In order to satisfy Nigerians’ need for housing, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria has stated that it is prepared to restructure and reorganize its operational activities.
According to The Punch, a promise was made by the bank’s managing director, Madu Hamman, during its 2024 Management Retreat, which took place on Friday in Niger State.”Transformational Innovation for Sustainable Development in Uncertain Times” was the theme of the retreat.
According to him, the transformation will involve quick reform and innovation to address Nigeria’s housing need by providing its citizens with adequate, affordable, and high-quality homes.
Recently, the Federal Housing Authority and Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria received low marks from the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, for their efforts to provide housing for all societal groups.
According to Hamman, the massive housing shortage in the nation—which impacts millions of Nigerians—requires quick thinking and creative solutions.
“Housing is a basic human right and a critical component of social and economic development,” he declared. As the nation’s preeminent mortgage organisation, the FMBN is essential to tackling this issue. Through its several programmes and offerings, the FMBN has been helping low- and middle-class earnings become homeowners by financing their mortgages. Nevertheless, these initiatives fall short of the expectations of the Nigerian people and their increasing need for housing.
“A number of limitations include the requirement to recapitalize the bank, which, happily, is presently being considered by the minister to recapitalize the bank to the extent of N500 billion. Second, the bank is working with our authorities to resolve the CBN single obligor limit on our lending.
He also mentioned the bank’s ownership structure, which includes the Land Use Act, the FMBN, the NHF, and the outdated FMBN as its only shareholders.
To develop new value propositions, business models, markets, and solutions that might upend the status quo and have a good social impact, he said that the bank had adopted transformational innovations.
He continued by saying that the bank’s digital transformation was 92% complete, and the add-on modules were 87% finished.
In order to provide affordable homes for Nigerians, we have been collaborating with labour centers, cooperatives, state governments, private developers, and other players.
To improve the efficiency of its operations, the bank has developed and approved a number of cutting-edge policies that align its practices with global best practices. These include, but are not limited to, an enterprise risk management framework, a corporate governance framework, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism policies, and an environmental and social risk management framework.
The FMBN head stated, “Furthermore, the FMBN has loosened the equity requirements on NHIF managing loans, furthering the bank’s mandate to provide accessible and affordable housing finance to Nigerians.”
To increase customer base size and better serve current clientele, the bank, according to Hamman, also redesigned its range of offerings. The NHF individual construction loan, the rent-to-own product, and the redesigned cooperative housing development loan are among the new offerings and housing initiatives.
