The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) says it is planning to finance the construction of student hostels and housing for university staff so that they can benefit from its loan scheme.
Its Managing Director, Shehu Osidi, said this at the ongoing FMBN 2024 Management Retreat on Monday.
The theme of the retreat is “Improving Customer Service Delivery and Efficiency for Development Impact.”
Mr. Osidi said that as part of the bank’s strategic commitments, FMBN has concluded agreements to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shelter Afrique Development Bank.
This, he said, is to explore lines of financing for new FMBN initiatives such as rental housing and the development of student residences.
“The FMBN administers the National Housing Fund (NHF), which is a common fund contributed by Nigerian workers and from which 2.5 percent of their wages is deducted.
“It is the students who graduate from school who ultimately become workers.
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“So what we’re trying to do is catch them when they’re young so that while they’re still on campus, they can get a feel for FMBN.
“We are studying the possibility of financing the construction of student residences and housing for the university’s teaching and non-academic staff.”
Mr Osidi said FMBN would partner with universities to achieve this and would also provide funding for accommodation for university students who would eventually graduate to become workers and contribute to the National Housing Fund.
He said that within the framework of the President's Renewable Agenda, promoted by the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the consortium of developers under a public-private partnership scheme.
This, he said, was to raise funds for the construction of houses.
“So what FMBN did was to provide N100 billion to enable this consortium of developers to access consortium financing from financiers.
“The essence of the acceptance guarantee is that if the houses are built, FMBN will provide mortgage financing to the beneficiaries of those houses.”
Mr Osidi said that by building and fostering partnerships, the bank would leverage synergies, access new resources and expand its reach to increase its impact and accelerate the delivery of affordable housing across Nigeria.
He added that the bank was restructuring its strategy to fulfil its mandate.
“FMBN is facing many legacy issues, most of which have to do with service delivery and efficiency.
“Many times, people will tell you that they applied for FMBN loans; it takes a long time before those loans are approved.
“So as new management, we want to change that narrative. We want to make sure we can serve our customers in a timely manner.”
“So this retreat is about how we can create efficiency in operations and at the same time how we can serve our customers within the context of the best we can offer,” he said.
Mr Osidi said the retreat would provide an opportunity to examine the FMBN's track record so far and uncover the impediments preventing it from moving forward quickly.
“No one can do this better than us. From delays in our lending processes, the central banking project, to settlement issues between accounts and other challenges, we need to identify the pain points and agree on a way forward to eliminate them,” he said.
Mr Osidi urged staff to be bold, creative and solution-oriented, and to develop strategic objectives that identify areas for improvement.
He said they should also explore innovative solutions and commit to actions that improve FMBN's efficiency and excellent customer service.
(YAYA)