NIQS Decries Poor Recapitalisation Of FMBN

The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) has said that inadequate recapitalisation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) is militating against housing development in Nigeria.
Its Vice President, Mr Olayemi Shonubi told newsmen in Lagos yesterday that the bank needed much funding to meet its mandates and the challenges of the real estate financing.
He said that the overall restructuring of the mortgage system was necessary, adding that absence of an effective mortgage market was responsible for the nation’s housing deficit.
“Housing shortfall is estimated at between 16 to 17 million, while mortgage finance requirement for the country is conservatively from N15 trillion to N20 trillion,” he said.
He noted that it was only a functional and effective mortgage system that could bridge such huge housing gap.
Shonubi stressed the need for a review of the mortgage tenure, saying that short tenure system in the country was the bane of housing delivery in Nigeria.
According to him, only a few primary mortgage institutions in the country offer mortgage tenure beyond 10 years.
Shonubi added that the high mortgage interest rate had discouraged so many investors and prospective landlords.
He said that mortgage loan should be given at single digit interest rate to enable investors to recoup their investments and pay back.
“The financial institutions in the country offer loans not mortgages. This is because mortgage tenure as practised in many countries is beyond a minimum of 20 to 25 years,” he said.
He said that cheap mortgage interest rate should be made available by mortgage institutions.
He suggested that the National Housing Fund (NHF) should be made a mandatory saving scheme for Nigerian workers to access mortgage loans at low interest rates, to build and renovate homes across the country.