Banker Wants Monetisation Of Mortgage Titles

Following the various challenges faced in the Real Estate Industry, and the need to strengthen mortgage institutions, a mortgage banker in Rivers State, Emmanuel Agu, has advocated for the monetization of mortgage titles that are collateralized in order to ensure that the sector contributes effectively to the nation’s economy.

Agu who made this known to journalists at a public forum in Port Harcourt, said that real estate industry contributed an average of five per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the last five years, as the Central Bank report in 2008 estimated the size of the industry at N1.1 trillion.

Agu hos is a senior manager with Afribank Estate Limited posited that challenges confronting the Real Estate sector of the economy are the Land Use Act of 1978, the Land Tenure System, among others.

According to him, access to land became very difficult as all land is vest on government, and right of occupancy does not confer title and a person’s right of occupancy may be revoked.

He said that bureaucratic and dysfunctional implementation of policies has hampered development of the estate sector, as consent of governor is required in such matters.

The mortgage banker hinted that banks and financial institutions are scared away from investment in the real estate sector because of some defective title documents, difficulties in realizing real estate collateral, lack of respect for contract, as well as absence of adequate mortgage institutions.

He also called on the re-orientation on the crucial role of real estate in economic development, harmonization and enforceability, of the rule of law, strengthening of mortgage institutions, as well as establishment of construction bank like what obtains in India.

Corlins Walter