National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Real Estate & Environment
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
31
NHF Act can’t cater for housing needs -Ogunjobi Chief Bisi Ogunjobi is the Chairman, Board of Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). The former Vice Chairman African Development Bank (ADB) spoke with OLUFEMI ADEOSUN and a few other journalists in Abuja on the challenges facing the operation of the National Housing Fund and the urgent need to amend the Act establishing the fund in line with the current reality in the housing sector. In your remarks during the last sensitisation workshop on National Housing Fund, you spoke on the challenges facing the fund, as well as the need to review the existing Act governing it. Can you throw more light on this? My statement was an analysis of the situation. It talks about the challenges we are facing, the operational environment, and the achievements of the fund, particularly in the last two years. First and foremost, it would interest you to know that the NHF is 25 years old and as such, the Act guiding this institution by now has become obsolete. When we say obsolete, it is not with a negative connotation; what we are saying is that the parameters that were used at the time of setting up the institution have changed because of the dynamic situation in the Nigerian economy. For example, we say you have to contribute 2.5 per cent of salary earned. If you are earning N3, 000 a month, how much was the minimum wage at that time compared with the N18, 000 we have today? The 2.5 per cent of N18, 000 today amounts to N450.How many years would you contribute 450 for you to buy a house of 5 million? That is to say yes at that time, the amount was sufficient, but when you look at the situation today, it is not correct anymore. Therefore, there is a need to reverse or amend the act to take care of the current issues. I also said that, like most agencies in this country, one cannot say that the performance has been optimal, there is no need to deceive ourselves, but I did clearly state that over the last two years, the contributions and collections which we have been able to make which is about N22bn is over 40 per cent of what was collected over the last 18 years. We have our weak points and our strong points, all we need do make the scheme achieves its desired result of adding to the country’s housing stock, is to build on the strong points. Apart from the Nigerian Workers who are statutorily mandated to contribute this 2.5 per cent, are there other stakeholders that are captured in the Act? Yes, the amount being paid is not limited only to these stakeholders, but also to commercial banks and insurance companies in the country. According to the Act, the two categories of stakeholders are supposed to make investment into the NHF. However, up till-date, they are not doing so. The Central Bank of Nigeria that is mandated by law to enforce the contributions of the commercial banks has equally failed to do so. How then do you intend to work with the management of the FMBN to restore confidence in the scheme? We know that till date, not all the states in the country have signed up to it. You are correct, till date only 18 states are contributing
just holding ourselves to the NHF providing ministry, we are expanding this, not just to the civil servants, but to the private sector and the informal sector. We have also worked out a model which would enable Nigerians in the diaspora own houses of their own. All these encompassing strategies are aimed at widening the scope of the fund, thereby making it attractive to contributors.
Ogunjobi
ACCORDING TO THE ACT, THE TWO CATEGORIES OF STAKEHOLDERS ARE SUPPOSED TO MAKE INVESTMENT INTO THE
NHF. HOWEVER, UP TILL-DATE, THEY ARE NOT DOING SO. THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA THAT IS MANDATED BY LAW TO ENFORCE THE CONTRIBUTIONS
OF THE COMMERCIAL BANKS HAS EQUALLY FAILED TO DO SO to the scheme. However, what we have been doing over the last two years is to convince and persuade the states that have withdrawn to come back and in the last two years, more than 10 states have come back so we have 8 left and we are working to see how they will come back. The question then is, how would they come back? They need to see the benefits of their contributions to NHF and that will bring us to the production of housing stock. Over the last few years, FMBN has been making efforts to increase production of the housing stock. As part of the strategies to win back confidence, we now engage in dialogue with other relevant stakeholders like the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) Nigeria Employees’ Consultative Forum (NECA), Trade Union Congress, (TUC) with a view to ensuring that we have a common understanding. Apart from that, we are equally committed to making the NHF a key element in the provision of houses to the Nigerian populace. But more importantly, one of the things which this institution is going to do is to strive toward efficiency as an institution. We must provide good services to the people; we must have new products and that is why we say we are not
It is a known fact that the current N5billion capital base of the FMBN is grossly inadequate to cater for the housing need of the people. What efforts are you making to ensure the bank is recapitalised? About two months ago, President Goodluck Jonathan made an announcement that they were going to recapitalise the bank. But again, we also need to look at the parameters because FMBN is not the only avenue by which the government put money into housing. The ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development itself is a very big channel for the provision of housing. Apart from that, government has also created what we call the National Refinancing Corporation which will address another aspect of provision at houses to the upper segment of the society .So government is looking at various ways, and the state governments are also doing their own beat, the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police and the Navy are all making contributions. It is in this regard that we cannot look at FMBN figure in isolation. Secondly, what is the correct figure of the housing demand? When we talk of 16 million deficit, how robust is that statistics? For me as an economist, we need to look at that very carefully, because in most developing countries like Nigeria, statistics are just somehow. It is when all these issues are looked at critically that we can put a figure on the needed capital base. Do we really need accurate statistic to know that a good number of Nigerians are homeless? It is a common sight all over the country and government seems comfortable with it. There is no government that has the objective of making people perpetually homeless. If you say that policies are not effective, I can understand. Again, why are policies not effective? I am not giving to superlatives. Based on the N200billion recapitalisation proposal by the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Amal Pepple, we are looking at various segments of the society and under that arrangement, FMBN is supposed to attend to the lower end and the middle while the high income group will be handled by another scheme, called NRC. Towards extent will all these efforts help in bringing down the high cost of housing in the country? First of all there has to be a distinction between the houses built by FMBN and other models. None of the housing projects financed by the bank can be more than N5million. Again, I must also tell you that a lot of factors contribute to the high cost of buildings in the country. Most of the materials are imported from abroad and as such come with prohibitive cost which invariably affects the actual value of houses. So it is not the FMBN as an institution that will address that; it is a job for the entire country. And that is why in the minister’s speech at the last stakeholders’ meeting, she said the new product which the ministry is coming up with will not only consider infrastructure, model of houses, but at same time the one that will ensure that a two bedroom cost N3.5 million, one-bedroom N1.5m respectively. The pilot project is ongoing in Nasarawa State.
AUA boss lauds Nigerite on innovative building components DAYO AYEYEMI
P
resident of Africa Union of Architects, Mr. Tokunbo Omisore, an architect, has commended Nigerite Limited, for its innovative building components solutions, saying the company’s corporate and product philosophy is in tandem with the Pan-African professional body, as recently articulated by AUA in
Tangier, Morocco. He said, “Prior to this event, our valued partner on this journey – Nigerite Limited has adopted the vision of the Africa Union of Architects and her strategy to promote Africa’s Research and Development, and most importantly encourage ‘Made in Africa’ to promote affordable developments for sustainability.” Disclosing this in a speech during the presentation of awards to young architects and students winners in the
African Union of Architects Pan-African competition, Omisore decried African leaders for ‘copying’ the developed world without reference to the cultural values of their communities and as such promoted developments which are not only unaffordable but also unsustainable. While not against promotion of innovative solutions to curb housing deficit in Africa, he advised African governments to encourage and ensure research that will be implemented and adopt ‘Made in Africa’.