Abuja — The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) is taking far reaching steps to reposition itself towards meeting the national housing mandate of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Architect Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, who disclosed this, noted that in view of the commendable housing programmes of the federal government, the bank is positioning itself towards realising set objectives.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP, Dangiwa said the current administration is passionate about providing houses for the low-income earners in the country en masse.

According to him, the bank is also positioning itself towards providing mortgages, at least, for the houses that are on ground for interested contributors and members of the public.

Asked about his vision for the bank, the MD said, "My vision, first of all, is to operate like a development bank, thereby working towards meeting the national housing mandate, facilitating funds for our customers, who are the contributors, and ensure transparency and accountable to the stakeholders as well as make profit returns within the framework of good corporate governance.

"So, our vision is to reposition the bank as a foremost apex mortgage bank in the country and provide affordable housing financing for contributors to be achieved through improved and transparent operations. All of these are achievable with the cooperation and collaboration of stakeholders. This is our primary aim and main focus".

Dangiwa noted that the bank's management intends to achieve the vision through five strategic areas, including the promotion of sound corporate governance.

His words: "Corporate governance is to ensure accountability, fairness, transparency and corporate culture, which are necessary to maintain the integrity of the bank for smooth operation in the way we do business.

"Second is to encourage public private partnership to mobilise resources to reduce the country's acute housing shortage. It is a means of sourcing adequate funding for affordable housing delivery. It is about the best way to go in closing the current nation's housing deficit.

"This PPP arrangement is important because it involves partnering both local and foreign developers who are willing to develop affordable houses for Nigerians, especially for the low-income group in the society and interested contributors.

"We also have to strengthen partnership with finance institutions for resources and funding, which will also help the bank achieve its set objectives. Every stakeholder is carried along in ensuring that we achieve the overall objective".

On why the FMBN sought partnership with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dangiwa explained that the idea is to enhance the bank's contribution base.

He said, "The FIRS has the checklist of all the listed and registered companies. We want to see that even the public sector is brought into the National Housing Fund contribution base.

"We are also working on adopting a robust risk management because it is key to identifying and applying best practices in managing risks arising from bank operations.

"We are also in discussions with institutions like AMCON, which you know has a lot of funds. I can't call them idle funds; I believe these funds can be invested in providing houses for the masses. We are also in touch with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for similar participatory operation structure in contribution.

"Increasing our contribution base will mean high flow of funds into the bank, which will now be used in providing mortgages for the Nigerian population".

On why the bank's housing programmes and policies seem to be targeted at civil and public servants only, he noted that the housing products of the bank include both the formal and informal sectors, adding that the fund is also to service the non-salaried informal sector.

Dangiwa explained that the NHF is for the civil servants, while corporate housing funds are loans given to the informal sector through cooperative societies.

He continued: "The cooperative societies approach us for loans or funds for individual or housing estate, and we oblige them as long as they can make remittance or deductions.

"Another aspect of housing we are looking at now is the rent-to-own scheme which we are working on. It is about to be completed and sent to the FMBN's Board for approval. It is almost like the owner occupier which we used to have in the past.

"For instance, the Festac 77 houses built by the Obasanjo administration were houses the federal government built for guests and when they left, the houses were given out to Nigerians.

"You are paying rent and at the same time, owning the house. Most of the houses that are ready and are on ground now can be used as testing ground for this policy. This one is good even for the informal sector".

He further revealed that the bank is yet to receive the N500 billion provided for it by the federal government recently to resuscitate the bank, with a view to making mortgage facilities easily available to Nigerians.

He said, "The bank is still pursing the N500 billion recapitalisation fund. We are yet to access that money; we are still pursing the fund from the federal government and even other stakeholders like the CBN.

"Talks are ongoing right now on the matter and we are optimistic that it will be approved sooner than later. The Council of Works and Housing is looking into the matter".