Mr. Umar Dankane, executive director, Business Development and Portfolio Management of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria has said that the bank needs a N500 billion recapitalisation fund for optimal performance.
Dankane disclosed on Wednesday in Calabar at the bank’s Southern Zonal Retreat, with the theme “Motivating the Informal Sector to Embrace the National Housing Fund Scheme.“
According to him, for the mortgage market to excel in Nigeria, there is an urgent need for the Federal Government to recapitalise the bank with N500 billion.
“The crucial challenge facing the Federal Mortgage Bank in Nigeria is its capital base. The bank is yearning for the government’s rescue through recapitalisation. Initially, the bank was created with a capital base of just N5 billion and been the famous secondary mortgage market, it can no longer hold from the realities on the ground” he explained.
“Today, even the Primary Mortgage Bank has the capital base of N5 billion. “So you can imagine the famous Secondary Mortgage Market still relying on N5 billion capital base. It is against this background that when we came on board. We have to review the situation and called on the government that the bank needs to be recapitalised to the tune of N500 billion. I strongly believe that if this is done, the mortgage market will excel in Nigeria and the sky will be the limit” he added.
Dankane said that the fund if provided, would help the bank to provide affordable houses for workers in the country and enhance access to such facilities.
The executive director said that the bank was working at reducing the housing deficit in the country, by ensuring improvement in Nigeria’s housing stock. He said that the primary function of the bank was to provide affordable housing to workers, adding that the bank’s interest rate stood at 6 percent single digit.
Dankane also said that the bank was working with developers and all relevant stakeholders in providing solutions to workers’ housing deficit. He said that the retreat was organised to harness ideas and proffer solutions on ways to improve on services and explore ways to market the National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme to prospective contributors.
