 that created the FMBN was aiming to prevent.
To rebrand and recreate a new corporate identity the FMBN must re-awaken itself and reclaim its mandate and hopefully achieve the goals and objectives for which it was set up. Nothing stops the FMBN from becoming as strong and as respectable as the CBN in its assigned sector.
FMBN in rebranding should learn from other countries how house ownership has been pushed from dreamland into reality. It should reposition itself to serve its core objectives of supporting the average Nigerian to own a house that is affordable and comfortable. Globally, governments make this a priority and we believe that was why the FMBN was set up in the first instance so long ago.
Incentives and regulations implemented by the government to develop the mortgage industry have not yielded the much desired result. Consequently, the mortgage market in Nigeria is still under-developed. Worse, high interest rates act as a disincentive for prospective home owners and property investors because most mortgages in Nigeria are not truly mortgages in the real sense of the concept.
If it must have a new identity now and rebrand the sole aim should be to achieve the objectives for which it was set up. That is what will make the new corporate identity it seeks meaningful.
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This is a very good idea and should be seen as economic reliever. Sorry th question now is,will the less priviledge have access to this scheme?Don"t be surprise,it has happened before and it is still happening till today. What about employment?will the organisation remember the less priviledged but well read citizen?
I love FMBN .Happy rebranding.