Mortgage Brokers Bill Scales Second Reading

A Bill for an Act to establish the Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders of Nigeria has passed a second reading at the House of Representatives.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Timothy Golu (Plateau-PDP), seeks to regulate activities and ensure professionalism in the mortgage system in the country.

Golu noted that shelter is a basic necessity of man and that every man was entitled to a decent accommodation.

According to him, many Nigerians are struggling hard to own property and decent houses.

Golu said “everything goes” in the current mortgage system in the country and that quacks had taken over the system.

As a result, there are many avoidable litigations in various courts across the country, the law maker noted.

Golu further observed that professionals in any sector of the economy have a body that regulates their activities.

He said such regulation was responsible for that high level of sanity and professionalism displayed by practitioners in law, media, and construction sectors, among others.

According to him, the mortgage sector has the capacity to attract investments and aid the ongoing efforts of government to diversify the economy.

Opposing the bill, Rep. Lawal Abubakar (Adamawa-APC), said that establishing the institute would amount to  proliferation of government agencies.

He observed that a department dedicated to overseeing the mortgage sector already existed in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Abubakar said that the Mortgage Banks Association which controls the activities of its members was also in existence.

In his ruling, the Speaker Yakubu Dogara referred the bill to the House Committee on Housing for further legislative actions.