FMBN Data Shows National Housing Fund Serving Few Workers

Ojo Adebowale (not real name) is a middle-level staff of Raw Materials Research Council in Abuja, and a contributor to the National Housing Fund (NHF). He’s on Grade Level 11 Step 02, and has been paying 2.5% of his monthly basic salary into the NHF for the past 12 years.

His monthly contributions qualify him to apply for a housing loan after six months, and a contributor in his category could get a maximum of N15 million.

A contributor interested in obtaining an NHF loan applies through a registered and duly accredited mortgage loan originator, who packages and forwards the application to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). If approved, the housing loan is repaid in monthly installments from the income of the beneficiary.

After applying for a mortgage loan unsuccessfully for two years, a colleague advised him to apply for housing loan through the Federal Government Staff Housing Loan Board. He did in 2019 but he could only get N3m after bribing officials with N300,000. ”I sent my account details to the official helping me and I was credited with N3m,“ he revealed while speaking to THE WHISTLER. “But we already agreed I will pay N300,000 as bribe.”

Johnson Gana, an Assistant Director on salary Grade Level 15, step 10, in a Federal Government agency under the Ministry of Education, has been paying 2.5% of his monthly basic salary to the NHF since 1995, three years after the fund was established.

Gana’s loan application was successful after undergoing “processing” for four years in 2010. But he did not get the N15m loan he requested as only N8m was approved. “I rejected the loan because it was not enough to get me a comfortable house,” he told THE WHISTLER.

“I have subscribed to the NHF for more than 25 years and 12 years ago when they approved my application after four years, they approved only N8m mortgage loan. Which kind of house will N8m get for someone in my level,” he asked, adding this is one of the reasons civil servants steal public funds.

Gana has only two years left to spend in the civil service before reaching the retirement age of 60, and he would retire without having a house of his own. There are many civil servants like him who would soon retire without a house of their own because they couldn’t get a mortgage loan while in service.

None of the Federal Civil Servants who spoke to THE WHISTLER on the NHF said they had accessed the loan, although they could mention one or two colleagues who did, but never got up to the maximum amount. But responses from most of them showed they were confused about how to access the NHF loan, with some alleging you have to know someone in the NHF to access a mortgage.

So Where Is The NHF Going?

The NHF raked in N294bn in contributions between 2015- 2021, according to Ahmed Dangiwa, who retired as the Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in August 2021. He said the funds were mobilized at an average of N58.8bn per year.

But loan disbursement to contributors during the same period did not reflect the huge accruals to the fund. Housing loan disbursements are shrouded in secrecy and mired in bureaucracy — a reason why many civil servants have not benefitted from the NHF.

The Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board which is supposed to be the custodian of all housing loan disbursements, could not supply any information when THE WHISTLER made a Freedom of Information Act request.

In a reply to the request signed by Shehu Bida, its legal adviser and dated 3rd January, the Board said, “ I am further directed to inform you of the Board’s inability to accede to the request for information on the number of Federal Civil Servants who requested for housing loan and details of loan approvals from the National Housing Fund as FMBN handles loans tied to the NHF…”

Data supplied to THE WHISTLER by the FMBN shows that the NHF received 15, 436 mortgage loan applications between 2015—2021(Five years). But out of this number of requests, only 8.047 was approved. For home renovation loan request, it received 92.651 but approved 80.154. It received 1.032 rent-to-own loan requests but approved 398.

The data provided did not indicate how much was given out as loans to beneficiaries in each of the loan categories. But investigation by THE WHISTLER indicated that under the Mortgage loan category which entitles beneficiaries to a maximum amount of N15m, less than 10 percent of the 8.047 people who got the loan received the amount.

The other beneficiaries, this paper learnt, got from N10m downwards.

Yet, the NHF was designed to provide housing loans of up to 90% of the cost of the house for beneficiaries but most who get are given far less than the 90% of the cost of an average apartment, especially in Abuja where a 3-bedroom flat costs from N15m and above.

But the labour unions may not be bothered due to a strategic partnership between the bank and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA). The unions have devised their own housing schemes which undermine the essence of the NHF to provide housing for all contributors.

At the heart of the FMBN’s affordable housing delivery interventions is the NHF Scheme which presents a convenient and cost-effective opportunity for Nigerians, especially those within the low- and medium-income segment, to become homeowners.